Got a toxic coworker? You’re not alone: Google lists 231 million pages on the topic.
Now researchers from the University of Bonn have finally asked humanity’s burning question: How the hell do workers noted for their greed, unfairness, immodesty, and untruths succeed? They studied 203 employee-colleague-supervisor trios, gathering their self-appraisals and coworker evaluations.
The success of toxic people is so common that there’s a phrase for it: the “toxic career model.” It goes like this: A toxic employee schmoozes and charms and politicks, which results in high job performance reviews from superiors. (Peers, meanwhile, often know the ugly truth.) All success revolves around social skills. And because the same socializing that can foster strong, healthy work relationships can also be used to deceive others, toxic colleagues are able to use their social skills for their own gain.
