30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company

There’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ company. However, that doesn’t mean that employers shouldn’t do their best to create supportive workplace environments so that their staff can reach their full potential. Some workplaces, however, are the stuff of nightmares that staff dread to return to. Toxic environments aren’t just bad for the employees, though—they harm the bottom line, too.

Knowing how to spot the signs early on can help you avoid a ton of disappointment and frustration later down the line. The members of the r/AskReddit community shared the biggest red flags to look out for that indicate a company might be an awful place to work. Read on to see what they had to say.

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30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company 5 rounds of multi-hour interviews

Unless you’re applying to be the f*****g CEO, there’s no reason to waste everyone’s time with such a horrible hiring process.

Burrito_Loyalist , Nataliya Vaitkevich / Pexels Report

Final score:

81points

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Emma S 7 months ago (edited)

Especially when said interviews are on different days. Expecting applicants to have to take days off from their current job to attend multiple interviews is not only unfair but can put them in an awkward position.

6points

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30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When the boss says it's illegal to discuss your wage with others.

CursedDankMEMES , Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels Report

Final score:

80points

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Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 7 months ago

When it's probably illegal for your boss to say that. My wages are my business, I'll discuss them with whoever I like.

41points

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30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company Someone leaves, their responsibilities get piled onto someone else, and the business thinks it's working so why hire a replacement? Then that person eventually caves and now two jobs are piled onto the next person. By the time the company thinks they *have to* hire someone nobody wants to do 3 people's work for 1 persons pay.

obscureferences , AlphaTradeZone / Pexels Report

Final score:

80points

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Realistic Optimist 7 months ago

I felt this in my soul.

33points

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Toxic workplace environments are absolutely awful for employees’ mental health. However, they also have a deeply negative impact on a company’s finances, too. If you constantly have to replace people who quit due to stress and mistreatment, you’re eating into your profits.

Research commissioned by SHRM in 2019 found that 58% of employees who quit their jobs due to workplace culture said that their managers are the main reason they left. The cost of this high turnover rate is a whopping $223 billion over 5 years.

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company In the interview ask them “What opportunities for advancement will there be?”

If they cant come up with anything, you’re either applying for a dead end position, or the company has no concept of employee retention and advancement, both of which are huge red flags.

Dasangrypanda , Kindel Media / Pexels Report

Final score:

69points

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Realistic Optimist 7 months ago

This 1000%. Also, do not trust anyone who doesn't have a clear advancement plan in place already. If an employer is promising advancement, but doesn't have a specific plan or timeline, they are never going to promote you.

16points

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30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company 'We're like a family.' Just walk out. Hearing this means there will be cliques, and expectations to work long hours and to put up with some REALLY shady stuff. There are no outliers with this red flag.

Hessian58N , Jopwell / Pexels Report

Final score:

69points

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Realistic Optimist 7 months ago

Absolutely true in me experience as well.

15points

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30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company A sign out front that says "Nobody wants to work anymore".

Bizarre_Protuberance , [deleted] Report

Final score:

67points

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Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 7 months ago

They do want to work. They just don't want to be exploited with low wages and generally be treated like shįt.

63points

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The SHRM report also found that just 38% of American workers were ‘very satisfied’ with their current job, while 49% have thought about leaving. A fifth of respondents have left their jobs due to the workplace culture there, while a fourth say that they dread going to work, don’t feel safe voicing their opinions about work-related problems, and don’t feel respected or valued at work.

76% of respondents point out that it’s their managers who set the culture of their workplace. Meanwhile, 36% of employees have stated that their managers do not know how to lead a team.

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When you arrive for your interview and you're being led to the interview room, you lock eyes with some of the employees and they slowly shake their heads "no".

YounomsayinMawfk , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

63points

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Kathy O 7 months ago

Has this happened to someone?

13points

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30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When the longest working employee there has been around for less than a year.

