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Have you ever worked for a company that drained you mentally to the point where you start receiving physical health issues because of the work environment?
In this article, I will be focusing on toxic work environments and how it causes mental and physical health issues through telling my own experience. Through this article, my goal is to inform you the many signs of a toxic work environment and why it's important to remove yourself from such of an environment as soon as possible.
If you've been staying up to date with my articles and social media posts then you know I just graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with Bachelor degrees in English and Psychology with a concentration in Developmental Psychology. The day before my graduation day, I left the preschool center I've been working at for the pass three years because I was moving back home after the graduation. The very next day, I was on indeed.com and on my former University career center website applying for jobs. I applied for both international jobs and local jobs within the United States. I spent the whole next week going on in person and online interviews. I ended up chosen a preschool center located in Washington, District of Columbia (D.C) because I was offered the hourly pay I requested for, it was walking distance from the metro station, and all the other preschool jobs in Maryland was offering an hourly pay of less than $12 even with my educational background.
I started the job located in D.C on the first week of July as a lead teacher. The first couple of weeks on the job was great. The co-teacher was supportive and helpful, the assistant director helped guide me the best way she knew how when the co-teacher ended up sick for a week, I was congratulated for my quick thinking when it came to the Mother's Day performance while my co-teacher was still sick, and I met a new friend who I still talk to til this day. By the next month, the director moved me to another classroom as the classroom's lead teacher because she made the former teacher a floater. I thought the move was temporary, but this location would become my permanent classroom. After a week, the job started becoming stressful.
The atmosphere where my new classroom was located at was completely different from the atmosphere I received at the first location. Staff members kept calling out or coming to work late at least once or more a week during the summer. This caused the staff who did show up to work to become understaffed all the time. There were very less supportive and helpful co-workers. Many of these co-workers would snitch on one another to the director about the most pettiest things or lie when they thought they were going to get in trouble. One time, the director moved a couple of my students to the classroom next to mine. When the students returned, one of the students had a red mark on his face. When my co-teacher asked them what happened, they replied back "it's not my concern." The director personally spoke with the co-worker who made the statement then she asked me and two other co-workers to confirm. The director ended up taking the co-worker's side and then told me and the other co-workers that using the words we said she spoke to us was not in her vocabulary. With three teachers telling the director the same thing, you would think the director would have been on our side, but instead was on hers.
The children would be moved to new classrooms too fast without acknowledging the parents first about the changes. The director would always go back and forth on how she wanted the lesson plans to be constructed every month even when she told the staff a different way to construct the lesson plans the month before. When it came to the supplies needed in order to teach the lessons we had written for the lesson plans, it was either hidden within the buildings or the director expected us to go out our way to get the items ourselves and if the items were reasonably priced, she would reimburse us. In my last job, the school had a school budget that they would use to purchase items we needed for our lesson plans and would personally get the items for us per each week. When we didn't have the items; which was very rare, we didn't do that particular activity that day and the teachers wouldn't get punished for it. At this current job, it is a different story.
There has been a numerous of times where the director has had me in the office to discuss my lesson plans that she previously approved. Each time in her office, she would ask me why I wasn't doing a particular activity with the kids I had put on my lessons, I would tell her the reason was because she never gave me the items I needed that I asked for weeks in advance, she would never accept that answer. Instead she would tell me that I could have used a different item that were hidden in the buildings that she never told me about until that very moment while sitting in her office to compromise not having the original items needed for the planned activity.
When I first had to sit in her office, I believed she was just giving me constructive criticism. By the second time, I felt as though her advice and criticism were only negative and destructive. At the last couple of meetings she had me sitting in her office, she degraded my Psychology degree. I felt belittled and as though she would fire me any moment once she had enough staff members with a Bachelor degrees relating to children and teaching. I then realized why so many people would walk off the job after having a meeting with her. I can go on and on about the many ways the place was toxic, but I think you get my point. The preschool center was unorganized and the director was all over the place.
