Toxic environments can occur anywhere. Even in the Salesforce landscape, where professionals often have access to higher-paid roles and excellent benefits, there’s a chance your workplace could begin to cause undue discomfort and stress.
After all, Salesforce specialists are under significant pressure in most roles, working longer hours than other similar pros while also spending considerable time on training and development outside the workplace.
If your employer isn’t investing actively in wellbeing initiatives and strategies to ensure you feel happy and healthy at work, you may begin to suffer.
According to one report from MIT, a toxic workplace is 10.4 times more likely to contribute to a staff member quitting than low pay. If your job makes you feel stressed, depressed, anxious, or constantly struggling with symptoms of emerging burnout, you could be dealing with a toxic or unhealthy working environment.
The Signs of a Toxic Work Environment
A toxic work environment is a difficult experience to manage. It keeps employees in a fight-or-flight mindset, constantly struggling with unreasonable expectations and complex situations. While the look and feel of a toxic workplace can vary, some common symptoms include:
- Ineffective communication: You may struggle to connect with colleagues and managers or feel you never get feedback from peers.
- Exclusionary behaviour: If your workplace has limited diversity in its hiring practices or fails to make every employee feel included, this can lead to discomfort.
- Poor leadership: A lack of guidance, support, or assistance from your manager can make completing your job as a Salesforce star difficult.
- Limited development opportunities: Your workplace may be toxic if it dismisses your development needs. Salesforce professionals need to update their knowledge regularly.
- Burnout: If you’re experiencing symptoms of burnout, like emotional sensitivity, and fatigue, this could be a sign you’re not thriving at work.
How to Handle a Toxic Work Environment
Though it’s possible to manage a toxic workplace, it’s not easy. Salesforce professionals dedicated the majority of their waking lives to their work and career skills. The symptoms of a toxic workplace can quickly become overwhelming if they’re not addressed quickly.
Some of the ways you can work on preserving your mental and physical health include:
1. Work on Your Relationships
Relationships are often key to surviving a toxic workplace. Even if your company doesn’t invest in team-building and inclusive exercises, you can start to build a network of trusted colleagues on your own. Find people you can trust in your workplace to share your frustrations with and access support when you need it most.
Talking with other employees and discussing your options for handling difficult situations can make a complex workplace more manageable. While you’re working on building your trusted network, don’t exclude or act aggressively towards other team members.
Focus on being kind to everyone you encounter – even if some of your colleagues contribute to your unhappiness at work. Taking the high road will ensure your grievances with other team members don’t worsen. It could also mean you eventually convince more people to come around to your way of thinking so that you can widen your network.
2. Stay Focused on Your Goals
If you’re extremely stressed at work, or you don’t feel you’re getting the pay you deserve, but you are making progress in your career, stay focused. Concentrate on doing everything you can to keep moving in the right direction with your Salesforce skills, even if this means you need to seek out courses and development on your own.
Committing to your career goals will ensure you’re in the perfect position to start looking for another job in the role you want if you decide to leave your current company. Focusing on your work, rather than getting involved in toxic workplace culture and gossip, will also reduce your risk of negative interactions with leadership.
In some cases, focusing on your goals and proving your value to your employer will also open the door to new opportunities which make you happier at work. For instance, your boss may be more willing to let you work remotely if they know you’ll finish tasks according to deadlines.
3. Prioritise Work-Life Balance
Many modern companies are beginning to implement new strategies to improve work-life balance for their employees, like the 4-day work week or flexible working. However, this isn’t the case in all environments. If your company does offer some flexibility, take advantage of the opportunities you have to focus on self-care and your health outside of work.
You might be able to take breaks more regularly when you’re operating from home or create a more comfortable home-office environment. If you don’t have any flexibility available, focus on pursuing happiness and health outside of your job.
Avoid allowing yourself to be “always on call” when you’re not scheduled for work, and commit time to pursue your interests when you’re not working. Setting boundaries to have a good life outside your career can make managing a toxic workplace easier.
You Don’t Have to Stay in a Toxic Workplace
Sometimes, a toxic work environment is a temporary issue which can be improved over time. For instance, if your business goes through a difficult patch or a merger, you might need to take on more work, or struggle with some changes for a couple of months, until things settle down.
However, if the toxic culture in your workplace remains consistent, or it’s linked to something you can’t change yourself, like bad leadership, you may need to consider an alternative route. As a Salesforce professional, you’re in an excellent position to search for alternative opportunities in a skills-short environment.
Work with a professional Salesforce recruitment team to find a job opportunity that delivers the compensation you deserve and the nurturing culture you need.
Thanks,
Lee
Co-Founder Resource on Demand
About Resource on Demand
Resource On Demand is Europe’s first specialist Salesforce Recruitment Company. We assist innovative and https://www.resourceondemand.com/disruptive organisations in growing their technology teams. Supporting companies to fill Cloud roles across the growing Salesforce.com suite of skills.
The team at Resource On Demand have access to an extensive database of key talent, registering over 8000 Cloud professionals each year.
To find out how we can support you call us on 01322 272 532