5 Signs That Your Coworkers Don’t Like You

• Toxic work environments negatively affect people’s mental health and productivity.
• Oftentimes, toxic work environments are caused by coworkers having nasty attitudes towards each other and this goes unchecked and unpunished.
• To find out how you can effectively navigate a toxic workplace, continue reading this article for insight.

WHAT IS A TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT?

A workplace is said to be toxic when the environment makes it hard for people to be productive. It is usually because of other co-workers and sometimes even managers who neglect, belittle, and ostracize other employees and therefore making it hard for the employees to excel at their job.

SIGNS OF A TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT

How would you know if you were in a toxic workplace? The following are signs that may indicate a toxic workplace:

⓵. There is a lack of communication among coworkers which makes it hard to collaborate with each other.

⓶. You loathe going to work not because you don’t like your job but because your coworkers give you anxiety by merely interacting with them.

⓷. You notice that there are cliques at your workplace that are usually mean spirited and make others feel left out.

⓸. There is always some office drama going on. Usually perpetrated by and involving the same group of people.

These are just some of the examples of how you can tell if your workplace is toxic. For a more in-depth analysis, check out this article.

HOW COMMON ARE TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENTS?

A study conducted in 2019 that consisted of over 40,000 employees from 125 different companies in the United States showed that one in five employees face an unhealthy hostile and threatening workplace environment, struggling with bullying or harassment. However, when asked if they would report these instances of bullying and harassment, 83% of the workers said they would not, and 41% claimed they were unsure if they would be taken seriously or even if any action would be taken towards their complaints. This means that a lot of companies’ managers and other executives have no idea what goes on in the background with their workers and therefore are oblivious to the harassment their workers face either from/among each other or from other upper management.

How often do US workers experience abuse and harrassment? Source: www.statista.com​

SIGNS YOU ARE NOT VALUED AT WORK

1. NOBODY ASKS FOR YOUR OPINIONS

One of the signs you are not respected at work is that you are overlooked when people are looking for important input. And every time you try to engage they dismiss you or just don’t take your word for any value.

2. EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT YOU NEGATIVELY

If you notice that people are talking about you in a negative way, it is another sign that you can tell if your coworkers don’t like you. You may notice that they talk behind your back and sneer at you when you speak to or around them.

3. YOU ARE ALWAYS GETTING IN TROUBLE

You know you are not appreciated at work when you are always getting in trouble with your boss or your fellow coworkers. This is usually because you are always being reported by someone who doesn’t like you or your boss doesn’t like you and would like to see you get fired so they look for excuses to get you in trouble.

4. PEOPLE TALK DOWN ON YOU

When people talk down on you, it may leave you feeling unappreciated at work. Being talked down on will make you feel small and insignificant – this is done on purpose to throw you off your game.

5. YOU GENERALLY FEEL UNWELCOME

Perhaps the biggest sign that your coworkers don’t like you is your gut feeling. When you pick up on negative body language and vibes around people, it is usually right because people who are talking to you behind your back will have a nasty attitude towards you even when they try to mask it.

SIGNS YOUR BOSS HATES YOU

1. They are cold towards you:

If you and your boss had a warm and welcome working relationship and that changes all of a sudden, it may be a sign that he hates you. This could be because of what other people have told him/her about your work ethics or from what he has (un)biasedly observed. When your boss is cold towards you, it may leave you feeling underappreciated at work because none of your efforts and hard work are recognized. You will begin to feel unmotivated and anxious about showing up to work.

2. They set you up for failure:

When your boss hates you, they will do anything in their power to get you fired. This can manifest itself in being overworked and underappreciated; they will give you impossible tasks with short deadlines to meet them and blame you if you are unable to meet those deadlines, and even if you do manage to meet them, they will still be unimpressed.

WHEN YOUR COWORKERS DON’T LIKE YOU

Working with someone who doesn’t like you is a hard thing to experience. This is because you spend the majority of your time at the office and to be surrounded by toxicity the whole time can do a lot of damage to your mental health. If you ever find yourself in a situation where your coworkers have made it quite obvious that they don’t like you, here are some things you can do to:

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR COWORKERS DON’T LIKE YOU

⓵. When coworkers are talking about you, you can either decide to confront them about it – oftentimes, bullies are cowards and they will cower away when confronted. Or you can decide to rise above the office pettiness and drama and disengage with them – make it so that the only time you have to deal with them is when it is absolutely necessary.

⓶. Dealing with coworkers that don’t like you is not easy. If you find that step 1 is not working, then it is well within your rights to report their harassment to HR or other routes and personnel – especially if the person harassing you is in HR or someone above you like a manager.

⓷. Dealing with a coworker who doesn’t like you is quite hard because you may not always be able to avoid them, confront them, or even report them. When this happens, the best thing you can do for yourself is to either ask to work remotely if your job doesn’t require you to be present all the time, or you can just quit your job if it becomes unbearable.

SIGNS YOUR COWORKERS SECRETLY HATE YOU

⓵. They gossip about you: They will talk about you behind your back to each other and other people and even try to get others to join them into hating you and making your life miserable.

⓶. They leave you out of activities: This is how you can tell if someone secretly hates you in the office; when they make plans outside of work and never include you even after you express interest.

⓷. They delay your work to make you seem incompetent: If the person who hates you is in charge of you or your work, somehow, you may notice they withhold your work and claim that you never handed it to them on time, or that you never handed it to them at all. When they are actively trying to sabotage you, that’s how you know they secretly hate you.

COWORKERS DON’T LIKE ME BECAUSE I’M QUIET

Have you ever thought to yourself “my coworkers don’t talk to me” “coworkers don’t like me” “people at work don’t like me” “no one talks to me at work” “no one likes me at work” “coworkers talking about me”? If this sounds like you, you may need to start making an effort to get to know your coworkers first and come out of your shell – sometimes, it’s not that your coworkers don’t like you as much as it is they don’t know how to approach you. If you are introverted or have social anxiety your brain may try to convince you that people aren’t engaging with you because they hate you, however, this is not always the case, and until otherwise, make an effort to let people know you are available for and open to conversation. Start with a simple hello every day and move from that slowly – see how people engage with you after you have an opening into your life. You may want to read the following article on how to get people to like you at work to help you navigate being social and liked by your coworkers.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• How do you tell your boss you don’t feel valued at work?

The first thing you will want to do is to set up a meeting with your boss, make sure you choose a day and time that is convenient and comfortable for you. Once you have done this, you are going to have to compile all your evidence to show/prove that you are putting in the work and not getting your desired outcome/value. Then you are going to outline your expectations from your company; what can they do to make sure that your work is valued? You will need to know that this is a discussion and negotiation, so be prepared to compromise some but stand your ground.

CONCLUSION

Working in toxic environments can take a toll on a person’s well-being especially because the average adult spends more time at work than anywhere else. Toxic work environments affect not only the individual but also the overall productivity of the company.

There are always telltale signs in the workplace that let you know when your coworkers don’t like you. Identifying these signs will help you navigate the toxic workplace as efficiently as you can while protecting yourself from malice and harassment.