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How to spot (and potentially leave) bad companies

This is a guide to spot which companies actually care about you as an employee (spoiler: very few) and which ones don't (spoiler: most of them). It will also detail the warning signs that a previously great company to work with/for is turning into an environment not worth staying in (this is harder to notice than you think!). It is a long read, so get comfy.

Before we begin, let me state my intentions with this guide.

I understand that I may seem a bit young to be giving advice like this, but this is something I learned from a young age after trying and failing many times to find a job that didn't make me feel replaceable and unwanted. A lot of people I care about, and stories both online and in real life, lead me to believe that a majority of people put up with too much shit to make their job worth it. This is mostly focused on the Anglo-sphere, but this could be applied to non-western business considering the nigh-universal factors of how businesses become toxic and not worth working for in the first place.

I am not an expert. Please do follow-up research on your own if you feel information is missing or inadequate.

Turbulent job markets and economies will affect the effectiveness of this guide. If you can't follow this due to factors outside your control, that is not your fault, nor is it mine. Blame the system, not your fellow working man.

Let's define a "bad work environment" to make sure we're on the same page.

A good environment should never use fear to encourage better performance. The source of this fear can be a particularly disgusting coworker that HR "for some reason" won't deal with, over-the-top means of retaliation (think write-ups for having concerns about safety), and vulture-like surveillance. A company that wants you there will do their best to make you want to come back, and will shape their environment accordingly. Complaints getting ignored is a tell-tale sign to GTFO while you can. Fear drives people away from the source of it. Also, if there is no clear HR department, or dedicated HR position, get out. You might as well be wasting your time there, as any HR concerns will almost always be ignored.

Section 1: Know your worth.

Most jobs WILL make you feel like shit sometimes, this is inevitable, but it is important to remember that they are supposed to be responisble for compensating you properly for your hard work. Whether you sit on a desk all day, or toil in the harsh weather, your paycheck is meant to reflect your value as an employee to the company. If you are paid properly, the nasty feelings left by your job wash away upon getting that check, and the time you spent getting it feels like it was worth it. AS SOON AS YOU FEEL EVEN A LITTLE UNDER-COMPENSATED, YOU NEED TO LOOK FOR BETTER OPPORTUNITIES.

Don't go taunting higher-ups about how you'll leave to find a better job, this will backfire. Most employers are private businesses, and are not obligated to follow the first amendment when it comes to enforcing any silly rules they have. The first amendment only applies to the government. Publicly traded does NOT mean publicly owned.

Signs you are not being compensated properly

- Your bonuses have not increased at their usual pace (or even shrunk over time)

- You have not gotten a sufficient (or any) raise after at least one year of employment (raises are supposed to account for inflation)

- Your benefits and rights as an employee are either non-existent, or are hard to invoke when needed

A big red flag is when you are not allowed to discuss your wage with coworkers. This is not rude to anyone, and is not reliably enforcable in any way no matter how confident in their surveillance management may be. A friend of mine, who works at Sam's Club, found out that all the new hires were getting up to 25 percent more for the same merchandising job as her, when she has been working there for years only to get pizza parties instead of raises.

Speaking of, the pizza party thing is a phenomenon that should be looked at, too. If it's not to celebrate anything in particular, like a birthday, anniversary, or a worker's tangible achievements, or the reason is only a vague achievement you had no part in, it is likely a tax write-off meant to distract you from the fact your employers would rather throw a pointless party with their extra money than give you a bonus. Companies that do this will likely punish/fire those that point this out. The only parties worth throwing are the ones planned by your coworkers outside company time.

Talk to your coworkers about problems with your job, stand your ground when it comes to management bullshit, and recognize that your relationship with your employer should be MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL. Hard work means nothing if you have nothing to show for it. Toiling for hours every day will not get you a mansion. The stairs to the top are built on betrayal, stolen time, and lies. You don't become CEO from being honest.

Section 2: Stay alert

I have a scenario for you. Pretend you work at a desk job of an unnamed company's branch office. You get paid well, and feel welcome. You are the most financially stable of your peers, so you only have yourself to rely on when it comes to money.

You have been saving up for a new car. Your current one is decent and can get you from A to B, but its age is really starting to show, and you know it would cost more to repair it than to just get a new one. Public transport is unreliable where you live, and you have a bad knee, so driving yourself is your only way to work. Between bills, loan payments, debt, groceries, and gas, you can only muster $100 a month for yourself to spend on whatever things you want. Your car's growing deterioration and depreciation puts you on a timer, so you decide you should ask for a raise to beat the clock your old car set for you. After all, in your 5 years with the company you've been the best performer out of your coworkers, and your boss, the branch manager, has commended you for it. A 5% raise isn't too much to ask, right? You just need a little extra money to save for a new means of transporting yourself to work.

