Young people face intense toxicity in the workplace
Published:Thursday | January 11, 2024 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
One of the most daunting phenomena for young people in the workplace is the bitterness displayed toward them by their older colleagues. This acrimony, I believe, is formed from two premises: former workplace conflict and a jealousy for the adeptness and enthusiasm with which many young people come to the workplace.
First, a history of disagreement, animosity, disdain, and victimisation pervades the world of work. The strength of these types of conflicts often filters into new decades and new work eras. Who could be the possible carriers of this history of conflicts? It is certainly not the newly employed; therefore, it has to be the older employees in the workplace.
Typically, when a colleague is newly employed, he or she is usually furnished with information about former times in his or her new workplace. That person may get this information from people who choose to tell him or her directly or he or she may make inferences based on interactions among the older people in the workspace. Having ascertained that this is how the world of work operates, many young people decide to either resign, adopt similar traits or become isolated.
NATURAL RESPONSE
For many people, the psychosocial atmosphere of the workplace is fraught with toxicity. Consequently, they become withdrawn, self-serving or misanthropic. This is a response that is natural, as even Abraham Maslow in defining the third level of his hierarchy of needs – sense of belonging – asserted that individuals engage in hobby and profession to feel a sense of belonging. Maslow also posited that when this sense of belonging is sapped or is not felt, people resort to ostracism.
This resentment can become overbearing. Do people think many of our nurses, teachers, and corporate personnel are migrating solely for better remuneration? This is not always the reality. Many professionals, especially our talented young people, migrate to countries like the United Kingdom and the United States of America, not because there will not be miserable, sad, and bitter people in those work environments, but because they believe that if they are going to experience these unfortunate circumstances, it is better to experience them with a competitive remuneration. Can we blame them?
MALIK EWAN