A while back I posted an article about toxic workplaces. (You can read that one HERE). I gave some pretty solid advice in that article. Advice, however is only good if you put it into action. My work place had gotten so bad that I had no choice but to take a little of my own advice, swallow that bitter pill and make the choice to get out of my work place, and look at some positive workplaces before it destroyed me.
MAKE THE CHOICE
Like the article said, Instead of quitting and leaving myself without an income I started smashing out applications to other recruitment firms and scored an interview with another government dept. The pay was slightly higher and the location was closer to my home, so there would be some savings on my fuel spend. Reason enough to leave. And hey? It couldn’t be worse than the place I’d been spending my days anyway.
I got to the office early for my interview and as I was a bit earlier than I anticipated (traffic was really light that day) I sat in the foyer and observed people coming and going from the office. I noticed everyone had a different spring in their step when compared to my own work place. They actually seemed excited to be there, to start their day of work. This was in stark contrast to work place I’d decided to leave, where the mornings reminded me of Night of the Living Dead, depressed zombies trudging into work, barely alive but undead.
At this point I feel I should also justify my decision to leave. I could have been making more money in any other department. The work was emotionally heavy (Though I can handle this particular kind of work quite well) and the management were making things needlessly difficult. All the signs I’d pointed out in the previous article on the subject had become glaringly obvious. I joined with an intake of around 200 people, and in the 13 months I’d been there all but 5 (myself included in that 5) had quit. It was not a positive place to be. Let’s face it we spend most of our waking hours at work or commuting to and from work. WHY SHOULD WE SPEND IT SOMEWHERE WE HATE, OR WORSE STILL SOMEWHERE THAT HATES US?
THE RESULT:
I got the job. I was basically the same job i was doing in my old work place. Just different subject matter and different people. My co-workers took an interest in my life and well being. They Do not monitor you every second of the day, and you don’t spend your days being in constant fear of loosing your job. When I say “take an interest” they asked me about my other skills (tech based stuff) and even said they would be on the look out to help me develop those skills when the opportunity came up. (They’ve actually started to follow through on those promises too)
I have now been there 3 three months. I feel waves of stress shedding from my being. This is the kind of work place I could spend the rest of my working years. And I owe it all to not accepting a second rate work place, but instead applying to work in positive workplaces that deserved me and me them.
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