CHI has been captured in the spider web of a toxic garment knows well that dough of impotence and permanent tension, of anger, frustration and anxiety that generates manipulative technical techniques through well -deployed. He, moreover,, He is a professional of blackmail and targeted harassment Where it hurts more, a favorism, discrimination and sabotage operator. Or again, An abusant who uses the faculty of command to shape divided, passive, frightened environments. Who favor the affirmation of his power and his interests.
Toxic work environment: the role of companies
If you can’t do without work, it seems no other way than to be at his game, trying to compare as many strokes as possible and limit the damage. «The most appropriate choice, in reality, And contact the company to those who deal with human resources or a similar figure who can collect our testimony and understand. Better to avoid, however, to contact the head itself at first “ suggests Biancamaria Cavallini, work psychologist and scientific director of Mindworkcompanies that deals with Psychological well -being in the company.
According to the most recent research by Gallup “State of the Global Workplace Report 2024”, Almost 8 out of 10 people in the world live a working malaise. And in Italy only 4 out of 100 people say they are happy in the workplace. For this reason today many companies do they strive to generate healthy and respectful environments. And the younger workers represent a great incentive to do so, arranged how they resignin order to pursue the ideal of human environments that make sense and not just employment.
Despite this, the work planet is still populated by harassing garments. «It happens because the individual who destroys He behaves with others in that way for a reason linked to his personality. Consequentially, Any training and corporate coaching cannot perform the miracle to overturn models of interaction that they are part of himadopted for a lifetime. It also happens that certain companies end up rewardingdirectly or not, the so -called toxic garmentsbecause they appear functional to your model “ Cavallini says, who for the publisher FrancoAngeli, has recently published the texts on the dynamics of work Back to well -being and vulnerability.
Comparison with colleagues
Given for awarded, therefore, that A garment that poisons the work environment can do it in different forms, It matters a lot the way you perceives those who suffer. “It happens that people interpret how “Toxic”- word now more than abused on the net – Something that do not like, that they do not share, or that puts them uncomfortable, “says Cavallini. And argues: «Toxic has become a term under which both manipulative and even abusing behaviors are framedand “simple” dysfunctional conduct. And even character incompatibility. For this I invite people to distinguish.
Today the work is no longer as once and what you are looking for is no longer just the salary (Getty Images)
It may be that it qualifies as abuse – which is a conscious, intentional way of acting and is made of harassment, manipulations, threats, lack of transparency, verbal violence, discrimination – What is a character incompatibility that creates continuous frictions. OR the immaturity of the boss in managing people and relationships. These are not two problems recently but, as I see it, they cannot be defined as “toxic”: there are Immature leaders who make their own staff very muchbut who genuinely think they are good leaders! For this reason, I believe it is necessaryfirst of all, an objective examination of behaviorsto verify that they are consolidated and disseminated in the environment in which you work. And for this purpose it can work very well ithe comparison with colleagues ».
According to an Italian research, among the workaholics, women are mainly to suffer from a black mood during work (Getty Images).
A key factor in determining the relationship with a toxic garment is, in fact, The character of each: «Who manages to contain the manipulations against them and Keeping intact has solid self -esteem And a sense of self -efficacy »continues Cavallini. «Safety in one’s professional skills leads to adopting an assertive postureperhaps conciliatory regarding the form of dialogue and relationship, but without sagging Compared to the object of the dispute “.
Toxic work environment: resources for (re) act
To make the air of the workplace irrespable It can therefore be so much the non -manipulator narcissistwhich acts intentionally in a certain way, completely blind compared to the needs of others and that prevail to its explicit advantage demolishing the balance of the individual and the group, how much the obsessive leader with suffocating controlwho does not confidence in anyone, has a work addiction and He claims from the others who work under the same conditions – Hellish – who work for him, or she. But destabilizing for others it is also The boss who never makes decisionsout of fear that they reveal uncomfortable, what does not manage conflictswho lets injustices and prevarications grow without doing anything and, indeed, leaving the people he is responsible for themselves.
“In any case, Is the destructive person the absolute evil? An invincible evil? No! Apart from very rare evil cases, There is no completely toxic person: if he existed, anyone who met her would end, “says Francesca Pontoglio, psychologist and psychotherapist, Senior Consultant of Wise Growth, a consultancy company specialized in human sustainability and in promoting corporate contexts that enhance individuals.
Pontoglio encourages not to magnify the power that a leader can exercise. «If, on the one hand, there are leaders – few – which unquestionably activate in people negative dimensions, on the other there are leaders perceived as much harmful from some individuals, but not from others who work in the same conditions. This means that An individual is not harmful in himselfat least not entirely, but it becomes it to the extent that it continues to allow it to it “.
An example? “If I am now aware that my manager I manipulate me to leverage my sense of guilt, because I always say yes to every work request, It will be up to me when the mechanism is activated and, while feeling guilty, Try to tell him no “ Pontoglio says. In favor of this change of scenario, the expert suggests, space and time could play: that is do not respond instantly to your request, And detach yourself from that context, perhaps leaving the room.
«Each of us has, in short,, a share of individual responsibility in suffering others: Our point of arrival should be become aware of what othersthrough their work, make us resound within us And then, choose actively if and how to react. Feeling this responsibility and playing it means being free, have the power not to suffer relationshipsespecially those that hurt us ».
A lush garden
But A definitive solution cannot exist If you do not define an inviolable space around it, to be expanded or reduced, depending on the circumstances and desires: “Putting a border between us and the world does not allow the latter to take us by storm and hurt us” explains Pontoglio.
«Unfortunately, many delude themselves that it exists in itself, regardless of having traced it. We should Living inside the workplaces as if we were in a lush fenced gardenand evaluate every time you need who can enter, how can it do it and when it has to go out. Instead, There are people who live with the door of the wide open gardenbut they don’t know, ending up giving a lot of space to those who take it very willingly “ concludes.
The rules for denouncing abuse in the company
Law n ° 23 of 2024 indicates In which cases and how you can activate to make a reportwithout fear of retaliation. An employee can report – anonymously or not, but always protected – illegal or irregularities of which he is aware of in his company: it is the WHISTLEBLOWING practice (literally blowing into the whistle), regulated by different legal provisions to encourage transparency and legality within organizations.
Each company with more than 50 employees has the obligation of a whistleblowing service to report illegal behavior, abuse or harassment at work. (Getty Images)
Today they have the obligation to equip themselves with channels for reports public bodies and companies with more than 50 employeesas well as those operating in sectors considered at risk, for example finance or environment. The reporting channels they can be internal – see IT platforms prepared by the organization – or outsidesuch as the judicial authority or the ANAC (national anti -corruption authority).
Can be reported, among the different cases, Discrimination and harassment in the workplaceviolations of human rights, as well as bad management, corruption, violations of the law and criminal offenses. The report must be circumstantial and founded on factual elementsnot on simple suspicions or opinions. Who reports illegal activities enjoys specific protections by law: these provide for the confidentiality on his identity and protection compared to any retaliation and discrimination that it can suffer. Even those who report in anonymous way benefit from protections according to the legislation: their action is now encouraged by cryptographic platforms and tools increasingly advanced in protect anonymity and protect the data along the entire chain of the process.
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