The Competent Employee and the Toxic Work Environment by Heba Khamis

The Competent Employee and the Toxic Work Environment

Heba Khamis

Why Competent Employee Truly Leave: It's Not the Workload, It's the Environment.

A truly competent employee doesn’t abandon their organization because of long hours or heavy workloads. They possess the resilience to perform under pressure and complete any task entrusted to them. What drives them away, however, is not the weight of the work it’s the weight of a toxic environment. One that fails to recognize their efforts, neglects their rights, and slowly extinguishes the flame of passion that once fueled their productivity and enthusiasm.

When a committed employee is met with injustice and a lack of appreciation, frustration inevitably sets in. No matter how dedicated they are, they will eventually seek a place where their contributions are valued. This response is only natural. Human beings were not created to be enslaved by systems that strip them of dignity. We were born free—and freedom rejects humiliation, resists arbitrary authority, and cannot coexist with favoritism or the politics of personal interests.

In toxic workplaces, it’s not uncommon to find individuals who feel threatened by the success of others. These people may go out of their way to undermine, belittle, or obscure the accomplishments of their colleagues. But the workplace is not a battlefield it should be a sacred space for growth, collaboration, and mutual respect. A truly successful employee will never complain about doing too much work but they will feel alienated by psychological burdens, especially when inequality and injustice prevail.

Such burdens can become overwhelming. They crush ambition, suppress talent, and stifle innovation. Employees find themselves unable to thrive in teams where favoritism overshadows fairness, and where jealousy and unhealthy competition take precedence over merit and collaboration. Add to this an ever-growing list of responsibilities delivered without support, and even the strongest spirits begin to falter.

Psychological exhaustion weighs more heavily than physical fatigue. It dims motivation, erodes creativity, and leads to a quiet, often reluctant exit not due to a lack of love for the work itself, but due to the absence of a supportive, just, and appreciative environment. In the end, while job pressure is manageable with acknowledgment and encouragement, emotional strain rooted in injustice becomes unbearable. And so, the competent, passionate employee departs not to escape hard work, but to find a place where they can truly thrive.

Heba Khamis is an Egyptian who holds a master's degree in Arabic language from Alexandria University. She is a writer, poet, and literary interviewer. She has conducted many literary interviews with writers and poets inside and outside Egypt, and they have been published in many Egyptian newspapers. She has also published her poems and articles in some Egyptian and Iraqi newspapers.