The Toxic Employee and Mobbing

Characteristics of the climate saboteur

The toxic employee is the individual who, by his negative and hostile attitude, contaminates the work environment and destroys the morale of his team.

Among his distinctive traits is constant discontent; nothing the company offers - be it benefits, gifts or infrastructure - satisfies him.

He tends to be extremely mendacious and victimizing, blaming external factors (such as lack of internet or poor equipment) for his own mistakes and failures.

In group meetings, this subject diverts the topic to problems without ever providing solutions, focusing on pointing fingers instead of collaborating.

In addition, he is often envious of colleagues who enjoy professional success or personal stability, trying to make their lives miserable because he cannot tolerate the happiness of others.

This sabotaging behavior not only reduces productivity, but can cause valuable talent to leave the organization to escape the unhealthy environment that this individual generates.

Mobbing: causes and symptoms

Mobbing is one of the most severe manifestations of organizational toxicity.

It consists of persistent, deliberate and systematic mistreatment by one or more members of the company towards an individual in order to psychologically and socially annihilate him or her so that he or she ends up resigning.

The harasser often excludes the victim from group decisions, sabotages his or her work or publicly minimizes his or her achievements.

This frequently occurs when a new worker arrives with energy and good training, and is perceived as a threat by the bully.

The victim of mobbing develops severe physical and psychological symptoms: chronic exhaustion, panic, insecurity, sleep problems, reactive aggression and neglect of personal hygiene.

It is a critical psychosocial risk that the organization must actively prevent through the occupational psychologist, since mobbing not only destroys the individual, but also exposes the company to lawsuits and an irreparable loss of its most capable human capital.