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Does the work environment matter? Such a question tends to be underestimated: we usually evaluate our job on how difficult and complicated the subjects we deal with are. But our relations with colleagues and the human perspective of our job are not less important.

Christine Porath’s quiz looks like a useful instrument to understand how human relations can influence productivity and wellness. You can try it here and find out the quality of your work environment.

This quiz sheds light on what Porath is not afraid to define incivility: “Mean bosses could have killed my father”, she says in another article, referring to her father’s employers.

It is also important for what it doesn’t explain. Once you find out what doesn’t work, it is essential to search for a way to improve your professional life quality. And here is the problem: human dynamics are very difficult to generalize, you can’t look for a general method when it comes to a mix of psychology and ethics. Nonetheless two tips should be kept in mind to survive in a bad environment.

First of all, learn by experience: other people’s bad behavior could strengthen our ability in managing stress and pressure and eventually help us find the right equilibrium between professional and personal life. We cannot choose our bosses, but we can somehow learn from the bad ones too: they show directly what should not be done.

Secondly, if you are strong enough not to give up, it is essential to improve the environment as much as possible. Other people’s lack of civility is not an excuse to behave similarly. Kindness and respect may not pay in the short run, but they can produce change in time. Without forgetting, of course, that there are limits, also legal, that we cannot allow to be crossed.

Image: Pixabay (CC0)