I remember when going to work was supposed to be what gave people direction and meaning to their lives.  Now, however, it seems to be degenerating into some sort of Roman Colosseum, Gladiator-type, kill or be killed death match.  Everyone mistrusts everyone and you can't tell who's who when it comes to friends, enemies or the newest catch phrase, "frienemies".  I don't miss working in the 'new" offices of NYC in particular.  I just miss the sense of being useful instead of used and being truly valued instead of being treated like all I'm worth is a "penny a dozen".

I've noticed the turnover rates of the last few jobs I've worked have become so rapid and accepted as the new, normal way of dealing with problems among people that it feels like I'm on a reality show and not at a place of business.  I watched the phone extension list of my last employer be updated every two to three weeks!  It produced in me a "when will I be removed next" feeling.  And that's exactly what happened.  I hope more of you out there are having a better time of it than I did.  Please wish me all the best.  I know I am hoping for that for us all. 

I can TOTALLY relate! My last position was a nightmare to say the very least. It was like being trapped in a 1950's TV show. All of our top managers were men (whether they had any skill or experience) women were treated noticebly worse by comparison (this includes compensation) I was SHOCKED. I could not believe that in 2009 this antiquated hiearchy still exist in the workplace. The last straw for me was having to tell my managers how to do their jobs and then having to give them the credit for doing it. Last straw - honestly. Now I am a full time student and hoping that once I obtain my degree I will be able to have my own business which promotes ethical work place behavior and rewards hard work and professional integrity.

Try going through 3 supervisors in under a year, and being shooed out, when the final one doesn't like your working methods. The men at the company were all respectable, and treating the female coworkers very professionaly. It was the other females in the company one had to watch their back around.

Wow that really sucks ~ thanks for the gift by the way  I am so glad I found this site (or it found me) it was getting a little hard to keep my head up! What we really need is a new set of standards of professional behaviors - for men and women - people need an idea to work towards other than just getting a pay check. In my humble and extremely socially conscious opinion, I don't think it's a coincidence that so many people are feeling the same pain ~ we can all be a part of the solution . Earlier this year I sort of skimmed this book called, "The 8th Habit from Effectiveness to Greatness" by Stephen R. Covey  ~ these are a few points that stood out to me:......for the first time - literally - substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices (and) for the first time they will have to manage themselves -- and society is totally unprepared for it........you would need a completely new skill set and tool set; more importantly you need a new mind set  - a new way of thinking.......when you have a challenge and the response is equal to the challange, that's called sucess. But once you have a new challenge, the old, once successful response no longer works. I think this is really the problem -- to many personalized versions of whats right, no caring about what may hurt someone else - you bring these things to work - we all do, I'm sure we're all highly compentent people but that's out the window when you hate showing up for work everyday - right?

I will most likely get a "thumbs down" for my comments, but I feel it is important to consider the following issue when evaluating the reasons for toxic work environments.  The overwhelming number of wrongful termination and sexual harassment lawsuits over the past 20 years, and advocacy about job rights and workplace fairness have caused extreme paranoia in the workplace (especially HR), and ultimately a feeling of entitlement for many workers.  In my experience as an administrative supervisor, I found it extremely difficult to get upper management and HR to fully address serious issues with regard to insubordination, bad behavior, and poor work performance; having to deal with numerous warnings/meetings, endless paperwork, and simply upper managements' ignorance about the huge impact these "toxic" employees have on other team members.  End result, support staff with little initiative and a belief they can refuse to perform certain aspects of their job.  Don't get me wrong, I don't believe wrongful termination and sexual harassment should be ignored or accepted, but our work culture has moved way too far in the other direction!  As some of you will relate, it seems that unproductive, negative employees benefit (or at least aren't confronted), and the efforts of positive, hardworking and ethical employees seem to go unnoticed in many cases.  The backstabbers, toxic gossipers, and lazy administrative professionals would have been terminated within 3 months of notice and showing no improvement if I had been the final decision maker.  Workers should be compensated and rewarded based on their performance level and held accountable for the same. And, frivolous lawsuits should be thrown out.

Yes, I totally agree the entire work experience has changed across the board.  I admit I was very naive.  I believed that skill and appitude were important, that putting in extra effort would make a difference.  I spent the majority of my career thinking that someone was going to see my effort and want to mentor or develop me.  That happens in the movies not in real life.  In real life people are concerned with themselves and how things impact them. In real life people are concern only with their own rice bowl.  It's one thing to know you work for an unethical company, one that has no regard for it's workforce.  It's cause for concern as you watch all of the innovative, creative, direct people forced to leave.  Even after I had heard countless stories of HR looking the other way during investigations of their friends, or watching incompetent person after person be promoted, or witnessing firsthand the total lack of accountability throughout the entire company I still was shocked when I was "laid off" in May of 2009.  My company tried to claim I was being laid off for financial reasons and when I pursued the issue with an internal investigation I was stone walled.   So needless to say the experience has left a bad taste in my mouth.  I was so naive...I honestly believed that in this country there were laws in place to protect people.  The reality is that an employeer can behave anyway they want to.   Sure I can spend money to hire a lawyer and wait 3 to 5 years for my case to be heard.  In the meantime I have no job and no income.  The real concern I have is that my former company isn't unique, it's the norm.   Basically going to work these days means spending the majority of your time not doing your actual function but involved in the office machine.  Management will say they want "team players", they will say they want to improve communication skills, they will say they want to change and improve, they will even post a mission statement in the hallway but at the end of the day the people who are rewarded with promotions, recognition and awards are the ones who are lieing, cheating and stealing their way to the top.

I have to say working in an older male dominated workplace is the worst.  Everything is swept under the rug. My supervisor who is a female, but her superiors are the older males.

so, I've brought all of the above to her superiors and he tells me now you girls have to get along.  I then brought the above to his superior only to be told that he would not listen to such foolishness between two girls.  

Am I looking for a new job, no I'm looking for new superiors.