There is nothing worse than showing up to work, in a good mood, only to face the Toxic Employee…better known as the workplace bully.

The Workplace Bully can take you from being HAPPY to ANGRY within seconds. Toxic employees know exactly how to push your buttons. They are always voicing their own negative opinions, talking about how bad it is at work and how it is, “NEVER their fault.”

The toxic employee thrives on disrupting the work environment, causing havoc, and demeaning others for the mere pleasure of hurting others.

The toxic employee becomes a virus infecting all the employees with a negative plague… unless the agency addresses it head-on. ~ Linda Webb

Toxic employees cause most of the misconduct inside and outside an agency, with negative media exposure, and civil lawsuits.

6 Signs You Have toxic employees

1. They like upsetting others
2. They Lack Empathy
3. They show Aggressive Behavior (Crab Bucket Mentality)
4. They thrive around insecure people
5. They spread Rumors
6. They have an Entitlement Complex

Leadership can’t afford to allow toxic employees to grow inside their organization. Setting up standards and training for addressing unprofessional workplace behavior is key to stopping harassment and misconduct.

If you know you have toxic employees inside your agency, and you choose to look the other way, you become part of the problem.

But if you address it with improved SOP guidelines that includes ongoing professional workplace culture training to your whole organization, then EVERYONE benefits.

Once you have completed the training, set a professional workplace culture standard inside your organization that toxic employee behavior WILL NOT be tolerated. Immediately address any toxic employee behavior.

Continue to educate everyone in the organization on how to disengage (PIVOT) from toxic employees. Toxic employees need fuel, and they get their fuel from influencing other co-workers. It is important to teach employees how to PIVOT away from the toxic employee.

5 Steps to PIVOT away from the toxic employee 

1. Self-Awareness – Check in with your emotions – Notice how often your ANGER takes over vs your PATIENCE or JOY. Be aware of who you hang around at work. Are they helping or hurting you?

2. Who makes you FEEL (Good or Bad) when you are engaged with them at work? Do they make you feel bad, put you down, criticize you?

3. Behavioral Self Control – Take control! YOU own your own emotions, and you can make the best decision for yourself. Don’t let the Workplace Bully influence your decision.

4. PIVOT – Disengage from the toxic employee. Turn and walk away from the Bully, and don’t look back. The Bully needs to fuel to survive, so don’t give them the satisfaction.

5. Set Goals – Stay on track towards accomplishing your own goals. Don’t let one or toxic employees discourage you from climbing YOUR Ladder!

Everyone deserves to work in a healthy Professional Workplace environment. This requires commitment from everyone in the organization, not to fuel the toxic employee.  ~ Randy Friedman

Toxic employees must have others to listen to them, in order to cause havoc inside the workplace. Don’t feed into the Bully’s tactics, and learn to PIVOT…

RITE Academy provides Professional Workplace Culture Training that includes take away tools that help improve communication, and addresses Toxic Employees. These RITE take away tools provide an accountability needed to reinforce the professional workplace culture, that the police executive can expect within the agency.

About RITE Officer Training –  It starts with helping officers communicate with themselves, and the community more effectively. The RITE Ladder Tool teaches EI & SI that builds Career resiliency, improves Department morale, helps Professional workplace culture and reduces police misconduct to mitigate risk.

Check our EVENTS page for current trainings. For private classes where we come to you… Contact us below.