Your boss is already aware of your car's state, and knows that it will be a matter of time before you have to replace it. You've considered him a friend since getting hired, so you don't mind sharing your personal troubles with him. However, even knowing this, he refuses to give a raise. "We don't have the wiggle room, and if you DID get one, everyone will want one," he says, which surprises you. Didn't the company have a big pizza party to celebrate the CEO's 20th year of service a week ago? Where did that kind of money go? "The party," he says, even though you both know it's a lie. One of your coworkers, an accountant for the branch you work in, recently mentioned record profits for this quarter. You wouldn't have asked for the raise otherwise.

How will you afford a replacement car now? Your family has financial struggles of their own, and can't help you. Your friends outside of work are either living paycheck-to-paycheck or unemployed. You are the only one that can come close to buying a car, but your own expenses prevent that. Yet your boss, who is very aware of your situation, won't give up a fraction of the branch's profits to reward your work.

What went wrong? Was it how you asked? Maybe you misunderstood what is reasonable to ask for and what isn't. Did another coworker beat you to it? You don't understand. You gave your heart and soul to this company, and they give you a dismissive attitude. Your boss says he can't do anything about it, and that you'll have to file a complaint to HR if you feel you aren't being compensated properly.

You recall HR has recently begun ignoring some payroll questions. Seems like any question that asks any sort of "why" the company behaves how it does is getting blacklisted or handwaved with corporate jargon that means "No".

This is an example of a company that has stopped caring for its employees. Your boss isn't at fault, and is only following orders from higher up the corporate chain of command, likely the regional manager or higher. This unnamed company has begun prioritizing profits to pay for the increasingly lavish lifestyles of the executives, and is leaving lower ranked employees in the dust to do so. You don't matter to the company, and they will probably replace you with someone that doesn't complain.

There is no good way out of this scenario. Now that you are trapped in a position that will leave you with no transportation, your income is on the line. You hope the CEO's new boat is worth it.

There are countless stories like this one that I hear way too often. Struggling workers only getting pennies when their needs exceed their pay.

Section 3: Know the Facts/Common Myths

Corporations are very good at propaganda. A lot of common myths about employment and how companies and coworkers should treat you come from big company executives diverting attention to not get blamed. Maintaining a profit and getting results for shareholders will ALWAYS matter more than employee happiness and well-being.

"Employers aren't supposed to coddle you! You were hired to work, not mooch off company benefits," you might say. Or not. I'm just used to reactionary contrarian arguments. Anyway, that would be a correct statement. However, this overlooks exactly what the employer is failing in when it comes to fostering a mutually beneficial relationship with their employees. If you can't imagine the CEO handling the job of their lowest tier worker, there might be some sort of discrepency in how people are treated within the company.

Myth 1: No one wants to work

If you're reading this when this guide was written, you're probably sick of that phrase already. "No one wants to work, everyones standards are to high!" is constantly echoed throughout the working world as of the early 2020's. This couldn't be farther from the case, particularly in public-facing jobs. Measly pay to get yelled at by angry customers all day doesn't seem appealing to most people, and with the stimulus checks from the pandemic, they can afford to seek better opportunities. I would've had no problem continuing to work at my first job, had it not been just $9.50 an hour to care for a whole store and face customers that don't know why they can't get the 2 for 1 deal with only one item. I wasn't even a manager, but I had the workload of one without the pay.

Myth 2: Your manager/boss is your friend

While it can be possible to maintain a sort of friendly relationship with your superior, it is important to recognize that they are under no obligation to treat you with any sort of respect. They should not be the first on your mind when you're in need.

"MY boss goes fishing with me/babysits for me/takes me and my coworkers to dinner!" Good for you! This isn't about you.

Always be suspicious of jobs that claim a sense of family in the workplace. You already have family, and if you don't, work should be the last place you look. Jobs are a professional setting, and any casualness must be paid attention to. Yes, it's probably harmless, and your boss might just want as little friction between you and them as possible, but always remember that you are not obligated to stay. If your boss is cool, they'll respect that. If they're oddly pushy, sound the alarms.

Myth 3: "No one likes working, just suck it up"

This is one of the most harmful thought processes to have when dealing with a bad job. Yes, most jobs are inherently lacking in terms of fulfilment, but they should never make you complacent in shitty conditions. I have a friend that works in fast food, and he had an unexpectedly busy day with few people on the clock. His manager assumed that if they could make it through that with the people they had, it would be okay to have that few people working all the time! THIS IS SHORT-STAFFING. All it achieves is more money in executive pockets, and higher workloads without higher compensation. This would in turn make that friend's job suck. A lot. He quit very soon after because the workload was way too much for what he was being paid.

Myth 4: "There are so many jobs"

No there are not. This is the work of job postings meant for employees already hired by the company who are eligible for promotion. To follow equal opportunity laws, businesses are required to post ANY position not yet filled, that includes the ones meant for someone they've already chosen. This does mean everyone has a shot at it, but what are the chances you'll find the posting before the company decides which of their existing employees fit it best?