The ripple effect of one employee who hates their job

Emotional contagion occurs when we, as social creatures, recognise emotions in others and subconsciously mimic them. For example, when we see a coworker in a bad mood after a meeting, it tells us that something did not go right in the meeting.

Emotional contagion is most likely to happen when one does not have a definite opinion about the situation and the person who’s displaying certain emotion is someone you respect or are close to.

There’s a range of effects on teams in which negativity is spreading. At best, workers’ satisfaction with their role, team or company could dip; at worst, unhappy workers could end up looking for jobs elsewhere in a mass-quitting phenomenon known as turnover contagion.

So, how can we stamp out the spread? If you’re in a situation in which you’re relatively happy, there are strategies you can implement to try and shut out other people’s complaints: classic tips include aligning yourself with positive people, creating boundaries with others and redirecting the conversation toward positivity.

Experts also say a crucial thing to keep in mind is if people are unhappy in your team, it’s often a much bigger problem than one disgruntled worker. It might not be one bad apple – it might be bad organisational practices.

For example, workplaces pressuring people to stay online late, bosses emailing people at 23:00 or conditions being kept in place that allow burnout to run rampant. However, that means some of the burden falls on companies to improve their cultures, and it’s difficult to know if employers will embrace change.