15 Sep Toxic Workplace Situations for Baby Boomers and How to Eliminate Them
Toxic Workplace Situations
Toxic work situations cover an enormous range of difficulties. Baby boomers are practiced at dealing with cranky people and sticky problems – they have been around a long time and have a lot of experience to fall back on!
The bigger the corporation the more likelihood there will be of finding toxic issues causing a problem and making people miserable. Power games can be a huge problem in large companies where line managers are too heavily committed to their own advancement to interest themselves in the juniors beneath them. Tiny empires usually manage to flourish at departmental level, beneath the notice of the policy makers on the top floor.
Baby boomers, as part of an older generation with older values, are unlikely to prescribe to the type of behavior that causes colleagues so much distress and unhappiness, although exceptions should always be considered. Workplace bullying begins at every level from the shop floor right up to the boardroom and baby boomers have the long term career experience to address toxic situations and help to eliminate them.
In conflicts where colleagues are targeting a particular individual, it is so tempting to keep your head below the parapet and pretend you are busy rather than improve someone’s day by stepping in and saying ‘That’s not fair’ or ‘Be reasonable and try this…” Baby boomers by nature are usually the adventurous sort and not afraid to enter the arena. Sometimes, though, everyone has the need for a quiet day and on these occasions, toxic behavior slips the net.
One of the major unpleasant pastimes in large companies is the tendency to gossip. Chatting about a colleague having another baby or making a remark about somebody’s birthday is passing chatter designed to be sociable and interactive: talking about someone’s marriage difficulties or their rumoured love affair with the boss is dangerous, harmful and hurtful gossip.
Baby boomers would be well advised to avoid getting involved with the kid of colleagues who indulge in this kind of entertainment. There is no need to be opinionated or to dictate your own values to such people: just walk away from pockets of gossip. Eventually you will earn the reputation for not indulging in gossip and this can only be a good thing for baby boomers or for any employee.
Sometimes, people who are insecure require their egos to be massaged, especially in the senior management sector. This insecurity can cause all manner of unsociable behavior in the workplace, ranging from simple conceit to the kind of bullying that takes the form of sexual harassment (oh yes, it happens to baby boomers too) or even victimization. Baby boomers are old enough to know better, but those who derive a mean satisfaction from intimidating others should take time out and seek professional therapy followed by a period of rehabilitation before re-entering the workplace.
This Psychological Article on Toxic Workplace Situations for Baby Boomers and How to Eliminate Them is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series of baby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.
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