11 manifestations of negativity that should be avoided in work communication

From time to time I read that people don’t like how bosses swear at work. For some reason, it is common to think that this is the worst thing that can depress and negatively affect business processes, although in fact it is only a destructive tone of speech. In fact, there are many other things that are much worse. Especially when you consider that many people just talk obscenities and do not add any special subtext to it.

It is one thing for someone to be scolded in this way, another thing is to use it in a critical situation in the form of a “whip”. Or in literature. Surprisingly, the more freedom in swearing that various tough communities have, the less often people actually swear. Mat is a tool of crisis; if used in passing, it simply loses its amplifying properties and becomes background noise.

Not everyone is ready to swear, so if this is the norm in a company, then you need to understand that someone will not want to endure it and may leave. Here everyone decides for themselves about acceptability.

Sometimes swearing is not exactly acceptable, but somewhere it can become part of an emotional release. But if your boss yells obscenities at you and insults you, it’s time to think about further cooperation. Distinguish between these situations, they are different.

8. Scream

Such a reaction has been quite rare in recent years, since mostly everyone writes in instant messengers. There, of course, you can use CAPS if you want, but it already looks like bad form. In real life, screaming demonstrates powerlessness more than it can have any effect, although this greatly depends on the individual situation. Like swearing, it can be an effective argument for some workers at a construction site, because it is almost the norm there, but even in this case, you should not abuse it, so as not to get hit in the head with a shovel in a dark alley. At some calls or meetings, loud screams are inappropriate, because they are of no use. More than once I have observed how people shout at each other in controversial situations, instead of briefly voicing what needs to be corrected and calmly going about their business.

9. Threats

Quite rare manifestations that today everyone perceives weakly. Again, due to the vagueness and impersonality of online communication. There is almost no point in threats, but he can fly for it. Here everything also greatly depends on the situation. Frequent use of such pressure only weakens the position. I once had a manager who yelled and threatened to fire all team employees for possible (!) mythical mistakes. The first time everyone started and froze, the second time they got upset, and then they stopped taking it seriously. Well, in the end, then everyone just moved away from such a tyrant.

10. Sabotage

It is quite rare and is beyond the bounds. I haven’t had such situations, but I’ve read many stories about how various IT specialists deleted something in employers’ systems in retaliation for cheating on salaries or outright deceit with working conditions. Employees here should remember that such actions can end badly purely legally, and employers should know that any accountants, lawyers, system administrators or advertisers need to be fired correctly and carefully. You shouldn’t spoil things, because in response to rash actions there is a high probability of naturally taking a sip of slop.

In general, the entire system of management and business processes should be built not even against sabotage, but according to the logic of protection from fools. The director must understand and control all weak points, understand the information and technical security policy so that the company’s website does not crash when the administrator, who uploads content while working remotely from another country, leaves.

11. Physical impact

Fortunately, this crap also passed me by, although the network is full of various wild stories. In one company, the director liked to throw hole punches at his employees at meetings; in another, security once beat up a social media manager for writing something wrong on the internet. I once read in the media how a client threw a PR woman down the stairs in anger… This, of course, happens rarely, but who knows what might be in someone’s head?

In short, there are plenty of poorly adequate people, because not everyone knows how to communicate normally. This is partly influenced by anonymity, which creates the illusion of impunity for words or actions: “What will you do to me? I'm in another city.”

The specifics of relationships must be taken into account in any interaction on the Internet. In personal social networks, it is better to ignore all the negativity, otherwise there will simply not be enough time for anything else. At work, such moments are more critical, especially if at first the company seemed normal, and then a month later various problems and warning signs began to appear.

For some employers, after signing a contract, the veil of restraint immediately falls away, and they “straighten their shoulders” because there is no longer a need for politeness and there is no need to hide their essence. At first, such characters resort to insults and swearing, then they demand unrealistic actions, and when they receive a legitimate beating, they begin to yell and threaten with non-payment of wages. Attempts to build a dialogue are hissed from their holes and toxically trolled, or some dirty gossip and rumors are spread among the leadership.

Perhaps in some places, in conjunction with corruption and murky schemes, everyone is gradually getting used to this, but for me, this only leads to total burnout of employees and degradation of the organization. A good example here are all sorts of law enforcement agencies or corporations in which the renewal of large contracts depends on the success of managers. From time to time you come across strange people there who don’t understand how to solve problems and therefore randomly push them onto their subordinates. In such cases, you have to urgently think about how to sort it all out and start looking for a new job. Or decide for yourself how long such behavior will have to be tolerated and how to minimize all the troubles from the seagull management of effective specialists.

I advise you to monitor online reviews before hiring or directly ask HR questions. And if they respond with embarrassment, think about their reaction. One time, a colleague admitted that the director pushed him to commit criminal offenses just to harm me because of disagreements at work.

In general, it doesn’t give me any pleasure to delve into some kind of trash, or even classify it. But, unfortunately, from time to time communication even in real life leaves much to be desired. On the Internet, the probability of error is even greater, since the interlocutor may misunderstand something or be offended by very innocent words. Therefore, you should be more lenient towards someone’s strange behavior and not initially expect anything good from strangers.

Over the past few years, companies have been paying special attention to their corporate brands and, in particular, to the Employer Value Proposition (EVP), the employer's value proposition. Quite often, all official actions are directly opposite to the real reputation of the business. Large banks, retailers, marketplaces, telecom operators and other corporations declare how great they are and flood everything with advertising, while end users spit from the bestial attitude towards themselves at the client level. In addition, despite the “applicant market” in some segments such as IT, HR is not shy at the final stage of the offer to reduce the promised salary by 30+% after passing 3-4 stages of the interview and are also surprised by refusals)

The labor market is now quite heterogeneous; everything that I describe happens to both small organizations and large ones. Finding good employees requires spending a lot of money and time, so is it worth throwing it away? The obvious answer is no, but the relationship culture in most companies is still poor. And this despite the fact that an increase in salary usually occurs only through dismissal and transfer to a new place. Employers understand this well, but they rarely show sensitivity to people, which sometimes causes me the greatest surprise, because from a profitability point of view, it is much more profitable to retain employees than to constantly look for new ones.

If you were interested, here is another article of mine about how to build relationships with people so that later you don’t feel painfully ashamed for senseless actions)