Home > Smart & Sassy > A, B, C of surviving a hostile work environment
You started that new job with anticipation that everything was going to go well and you were going to make new friends. Then you were confronted by the first office bully who was either a colleague or a boss who seemed bent on making your life and experience miserable! As you come to terms with the shock that it won’t be happily ever after, you wonder how you are going to survive the environment.Here are a few tips that I hope would help you survive:1. Make peace, not war: your natural human instinct would be to be on the offensive with the propagators of office politics or hostility, but the right thing to do is to make peace, not war. Go out of your way to be civil and respond politely. This does not mean you become best friends with the person(s), but do your best to radiate positive energy to quell their negativity.
2. Channel the stress: Working in a hostile environment can be quite stressful, so look for ways to channel the stress. You can decide to go out to a nice and peaceful environment during lunch break, or take up a sport to exercise to detoxify yourself after a hectic day at work.
3. Read and abide by the Company policy: In dealing with your hostile colleagues, make sure you do everything by the book. Respond to emails or accusations using the company guidelines to ensure you don’t get sucked into accusations of non-compliance. You should also seek the human resource advice if it becomes unbearable to see if there are any provisions for dealing with the hostility.
4. Find ally’s: everyone needs someone to stand up for them and watch their backs in the midst of hostility, so find people who you share common interests with and make them your ally’s. These people can be your colleagues or superiors who will dispel any negative rumors about you or defend you when necessary. However don’t gang up against the office bully, instead let your ally’s be your support group in the hostile environment.
5. Remove yourself from the environment totally: If all the above fails and things still remain unbearable, you might have to remove yourself completely from the environment by either seeking a transfer if this is possible, or resigning from the Company. Your health and well-being would fare better without all the toxins in that environment. March 29, 2015 at 9:38 pm Smart & Sassyhostile work environment, human resources, stressTale AlimiArchivesMeta