With all of this taking place, I started to get stressed out at the very thought of having to return to the job the very next day and once the weekend was over. My patience started to become very short when it came to many of my co-workers and the director's nonsense. I would just walk away whenever I felt like cursing them out. I felt a level of depression of staying at the job for the paychecks. I even hurt my hand and almost my legs from breaking up a fight with a couple of my students and grabbing items I needed for an activity before the director saw me. And another time, my nose started bleeding out of nowhere while watching the kids play outside. Many of the staff tried to start a rumor that I was doing something with my nose to cause it to bleed; which was never the case. The one friend I made at the job was the only one to clear my name from that rumor and call an ambulance for me.
I wasn't enjoying the position I was in anymore, but I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Many of the current and past co-workers felt similar to me and is the reason why they either quit or are applying to other jobs.
While I've heard of people working in toxic work environments, this was my very first time experiencing it for myself and I hope it will be my last. I once used to tell people in this situation to "thug it out" and wait until you get hired at another job before quitting because bills and ways of living still needs to be maintained. Now, my advice to them is find a way to get out of that place as soon as possible because your health always comes first before a job. I don't wish anyone to be placed in this situation at all. The craziest part about working at this preschool is the fact that the company doesn't offer any benefits like medical insurance, but the atmosphere caused a lot of health problems among staff members. Two weeks ago, I placed my two weeks in. Today, Monday, October 28, 2019; I will be working at the center as my last week.
During my experience working at this preschool center, these are the signs I picked up on when I realized I've been working at a toxic work environment:
1. Disorganization within the business
2. Unsupportive nor helpful directors and co-workers
3. A lot of gossip and rumors going around among staff members and clients
4. Poor communication skills among staff members
5. Discrimination among treatments between certain staff members and the boss
6. Always depress and feeling signs of anxiety at the though of having to be at work
7. Unfollowed policies and procedures
8. Always understaffed
9. A high turnover rate
10. Always worried about being fired
11. A lot of destructive and negative criticism taking place and little to none positive criticism
In this article, I will be focusing on toxic work environments and how it causes mental and physical health issues through telling my own experience. Through this article, my goal is to inform you the many signs of a toxic work environment and why it's important to remove yourself from such of an environment as soon as possible.
If you've been staying up to date with my articles and social media posts then you know I just graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with Bachelor degrees in English and Psychology with a concentration in Developmental Psychology. The day before my graduation day, I left the preschool center I've been working at for the pass three years because I was moving back home after the graduation. The very next day, I was on indeed.com and on my former University career center website applying for jobs. I applied for both international jobs and local jobs within the United States. I spent the whole next week going on in person and online interviews. I ended up chosen a preschool center located in Washington, District of Columbia (D.C) because I was offered the hourly pay I requested for, it was walking distance from the metro station, and all the other preschool jobs in Maryland was offering an hourly pay of less than $12 even with my educational background.
I started the job located in D.C on the first week of July as a lead teacher. The first couple of weeks on the job was great. The co-teacher was supportive and helpful, the assistant director helped guide me the best way she knew how when the co-teacher ended up sick for a week, I was congratulated for my quick thinking when it came to the Mother's Day performance while my co-teacher was still sick, and I met a new friend who I still talk to til this day. By the next month, the director moved me to another classroom as the classroom's lead teacher because she made the former teacher a floater. I thought the move was temporary, but this location would become my permanent classroom. After a week, the job started becoming stressful.
The atmosphere where my new classroom was located at was completely different from the atmosphere I received at the first location. Staff members kept calling out or coming to work late at least once or more a week during the summer. This caused the staff who did show up to work to become understaffed all the time. There were very less supportive and helpful co-workers. Many of these co-workers would snitch on one another to the director about the most pettiest things or lie when they thought they were going to get in trouble. One time, the director moved a couple of my students to the classroom next to mine. When the students returned, one of the students had a red mark on his face. When my co-teacher asked them what happened, they replied back "it's not my concern." The director personally spoke with the co-worker who made the statement then she asked me and two other co-workers to confirm. The director ended up taking the co-worker's side and then told me and the other co-workers that using the words we said she spoke to us was not in her vocabulary. With three teachers telling the director the same thing, you would think the director would have been on our side, but instead was on hers.
