How To Get A Toxic Coworker Fired (7 Effective Ways)
By
OptimistMinds
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Author bio
The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
This article will not only apprise the audience on how to get a toxic coworker fired by detailing 7 effective methods but also explain why these methods make sense! Furthermore, the article will also explain how to identify or determine if someone is actually a toxic coworker.
How To Get A Toxic Coworker Fired?
You can get a toxic coworker fired by doing the following:
- Be Sure They Are Toxic – Easier To Gather Evidence
- Note Their Habits
- Talk To Other Coworkers
- Test The Toxic Coworker
- Expose The Toxic Coworker
- Inform Your Manager
- Throw The Weight On Others
Before we discuss each of these ways to get a toxic coworker fired – eventually if not immediately – we will explain how you can ascertain whether or not your fellow employee is contributing to a toxic work culture or not!
How To Identify A Toxic Coworker?
Dealing with toxic coworkers is a draining experience that leaves you feeling exhausted and mentally incapable of doing any productive work. They will use smart tactics to keep the blame off themselves and actually revel in the misery other coworkers face sometimes with the ‘I told you so’ attitude. What exactly is the purpose of a toxic coworker is an entirely different debate – however we do know that they want to show others that they are always right and will do anything to prove their innocence or challenge the assumptions or attacks made on them.
According to most definitions, a toxic coworker is someone who engages in harmful behavior that causes damage to a company’s employees and property. This damage is not restricted to these two but can also affect customer’s satisfaction or happiness, sales and profits as well as the reputation of the business.
These individuals are the ones people will mostly avoid because they realize the metal traps set by these toxic people and how difficult it is to avoid them. You will see people trying to avoid being in their team, working with them on an assignment or having to talk to them about a certain issue.
Nonetheless, here are 3 ways you can identify a toxic coworker:
- Play The Victim – Avoid Blame
- The Talk of the Town – Gossip
- Passive Aggressive Comments
Play The Victim – Avoid Blame
One of the most common traits you will see in a toxic coworker is that they will always avoid the blame and try to play innocent. This is most common during team work when they not only have a number of excuses to escape being held responsible but there are countless ways to make others feel miserable or stressed out.
These individuals, despite not being productive or hard working, will become defenseless if someone points out they have not done their due part. Furthermore, these individuals consider these personal attacks on their integrity and turn it into an entirely different conversation. They will act innocent and try to convince others that they were doing the right thing but people only see the bad – ironic right?
New employees can easily be targeted by these cunning workers – they will act quick to influence them with regards to how they view company policy, other employees or work practices.
The Talk of the Town – Gossip
They won’t tell you much about themselves but they love to gossip! These toxic coworkers will breed negativity in the workplace. They will spread rumors, exaggerate the smallest of stories and try to add as much drama as they can to the problems others are going through. This eventually leads to distrust, demotivation and lack of productivity in the workplace.
It is often too late to escape the company of such individuals because of how late you realize the entire reality. Another sign of toxic coworkers is that they react negatively when you set healthy boundaries.
Passive Aggressive Comments
As we mentioned earlier, toxic coworkers want to make you feel miserable or put down hence they will find or already have many ways of belittling you or putting you down. They feed on negativity, destructive criticism and putting others down. They will engage in the following to achieve this:
- Silent Treatment – Make You Feel Uncomfortable
- Don’t Take You Seriously – Sarcasm
- Blaming others
- Rejecting feedback and others perspectives
- Countless Excuses
- A Cynical Attitude
- An Air of Superiority
How To Get A Toxic Coworker Fired – 7 Effective Ways
In this section we will tell you how you can inch closer to getting a toxic coworker fired.
Be Sure They Are Toxic – Easier To Gather Evidence
This is the first step to your end goal of getting your coworker fired. You may think we are getting too excited or over exaggerating the extent of how important this could be however once you are in this situation only then can you understand how it engulfs your mental peace.
It is necessary to know how to identify a toxic coworker which we have already highlighted for your information. Keeping that in mind, you must be able to observe the coworker in their natural environment without letting them know – just as they observe animals in their natural habitat on national geographic. This means observing them while they talk to others, do their work alone and how they behave in their free time with other coworkers. Look for those belittling comments, the ways they use to make others feel uncomfortable or doubtful or even miserable and how they play the victim.
Note Their Habits
Once you have determined they are for all rights toxic in nature – note down the evidence. You need to keep a secret diary where you can note their habits and how they deal with you and others. There is a very important reason behind this that may not be so obvious. These people are too smart – but so-called smart in the manner that they can easily be spotted. They will try to make you doubt what you see or hear or believe and for that very reason you must note down things in case they make you doubt your own memory or cognitive abilities. Don’t do this for yourself only but also note down how they treat others. Too many repetitive patterns will give them away.
Talk To Other Coworkers
As soon as you think you are on to your toxic coworker who revels in the misery of others, get your other coworkers onboard but not everyone! Only those who have been experiencing this behavior or have not been influenced by the toxic coworkers apparent ‘charms’ or quick action and viewpoints on absolutely everything.
Test The Toxic Coworker
This is the fun part. As soon as you have good evidence and possibly a team to rely on, test the target. You might need to use a real life situation where all of you are absolutely sure that you guys have done your part in a responsible, authentic and sincere manner and if there is any fault it will be that of the target coworker. If you make conscious decisions and observe your surroundings, it will be easier to pinpoint the behavior you need to see to determine your case.
Expose The Toxic Coworker
After you have enough evidence, some support from fellow workers and a test you conducted then float the rumors. Do as the Romans do and follow in the footsteps of your dearly beloved but toxic coworker!
Inform Your Manager
Just as the right environment builds, go to your manager and put up rational and unemotional concerns to him with regards to that special ‘friend’ of yours. Keeping in mind the recent ongoing situation, your valid claims, calm temperament and logical concerns, you might as well be closer to pushing your toxic coworker off the cliff.
Throw The Weight On Others
If the above ways are still not enough then take more action. Everyone who has dealt with a toxic coworker knows that they often have to take the blame to not only make things work but to ensure everyone else remains comfortable. Stop doing that so others, including your manager, realize the severity of the situation!
Conclusion
This article focused on ways to have a toxic coworker fired all while explaining why these methods would be effective. It also shed light on how to identify a toxic coworker and explained what traits or behaviors they possess. The article also highlighted how a toxic coworker can adversely affect the workplace culture.
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