How to Deal with Toxic Coworkers in the Office

Co-workers are individuals you work closely with to come up with better results. Generally, our co-workers are not our friends due to one’s job, you are a friend and closer than just a friend. In a scenario whereby you find your co-worker acting selfishly or/and they often ridicule your work or they are taking credit for your entire work.

This can be depressing and also make working difficult. It rains everywhere, and every workplace has at least one or more toxic workers who can be difficult to work with.

But making sure you’re not the toxic worker in the office is something you should always keep in mind. The presence of a toxic co-worker can affect your blood pressure or ruin the atmosphere of work for the day.

With a toxic person being your coworker, working can be depressing and frustrating, and since you can’t control or adapt to their behavior, we need to look for how to deal with the situation before it ends up making a toxic person.

Truly, our co-workers can inspire us but if you work with a toxic colleague, inspire yourself by not allowing them to affect you negatively, letting a toxic co-worker walk over you can as well turn you into a toxic person, and you wouldn’t want that.

Toxic co-workers can make your professional life an unprofessional one if you’re not careful enough, especially when working with greedy, rude, and annoying co-workers, and some are office gossipers that are bent on tarnishing your reputation at work, then you wonder how you’ll be able to deal with them.

Well, you have nothing to be worried about, as this overview will give you an insight into how to deal with toxic coworkers in the office.

Who Is a Toxic Co-Worker?

Our co-workers are our teammates and supporters when an issue arises. But who are toxic co-workers? Toxic co-workers are our colleagues who possess some negative traits like being rude and disrespectful.

Sometimes they become greedy and aggressive, and they often act like they know it all. Generally, they are toxic and if you’re not careful enough, you might end up becoming like them.

Just like how we inherit some wonderful traits from friends and families, we can also inherit some toxic traits from our co-workers too.

They are usually bitter people who are victims of evil society, childhood trauma, and other unfortunate circumstances that could’ve created such people.

Just like being positive, Negativity is also contagious, which is why you have to deal with a toxic co-worker earlier than your initial plans.

A toxic co-worker makes working look like unpleasant stress and due to their negative nature, they can make you feel like you’re not doing enough since they’re often good at undermining other co-workers’ work credibility.

Only one toxic co-worker is enough to destroy a positive working place, toxic individuals might have experienced some toxic behavior from other co-workers and they might not be obvious to the fact that they are toxic and might end up inheriting some toxic behavior from them, but you know better which is why you’re seeking for answers.

How To Identify a Toxic Coworker

Some co-workers can be pretentious, making it difficult to know how toxic they can be. Regardless of some of the toxic traits that will be explained below, you should know there are other traits that a toxic co-worker has.

A toxic coworker will always try to take credit for jobs they didn’t do. The slackers, the office gossiper, and the bully are usually the ones. they are also aggressive and rude, they undermine other co-workers thinking they are the best.

They blame others for their mistakes and often they are extremely defensiveness when confronted. If you work with a toxic person, always strive to avoid inheriting their negativity, and surround yourself with positive vibes only.

You can read this: 15 Smart Ways on How to Deal With a Difficult Boss

How To Deal With Toxic Co-workers In The Office

Coming across as a toxic co-worker in any industry is not something new. In every industry, there will always be one or more toxic co-workers, but the major deal to look out for is checking yourself always to know if you’re not the toxic one in the company.

The toxic person in your company could be your co-worker, boss, clients, friends, or anyone at work. Dealing with a toxic worker is something you should learn before they influence you with their toxic energy.

Here are a few lists of toxic co-workers you might come across at your place of work and how to deal with them:

1. The Passive-Aggressive Co-Worker

A passive-aggressive coworker is someone who expects you to know what is wrong with them through their negative actions.

This type of toxic co-worker won’t open up about what truly bothers or discomfort them, they just transfer their aggression on you by being hostile or just by undermining your efforts at work.

They often know you are not aware of what is wrong but they just expect you magically understand.

So, the best way to deal with a passive-aggressive co-worker is by talking to them directly, having a conversation with them to know how to make the situation better. It is crucial you don’t pay evil with evil in this scenario.

In addition, this is one of the ways to deal with toxic coworkers

2. The Rude And Disrespectful Co-Worker

Rude and disrespectful coworkers are one trait a toxic coworker has. We all have things we consider as being rude and disrespectful, your co-worker might be the type that walks over you because they feel they’re better in a way or they are not always considerate with their actions, or they are simply offensive towards you while making bad remarks.

Nobody appreciates co-workers that disrespect them, it is a toxic trait you don’t want to inherit. Ignoring a rude or disrespectful co-worker might be the worst thing to do, as they will continue to be rude to you and this can affect your self-esteem, address the toxic co-worker head-on so such things won’t repeat themselves.

In addition, this is one of the ways to deal with toxic coworkers.

3. The Co-worker That Blame Others For Their Mistakes

This type of toxic co-worker never takes responsibility for their actions. They are usually good at blaming everyone around them for mistakes they made themselves.

Their toxic traits can affect other workers that work close to them, as they can make a workplace feel depressing.

A co-worker who blames everyone for their faults always tries to ruin the reputations of other co-workers.

You can easily deal with this toxic person by doing your best to avoid them or reporting them to the HR department.