The children would be moved to new classrooms too fast without acknowledging the parents first about the changes. The director would always go back and forth on how she wanted the lesson plans to be constructed every month even when she told the staff a different way to construct the lesson plans the month before. When it came to the supplies needed in order to teach the lessons we had written for the lesson plans, it was either hidden within the buildings or the director expected us to go out our way to get the items ourselves and if the items were reasonably priced, she would reimburse us. In my last job, the school had a school budget that they would use to purchase items we needed for our lesson plans and would personally get the items for us per each week. When we didn't have the items; which was very rare, we didn't do that particular activity that day and the teachers wouldn't get punished for it. At this current job, it is a different story.
There has been a numerous of times where the director has had me in the office to discuss my lesson plans that she previously approved. Each time in her office, she would ask me why I wasn't doing a particular activity with the kids I had put on my lessons, I would tell her the reason was because she never gave me the items I needed that I asked for weeks in advance, she would never accept that answer. Instead she would tell me that I could have used a different item that were hidden in the buildings that she never told me about until that very moment while sitting in her office to compromise not having the original items needed for the planned activity.
When I first had to sit in her office, I believed she was just giving me constructive criticism. By the second time, I felt as though her advice and criticism were only negative and destructive. At the last couple of meetings she had me sitting in her office, she degraded my Psychology degree. I felt belittled and as though she would fire me any moment once she had enough staff members with a Bachelor degrees relating to children and teaching. I then realized why so many people would walk off the job after having a meeting with her. I can go on and on about the many ways the place was toxic, but I think you get my point. The preschool center was unorganized and the director was all over the place.
With all of this taking place, I started to get stressed out at the very thought of having to return to the job the very next day and once the weekend was over. My patience started to become very short when it came to many of my co-workers and the director's nonsense. I would just walk away whenever I felt like cursing them out. I felt a level of depression of staying at the job for the paychecks. I even hurt my hand and almost my legs from breaking up a fight with a couple of my students and grabbing items I needed for an activity before the director saw me. And another time, my nose started bleeding out of nowhere while watching the kids play outside. Many of the staff tried to start a rumor that I was doing something with my nose to cause it to bleed; which was never the case. The one friend I made at the job was the only one to clear my name from that rumor and call an ambulance for me.
I wasn't enjoying the position I was in anymore, but I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Many of the current and past co-workers felt similar to me and is the reason why they either quit or are applying to other jobs.
While I've heard of people working in toxic work environments, this was my very first time experiencing it for myself and I hope it will be my last. I once used to tell people in this situation to "thug it out" and wait until you get hired at another job before quitting because bills and ways of living still needs to be maintained. Now, my advice to them is find a way to get out of that place as soon as possible because your health always comes first before a job. I don't wish anyone to be placed in this situation at all. The craziest part about working at this preschool is the fact that the company doesn't offer any benefits like medical insurance, but the atmosphere caused a lot of health problems among staff members. Two weeks ago, I placed my two weeks in. Today, Monday, October 28, 2019; I will be working at the center as my last week.
During my experience working at this preschool center, these are the signs I picked up on when I realized I've been working at a toxic work environment:
1. Disorganization within the business
2. Unsupportive nor helpful directors and co-workers
3. A lot of gossip and rumors going around among staff members and clients
4. Poor communication skills among staff members
5. Discrimination among treatments between certain staff members and the boss
6. Always depress and feeling signs of anxiety at the though of having to be at work
7. Unfollowed policies and procedures
8. Always understaffed
9. A high turnover rate
10. Always worried about being fired
11. A lot of destructive and negative criticism taking place and little to none positive criticism
