7 Signs Your Coworkers Hate You

Hey Optimist Minds!

In recent years, more people are understanding the importance of having a safe work environment due to the impact of stress on one’s mental and physical health.

We spend a big chunk of our day at work so it’s crucial for the office to not be toxic. Otherwise, it becomes extremely challenging to maintain productivity and prevent chances of psychological burnout.

Any workplace isn’t safe for you if you feel like you’re hated by your colleagues. When you’re working for an organisation, your performance is heavily impacted by your subjective experience. If you feel like your contributions are needed and appreciated, you feel valued and you flourish.

However, if you constantly fight negativity to earn a living, you end up draining yourself, which lowers your efficiency and self-esteem. 

This video will explain seven signs that your coworkers hate you. Knowing the signs can help you recognise if you need to change something about your work life to take care of your wellbeing. 

We also recommend contacting HR or an organisational psychologist to assess what you need to do to bounce back from this unfavourable situation.

Now, let’s begin.

One

They avoid you.

Do your coworkers maintain minimal eye contact with you? Do you ever notice them avoid coming in contact with you?

Such avoidance seems pretty hostile when you receive it from multiple people at work. It makes you feel unwanted, which can never feel good. Perhaps you have thick skin and you don’t let it affect you, but you might miss having support at work when your tasks require teamwork.

Two

They exclude you from office gatherings.

Another kind of avoidance is to leave you out of meetings, discussions, and informal interactions in the office. If your coworkers have something against you, they might try to make you feel left out. Doing so generally seems petty but it’s easier to be mean like that if many people dislike the same person.

Three

They ignore your requests.

There may come times when you have no option but to work together. In moments like this, you might have some requests that you need to make for the successful completion of work. But your colleagues won’t pay heed to your requirements if they’re holding a grudge against you. You’ll feel ignored and unimportant.

Four

They say hurtful things.

An obvious sign that you’re disliked at work is if your coworkers act cold and resentful towards you. They might say stuff that hits below the belt or purposely try to hurt you. Generally, this happens if something you did upset several people at work and they still haven’t forgiven you.

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Five

They try to embarrass you in front of your superiors.

Toxic coworkers may attempt to humiliate you in public as an attack on you. This could involve harsh criticism, bullying, or jokes that make fun of you. The idea is to attack your self-esteem and make you feel uncomfortable around the people you need to impress.

Six

They spread rumours about you.

Typically, news spreads very swiftly in workplaces, especially if it is scandalous. If you’re not liked at the office, your colleagues might fabricate stories about you that make you look bad and then spread them to all the employees. Consequently, you become the talk of the town as everyone has a joke or an opinion about your personal life.

Seven

They try to sabotage your career.

If your coworkers don’t have much of a conscience, they might deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct your career through foul play. They’ll probably do this in sneaky ways so that they don’t get caught. You might end up becoming the scapegoat for a problem you had nothing to do with.

Were you able to resonate with any of the signs we described here? Do you think that your coworkers might be hating you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Let’s build a stronger Optimist Minds community by being there for each other.

A link for further reading and the studies & references used in the making of this video are mentioned in the description below.

Thanks for visiting optimist minds, take care. Until next time.

References

• https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/how-toxic-colleagues-corrode-performance
• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/spc3.12087
• https://wjudaism.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/wjudaism/article/view/277