It is best you don’t confront them about their activities because they can easily paint you as the bad one. In addition, this is one of the ways to deal with toxic coworkers

4. The greedy co-workers

We all desire to work with unique co-workers but ended getting greedy. A greedy co-worker can be someone who is looking for promotions at the cost of another co-worker’s downfall.

Greedy co-workers are selfish and manipulative, their greed always clouds their judgments. Avoid associating with a greedy co-worker, they can influence you with their negativity or engage you with their unhealthy work competition.

5. The co-worker that takes credits for other people’s works

One of the types of toxic coworkers is the one that takes credit for other coworkers’ work. They are often lazy individuals who don’t take part in projects, they love joining at the last minute, this can be annoying because you know how much you invested in the project.

A co-worker who takes other co-workers credits can be a manipulator knowing how to steal your work credit without your awareness.

You can deal with this person by confronting them, and making it clear that your name deserves to be included in the project.

Avoid making any accusation without evidence, but try to be reasonable with them and always make sure you emphasize your contributions to the project. In addition, this is one of the ways to deal with toxic coworkers.

6. The Unsatisfied Co-Worker

Working with an unsatisfied co-worker can unsettle because regardless of the time and energy you put in the work, you might never satisfy them as they will always find faults in what you.

In other to create a unique working environment, we always try to put our heart and handwork into the things we do, but if you work with an unsatisfied colleague, you might find it difficult to bring the best to work.

When one’s work is not appreciated, it hurts your ego or even discourages you from doing your best. They usually complain about everything or speak negatively about your job.

You can deal with an unsatisfied co-worker by understanding why they are not happy with your work.

Also, you can ask them directly for their advice and see if their opinion can help improve your work, be open to corrections, and accept your wrongs.

7. The Backstabbers

Backstabbing co-workers are of various types, they belittle other co-workers, they make negative remarks, and they often take credits for work that isn’t theirs.

If you’ve been a victim of backstabbers, you would know that they are not people to be trusted with important documents.

Most backstabbers are pretentious, they’ll come as a friend just to steal your work and take credit for it, they envy other co-workers’ success at work.

You can deal with a toxic backstabber by avoiding them the best way you can, be open to new friends but always watch what you tell them so as not to be the next topic for the office.

Don’t disclose your ideas when a suspected backstabber is around. In addition, this is one of the ways to deal with toxic coworkers

8. The Controlling Co-Worker

This type of toxic co-worker always believes they are superior to everyone in the office. They are usually annoying since they believe they can walk over you.

They often refuse to mutually agree on an important aspect of a project, they are the office control freaks that love to order people around with the thought that they are always on point.

Also, their toxic traits can make you feel you don’t have an idea about anything or make you feel unwanted since someone knows it all.

You can deal with this type of people by asking questions that apply to the project, doing this will make them understand that you are not without ideas, you can offer your advice on a situation, avoid arguing with a controlling co-worker as this won’t solve anything.

9. The Narcissistic co-workers

A Narcissistic co-worker is someone that has an inflated sense of self-importance, a narcissistic colleague lacks empathy, they always feel overly important like they are better than everyone around them, they are self-centered, and always hard to work with due to their toxic traits.

They take credit for other coworkers’ projects. Some are the office flirts that usually feel like they can get anyone they set their mind on. They enjoy making people feel like they are less important.

The best way to deal with a narcissistic co-worker is by ignoring their antics and their manipulative ways, don’t make them feel like they are not important, but try to avoid sharing important details that can be used against you with a narcissistic co-worker.

Also, you can check this: 12 Tips for Dealing with Lazy Coworkers | 2022 Job Tips

10. The Dramatic Co-Worker

Working with a dramatic co-worker can be quite exhausting. A dramatic co-worker can easily push your patient button till you react negatively, they rarely care about being professional at what their work.

They derive joy from unnecessary attention and can be quite emotional, so you have to be careful about how you relate with them.

Sometimes, they are the office gossip. They try to be friends with you so they can use your words against you.

You can deal with a dramatic co-worker by not trusting your information or documents with them; although some get easily carried away by their emotions it is safe you avoid them the best way you can.

11. The Emotional Blackmail Co-workers

Emotional blackmail co-workers are toxic individuals who manipulate other coworkers by threatening and demanding them to get things they want. No one wants to associate with this type of toxic co-worker, but they always are in their lives.

Emotional blackmailers use fear to get their victims to corporate with their absurd needs. Because they are aware of how you react to certain things and probably know some information they can use against you, they always use your emotions for their needs.

You need to first understand how they emotionally blackmail you and their patterns because that’s how you can stop a blackmailer.

You can then approach them and make them understand how their words and actions affect you, some might be oblivious to the fact that their traits can be seen as blackmailing. In addition, this is one of the ways to deal with toxic coworkers.

FAQs

One of the best ways to deal with toxic workers is by accepting them for who they are.

The best way to deal with a toxic worker is by confronting, letting them know how their words make you feel will help you feel better whether they decide to change or not.

Yes, you should inform the manager/HR about a toxic coworker.

When dealing with a toxic coworker, avoid being toxic too.

Talking things out with a toxic coworker might help you both have a positive work relationship.

Conclusion

While avoiding a toxic might seem like a good idea, you should be careful of becoming one. A toxic coworker can make working feel like hell, but taking up the courage and confronting them will help you in a lot of ways, but avoid getting in a physical fight with them, because doing that will do more harm than good.

I hope this overview gives you the answers to your questions on how to deal with toxic coworkers.