Toxic work environments breed unrest, unhealthy competition, low morale, constant stressors, negativity, sickness, high turnover, and even bullying. You might be telling yourself, ‘It’s just work, I can deal with it for eight hours, then come home and relax.’ However, in reality, the emotional weight of a toxic workplace can carry over into your personal life if it isn’t properly dealt with.
Here are 5 warning signs that you’re in a toxic workplace.
1.) High Employee Turnover
High employee turnover is a strong sign that a workplace is toxic. High employee turnover usually means there is disorganisation, lack of direction, poor leadership, or little opportunity. When top performers and new hires start leaving, it’s an obvious sign they are not aligned with the culture. In a candidate-driven job market, employees are much more likely to walk away from a company that does not live up to the core values they promote
Alternately, when there is increased turnover in a short amount of time within a particular team or position, it is usually due in part to the leader. Insecure leaders are quick to get rid of anyone they’re intimidated by or unable to control – leaving high performing employees with only a few options: to adapt, get pushed out or leave.
Leaving a secure job is not an easy decision, hence if persons are rapidly leaving your organisation, that is a surefire sign that something is wrong.
2.) Poor Leadership
‘People don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses.’
Toxic work environments can only exist where a lack of trust and respect are present, and this can only occur in the absence of sound leadership. Poor leadership can seep into every fibre of an organization — and it often does. Often there is a cycle of poor leadership that occurs in most organisations. One bad boss is a product of another bad boss and the cycle continues.
Employee engagement, goal achievement, productivity, civility, workplace bullying and your bottom line are all impacted by poor leadership behaviour. The reality is that poor leadership and a toxic work environment can be just as detrimental to an employee’s overall health as physical illness or injury.
3.) Cliques, Exclusion and Excessive Gossip
Poor communication often leads to confusion and a lack of purpose for employees. When leaders limit communication with their employees, it sends a message that they’re not valued enough to be kept in the loop of what’s going on within the team or the company. From here, problems arise and compound. In a toxic workplace, communication isn’t clear and open, which leads to misunderstandings and arguments. It is common for employees to complain or air work grievances. However, when sarcasm and cynicism show up, this can breed disgruntlement, highlighting a growing lack of trust of management and leadership. When gossip is rampant within an organisation, it is a clear sign that trust has been broken. If employees are learning things through rumours or external news instead of the leadership team, this is a sign that the culture is toxic.
Oftentimes, people compare working in an office to being in high school all over again when cliques, exclusion and gossipy behaviour is present in the work environment. These behaviours are counterproductive in the workplace. While fostering and developing good working relationships and friendships in the office are positive, be careful to avoid any alienating ‘clique-ish’ behaviour. If you recognise that ‘clique-ish’ behaviour includes management and executive-level employees, then you may very well have an organisational mean problem — and that’s about as toxic as it gets. No one wants to work in an organisation where gossip, favouritism and infighting are the norm.
4.) Employees Are Afraid/Unwilling To Speak Up
One of the telltale signs of a toxic workplace environment is how much, or how little, employees communicate in meetings and in group settings. If it is the case that only a select few, particularly management, are the ones contributing to the meeting/the group while everyone else sits idly by afraid or unwilling to contribute, it is an indication that there is a problem.
Oftentimes persons remain silent in these situations because they do not feel heard within the workplace or are often shut down when they try to speak up. A fear of victimisation or bullying may also be present. If it is commonplace for the ‘meeting after the meeting’ to occur, where those who were previously silent now huddle to talk about what they really think or to bash the decisions made that they didn’t speak up about, then this is a sign that an organisation is especially toxic.
5.) Employee Demotivation
If half or more of your employees exude signs of being demotivated then your organisation has a huge problem. It may be due to poor top down communication, disorganisation, disenfranchisement with leadership or general distrust. Whatever the cause, if everyone around you is unmotivated, you’re in a toxic work environment. Just like your coworkers can inspire you to work harder, be better, and incubate new ideas, they can also wear you down. Sometimes you can feel underlying toxicity just by not feeling any energy at all. Is no one smiling, laughing, or talking with one another in the halls? Is it all heads down and frowns all the time? Is gossip rampant? These can all have an adverse impact on an employee’s mental health leading to further demotivation. In such toxic work environments, it is unlikely that employees will learn or grow.
At the end of the day, listen to your gut. If your gut feeling is that something isn’t right about your workplace, or that the environment is toxic, then it probably is.