DanFkingSchneider , Israel Andrade / Unsplash Report

Final score:

59points

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WindySwede 7 months ago

My first jobb had a gentleman been working there for 30 years, lived in a tiny room and then on the weekends went home to his wife 2h away. The jobb was not that specialiserade, not well payed, nor ... well anything. Don't get stuck like that either? 👍

16points

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30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company Speaking from experience: met with the hiring manager for an interview, got the offer at the table, they actually gave me more than advertised because of my experience, I started Monday, 8am.

Showed up bright and early. The department manager, office manager, and store manager had no idea who I was or that I was coming.

subtxtcan , Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels Report

Final score:

54points

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Kathleen McGann 7 months ago

I was once hired by a consultant hired to make the team work more efficiently. The team didn't want me there. They literally worked around me so I couldn't do my job. And when the consultant went to the home office (in another country) for a meeting, they called my employment service and terminated my contract.

13points

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Talking to your manager, HR, boss, or union representative can help you tackle all the various problems that pop up at work. If they’re genuinely open to change and willing to make your stay at the company better—fantastic.

However, at the end of the day, we’re all personally responsible for setting the boundaries for how we want to be treated and what our work-life balance looks like.

If you find yourself chronically exhausted, drained, and demotivated at work, at some point, it might be time to look for better opportunities elsewhere. Your physical and mental health is worth prioritizing over petty office squabbles, tyrannical managers, and toxic coworkers.

#10

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company Idk if anyone else has gotten this but a bar I used to work at after they hired me said “We could use good looking woman on our team”. Anything to do with “We could use [insert gender or race or anything else here]” generally is a red flag for me.

anon , drazenphoto / Envato Report

Final score:

52points

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UnknownFrost 7 months ago

Usually means the bar is c**p, and the regulars are getting sick of it, so a "good looking woman" is hired to exploit and bring patrons to the bar.

17points

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#11

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company - “We’re like a family here.”
- “We don’t do drama.”
- “We offer great perks like a pool table.”
- “We want believers here.”
- “We always do a trial employment first.”
- “After the 6th round of interviews, we’ll make a decision.”
- “The pay is low but only for a little while.”
- “We’re in the process of rebuilding.”
- “Are you willing to work weekends?”
- “We need someone who doesn’t mind being on-call all hours of the day.”
- “We’re not for everyone. Only the strong survive here.”
- “You’ll be reporting to 3 people from different departments.”
- “We’ll I’m interviewing you now because he was let go yesterday.”
- “Don’t worry about the pay. Look at the opportunity!”.

anon , fauxels / Pexels Report

Final score:

48points

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TennesseeHomesteadUSA 7 months ago

“We always do a trial employment first.” Unpaid, of course...

13points

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#12

High turnover rate.

Lethologicuh Report

Final score:

39points

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TennesseeHomesteadUSA 7 months ago

"We want people who will stay more than a few weeks!"

9points

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#13

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When the people interviewing you are anxious and tired.

When they say disparaging things about the person you're replacing, or about the team you're joining (with the hope that YOUR expertise will fix this seemingly "sub-par" team. In those situations, you will soon discover that you're joining a team of overworked people with no resources that some general manager likes to c**p on, but not support).

dogslogic , William Fortunato / Pexels Report

Final score:

35points

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Laurie Valencia 7 months ago

I was out of work and foolishly went back to work for a former employer. It was a small company and at this time business was slow. He had only had a part time person coming in prior to my return. He also wasn't always around the shop so I was there in the warehouse alone. I had only been back a few days when a woman was ringing the door buzzer. I answered the door and she was immediately questioning who I was. I told her I worked there and who was she? It turned out she thought she still worked there and was shocked that the boss trusted me alone there. He showed up while she was there. He took her to his office to let her go. What a creep. He could have dealt with her in a much better way.

1point

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#14

When they say they have an open door policy, but you watch someone use it to report something, and they get punished/harassed for doing it, and the person they reported has nothing happen to them.

Also, if mangt tells you at said meeting that going to HR, they will open an invitation into both of you, and end the end, you both will be punished, so best not talk to HR.

