Earlier today I had a very heart-warming catchup with a number of my ex-colleagues at a company that I spent the most time at in my career thus far. All except for one of us had moved on to other roles, one had moved to a different country…
There was a lot of joy in reminiscing our time together, but quite a bit of sadness too in how the environment that had given us so much growth, opportunities and friends, had changed so much that it is unrecognisable for us today.
Reflecting, there were a couple of key themes that emerged from our reminiscences, gossip and discussion.
Mental Health is a Top Priority
A healthy work environment is an asset and a toxic work environment is a huge liability. In fact, the personal costs of a toxic environment can be truly traumatic and damaging to our mental and physical health, that we could end up spending more money in recovery compared to the so called income security for which we put up with the abuse.
In a toxic environment, the so called guard rails of the HR department and mental health support from the company can be really ineffective and simply be lip service by the company.
The workplace is a huge factor for our mental health & personal practices cannot fully offset the effects of a toxic workplace.
Choose your workplace very carefully. Yes we may not have much of a choice at the beginning, but recognise when you do have a choice & make that choice when it presents itself to you.
Toxic Hires will Sink the Boat
As a leader, I’ve been fortunate to have had many talented and “positive-energy” team members, some of whom are good friends now and still keep in touch now and then. There were also a couple of dubious, “negative-energy” hires who impacted the team spirit. In retrospect I could have done a better job vetting them and perhaps gotten help from another trusted team member with a stronger intuitive sense about characters.
Yes, mistakes happen - but some mistakes are more costly than others; hiring a toxic team member probably ranks as one of the most costly mistakes we can make as leaders, with collateral damage on the team.
Often these hiring mistakes happen when we are desperate to find someone who can quickly fill a vacancy. Another key reason is when we try to hire for an exact match for the role instead of hiring for personality and cultural fit to the team.
Now what if the hiring decision is out of our control, where our manager makes the decision?
Be very careful when this happens, and take note of the manager/team leader’s attitude towards the toxic hire.
If it starts to look like the toxic team member is going to thrive, make plans to protect yourself, either by moving to a role that doesn’t require working with the person or out of the company altogether. It’s best to make these plans and moves before the toxic team member has affected you.
Craft your Own Career Path
Discovering and thriving in our “ikigai” is crucial. We need to discover the flow state in our work, and ideally it should be something that pays well (unless money is not important in your path). We may need to upskill ourselves regularly for this, make lateral career moves, jump off career “cliffs”, paraglide, whatever it may take.
The cheesy interview question of “where do you see yourself in five years” is often mocked, and actually may not be suited for an interview now, but it is very relevant for self-reflection. Yes we don’t have crystal balls and our career doesn’t evolve in exactly the same way we anticipated when we were younger, however it is important to steer ourselves in the right way.
There are multiple ways to do this, including having role models & mentors, reflecting on personal and career priorities, monetary goals, aspirations for migration, etc. Staying in the same role & company for many years may not pay off well - loyalty to a company is no longer valued now in most companies, the way it was 10-15+ years ago.
Build Financial Security
Fear of losing an income is the top/main reason many stay on in toxic environments, along with visa sponsorship for expat & migrant workers. I’m not experienced on the visa sponsorship aspect so I won’t comment further on that.
Financial security is also a reason stopping many from pursuing their career dreams of building businesses, exploring different paths, and discovering themselves - this can be very costly as if we delay these experiments, the opportunity may disappear after some time.
There are many ways of building financial security. Investing strategically in growth & income-paying assets, building side-hustle incomes and the various methods of building passive income all are crucial for us.
At 24, I spent so much time on my actuarial education (no regrets there), but it would have been nice if I invested more time on learning investments and passive income strategies too.
In conclusion
Our careers are a very important part of our lives, and we need to think about it very carefully and strategically.
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