The office…

1. Presenteeism

* Self-inflicted discipline
Unless a manager or the ‘boss’ pull an employee aside for a last-minute and urgent task, an employee’s decision to stay working late just to ‘look good’ to others is exemplary of how dangerous discursive power relations can be.* Insecurity and eventual defeat
Unsurprisingly, presenteeism can lead to widespread office stress and burnout among staff. This makes it a ‘perfect storm’ for mental health issues to brew and take hold, leading to escalating absence rates and high staff turnover where employees would rather leave a role than challenge a seemingly absolutist work culture.2. Mind games

* Exerting ‘authority’ for the sake of it
When this power isn’t employed to aid in a business situation to help or to discipline an employee for a valid reason, it’s really just being done for the ‘ego’, which can be deeply mentally unsettling for the recipient. This can include ‘snapping’ at staff just because the person has ‘the authority’ to do so, or constantly ‘checking up’ on them to see if they’re working at certain hours of the day, (micromanaging).* Staff won’t be able to lie about your reputation
This will affect the mental health of the employee on the receiving end of the exchange in some way, making them feel belittled and infantilised ? or even worse, paranoid and stressed. Playing these sorts of mind games with staff will only leave you with the reputation as a ‘little Hitler’ type. Be?assured that when this reputation takes hold, it will be translated to prospective recruits during interview processes when they ask your managers what you’re like to work under. Even if nothing’s said, recruits will read between the lines.3. Office politics
Where you have a group of people and their respective ambitions in one room, you’re going to get some office politics, and they can be negative and can be anything from office cliques to ‘backstabbing’ colleagues. For example, is there an employee in your office who offers praise and support to a colleague, only to descend into bitching about them minutes later? Then you’ve got some toxic office politics going on.* Shut down gossip
Stopping employee backstabbing and unhealthy competition means shutting down gossip and a ‘Chinese whispers’ culture as soon as it occurs. If a manager or another staff member has genuine concerns about a certain colleague’s ability to undertake their job, this must only be discussed with a line manager in a private setting, and not with random members of the team for cheap thrills.* Having ‘the ear of the king’
Maybe there’s a certain manager that everyone knows ‘has the ear’ of the boss. Again, this is where Foucault’s ideas come into play. X person has the influence, so every other team member must try and get in favour with X in order to get in favour with the boss, Y. What can also come from this is a culture of what Foucault calls prohibition and discipline, where staff members are afraid to speak candidly about an employer in the office should the favoured X tell the boss about it.* Create a democracy, not a dictatorship
Employees do have the right to have open (but still respectful) conversations about an employer’s strategy should it be giving them genuine concern in relation to the ongoing success of a business. Creating a culture where no one can speak against an employer for any reason creates a dictatorial and repressive environment which can make it a toxic, intimidating and a mentally unhealthy one to work in.Share this story