You don’t get to pick your coworkers. Which is too bad considering the huge impact they have on your working life. When dealing with a toxic coworker, work life can be a real challenge.

Prolonged exposure to toxic people at the workplace can lead to a tremendous amount of stress. Plus, it’s just no fun having to deal with fools. Obutto, your source for ergonomic workstations, offers ways in which you can deal with toxic people at work.

Limit Engagement

Toxic coworkers will create problems, gossip and spread negativity, which you leave you feeling unhappy, drained and damaged. Also, the more you engage with a toxic coworker, the more they will engage with you.

Here are a few ways in which you can tactfully limit engagement with a toxic coworker:

• Respond in short sentences
• Respond with zero enthusiasm
• Cut off the conversation with a pre-planned excuse like “ I have to go to a meeting”
• If all else fails, be direct and tell the coworker you don’t want to talk to them

Reward Good Behavior

Even if you aren’t a supervisor, you can still reward coworkers for good behavior. This is a good way to show toxic people that you don’t tolerate or engage with their poor intentions.

When somebody is being positive, you can praise them for their actions. Using body language and verbal cues, you can distance yourself from toxic people when they approach.

Counterstrike

The best way to deal with toxic people sucking your soul with negativity is by arming yourself with people who give you energy. Ignore the toxic coworker and go find your coworkers who are constructive, happy and fun to be around.

Let Them Act Out

Never completely block out a toxic person in the workplace. Let them speak and give their ideas, no matter how bad they are. If you allow them to be toxic, everybody else will see just how bad they are.

Set The Boundaries

Teach toxic people how to treat you. Each time you set boundaries, you become a stronger person and others are less likely to be toxic around you.

Don’t Complain About Them

Complaining about a toxic coworker only implies that you have no control or power over the situation. So instead of complaining, offer up a solution to the problem.

Have an Honest and Candid Conversation with the Culprit

If you do not confront the toxic coworker and have a brutally honest talk with them, you are the only one to blame if the relationship continues in a dysfunctional state. You simply cannot assume that this person is going to wake up one morning with a completely different attitude.

You don’t have to be mean or ugly, but you need to get a stern point across that you find their behavior unacceptable.

Keep Yourself in Check

Don’t stoop to their level. It is far too easy to become blinded with anger by a toxic peer. This might lead you to act in ways you never thought you would. Check yourself and keep your anger in control.

After dealing with a toxic person the right way, you can head back to your ergonomic workstation feeling better about the situation. Contact Obutto for more information about their ergonomic workstations and gaming cockpit.