Hi, and welcome to The Former Lawyer Podcast. I'm your host Sarah Cottrell. I practiced law for 10 years and now I help unhappy lawyers ditch their soul-sucking jobs. On this show, I share advice and strategies for aspiring former lawyers, and interviews with former lawyers who have left the law behind to find careers and lives that they love.

Hello, everyone. This week on the podcast, I want to talk to you about The Eight Signs of a Toxic Legal Workplace. The reason that I think this is important is that toxic workplaces are the number one contributor to burnout. I am going to pull heavily from a great piece of blog post by Ilona Salmons, who is a therapist, who specializes in working with lawyers. She's actually going to be on the podcast in just a couple of weeks, but this article from her website, I thought was so good, I really wanted to share the content with you because honestly, these definitions of what defines a toxic workplace in many ways, I feel like is just like, “Could you just define places that lawyers work?” Okay, great. Let's get into it because I want you, as you're listening, to think like, “Is this true of my workplace and what does that mean?” Why does this matter first on the front end? Ilona makes the point in her post that if your work environment is toxic, there are no amount of self-care practices that can protect you from the harmful effects including burnout.

I know we've talked about this before on the podcast, I've shared with you about burnout, the physiological way that burnout works and the fact that it is not something that you can simply self-care your way around or that you individually have the complete ability to prevent because so much of it is dependent on your environment. One of the points that Ilona makes in this article, which I'll revisit again at the end is, “Once you're burned out, the physical and emotional exhaustion,” this is what she says, “The cynicism, the inefficacy leak into other areas of your life, they impact your relationships, and your overall well-being.” I know so many lawyers are dealing with this. How to know if you are in a toxic workplace? Here are Eight Signs of Toxic Workplaces according to Ilona Salmons. I want you to think of your workplace as I'm going through these and just consider whether these characterize the place that you work.

I'll be quoting from Ilona's piece when I go through these risk factors. So I just want to be clear that the phrasing on these descriptions is hers and I just think they're super helpful. I'm excited to share them with you. Number one, “Your job is very demanding. You are constantly being pulled in many directions, you're always rushing to meet deadlines, or you do not have sufficient support to complete your tasks.” That's the first environmental risk factor for burnout, the first sign of a toxic workplace. Number two, “You have little to no control over your work environment. You have little autonomy to do your job or have unclear or ambiguous goals making it impossible to succeed. Perhaps, your supervisor is a micromanager who is constantly breathing down your neck.” Again, sometimes I'm like, “Is this just describing lawyers?” Anyway, the third factor, the third sign of a toxic workplace, “There is no sense of community at work. Your significant work relationships are unfulfilling (including with your boss, supervisor, or colleagues) and you don’t feel like you are a part of a team. Perhaps your supervisor is rude or your colleagues are adversarial. In some cases, you may be a victim or a witness of workplace bullying, harassment, or other abuse.” Sometimes, the thing just speaks for itself.

All right, number four. Fourth sign of a toxic workplace, “Your values do not match that of your company or your profession. Perhaps you witnessed or were asked to do something that goes against your moral code.” Number five, “You don’t feel appreciated. You are under-compensated or are rarely recognized for your significant contributions. Your supervisor rarely says ‘Thank You’ or rewards you for a job well done.” Sixth sign of a toxic workplace, “Your company does not treat employees fairly or consistently. You observe nepotism, favoritism, or other forms of preferential treatment. Your company is not transparent or uses arbitrary criteria in deciding promotions, salary raises, benefits, etc.” Number seven, “You don’t feel secure in your position because your company has had a lot of layoffs. Perhaps you don’t feel safe at work or you work in a profession where you regularly put your life at risk.” The last sign of a toxic workplace—which again, all eight of these are environmental risk factors that increase the likelihood that you will experience burnout as a result of your job—number eight, “You feel powerless to make change. Perhaps your company has an HR department or a formal process for complaints, but they just do lip-service and nothing ever changes.”

his last one is interesting. I was literally just having a conversation with another lawyer a couple of days ago and they were saying to me, “Isn't it stunning that law firms of all places are so poorly handled, HR and HR compliance, and making sure that the people who are in positions of authority within the firm are actually behaving in a way that is consistent with HR requirements, when that's literally often one of the jobs that's been performed by lawyers in the firm, which is advising people about employment and employment risks and what is legally required?” Anyway, that's just a side note for you. A really important note that Ilona makes at the end of this list of eight is she says, “When you work in a high-demand and low-control work environment, you are are highest risk for burnout." Yeah, like literally, high demand and low control describes most jobs as lawyers.

The reason that I wanted to go through this list is that so often, we, as lawyers, normalize very toxic situations. We feel like if we're having a hard time or we're struggling in those situations, it's because there's something wrong with us. We think that the way it is at our workplace must be the way it is in general like, “This is just how the world works, this is just what jobs are like,” and I really wanted you to hear this list because if you feel like this list or some of these on this list describe the environment that you're working in, there is a very good chance that it is a toxic workplace. There is a very good chance that there are many environmental risk factors that make it likely that you will experience burnout, and of course, as I said at the beginning, this is what we see in the legal profession all the time. I wanted to circle back to what I mentioned previously, which is what Ilona makes a point of earlier in the piece that she wrote, which is again I'm going to quote this, “If your work environment is toxic, no amount of self-care practices can protect you from the harmful effects. And once you are burned out, the physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy leak into other areas of your life, impacting your relationships and your overall well-being."

This is something that I see so often with my clients and making a change out of these environments really does make a huge difference. We also need to be careful to not think that making a change is going to entirely resolve the problems, especially if you've experienced significant burnout. Later in this piece, Ilona talks about the fact that just because you experience a change of scenery, you also have to do the work to heal those symptoms because as she points out towards the end of the piece, “Burnout takes a huge toll on you physically and psychologically.” That said, simply because leaving a toxic environment doesn't immediately cure you of your burnout, she also notes that, this is a quote, “Keep in mind that some companies are simply too toxic, and you may be powerless to effect change.” The implication here is that while in some workplaces you may be able to set up boundaries that are appropriate, that can prevent some of the symptoms of burnout that you might experience, you also need to be able to recognize when you are in a situation where the toxicity of the environment is overwhelming, and you need to get out and find something that is better for you, that is more supportive and that more fully allows you to be the whole human being that you are.

I will link to this article in the blog post that shares this episode so that you can go and read it in full. I highly recommend that you follow Ilona. As I said, she'll be coming on the podcast in just a couple of weeks. This issue I think is so incredibly important. I truly don't think we can talk about it enough. I want you to know that if you are suffering, if you are in a work environment that is like this, that has even some, not necessarily even all, just some of these characteristics that, I am sorry. It is not okay, it is not your fault and you can make a change. You can find a healthier environment where you don't have to experience burnout and where you are able to thrive. Thanks so much for joining me this week. I'll talk to you next week.

Have you watched my free masterclass, The Simple 5-Step Framework To Identify An Alternative Career (That You Actually Like!)? In this master class, you'll learn the proven framework that I use with all of my clients to help them identify an alternative career. You can watch the masterclass right now, just go to formerlawyer.com/masterclass, sign up, and get the link to watch. Once you've watched, message me or email me and let me know what your biggest takeaway was from the class. I would love to know.