But they make you watch videos on workplace harassment/bullying and how much they care, and will stop it.

nottoday1059 Report

Final score:

35points

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Realistic Optimist 7 months ago (edited)

Oh my sweet summer child, thinking their employer has their back. You're money to them, that's it. They don't care about you in any other regard. If your employer actually does care, that is awesome, and I'm genuinely happy for you. Never assume they do though because in my experience, an employer caring is the exception, not the rule.

20points

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#15

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company One of my first jobs always had a sign in the window that said “we’re hiring”. So I applied, got the job along with one other person, but they never took the sign down. The job was awful, and it caused me impending doom anxiety every day I had to go there.

After I was fired (lol) I would walk by every so often and there was still the “we’re hiring” sign in the window.

botanical_fossil , Ser Amantio di Nicolao Report

Final score:

34points

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TotallyNOTAFox 7 months ago (edited)

We have three of those stores in the next bigger city - two never respond it seems and one needs a social worker and not a salesman given the amount of questions about how to deal with arguments between employees, employees and customers and employees and the manager

5points

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#16

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When you get paid more as a new employee.

substantialparadox , Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels Report

Final score:

30points

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Realistic Optimist 7 months ago

Because you will be on the short end one day. And, with how inflation has been going, it wouldn't take that long.

3points

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#17

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When the employees are either close to retirement age or they're all fresh out of school but there's no one in between.

eddyathome , Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels Report

Final score:

28points

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#18

The most toxic person that consistently gets in fights with both other employees and customers got promoted to a management position because she's friends with the store manager and really good at kissing the high ups a*s.

PM_me_your_punsOX Report

Final score:

26points

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WindySwede 7 months ago

Abs? 🤫

14points

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#19

"How long has your longest, non-manager employee been with you?"

"I dunno. Maybe .... a year and a half? Why?".

theartfulcodger Report

Final score:

26points

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Karen Philpott 7 months ago

Run. Run like the wind. It sounds like a start-up. And/or they don't know anything about how to look after their employees.

2points

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#20

Bullying, made to feel bad if sick ..

Intrepid_Sock_590 Report

Final score:

25points

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Kathy O 7 months ago

Yes, if an interviewer bullies you and makes you feel bad for being sick you're clearly going to want to avoid that job.

7points

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#21

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When the staff keep dieing and /or develop severe chronic illness.

This happened at a high profile US finance firm that had a London office in which I worked.

In fact, isn't this a common occurrence in high profile financiers? I can think of two other such companies whose staff committed s*****e or literally worked themselves to death. It just never gets talked about.

Lumpy-Spinach-6607 , cottonbro studio / Pexels Report

Final score:

25points

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PurpleKU77 7 months ago

Sounds like Japan

3points

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#22

When the job posting doesn’t say what the job is and have a weirdly high pay.

Makdaddy90 Report

Final score:

24points

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UnknownFrost 7 months ago

Test subjects for Dexter's laboratory.

10points

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#23

I had an interview once where I asked the interviewer, “what is your favorite thing about working at this company”, and she sat there for like an awkward 10 seconds and then was just like, “I just took this job after I graduated college because it was the first place that gave me an offer….but I guess the experience has been good”

jonahvsthewhale Report

Final score:

24points

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Upstaged75 7 months ago

I ask that exact question to everyone I interview with. If they can't think of anything they like that's a huge red flag!

8points

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#24

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company Anything with a vague job description, especially if they do a mass interview. I spent 3 months at a well known retail and grocery inventory service until they screwed me out of nearly $500 in pay and wanted me to adjust my school schedule around them. That's the only time I have ever ghosted a job.

Hessian58N , Vlada Karpovich / Pexels Report

Final score:

20points

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James Tuttle 7 months ago (edited)

I learned that entry level marketing jobs are just terrible saĺes jobs.

9points

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#25

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When the job you apply for isn’t the one offered to you.

BurghFinsFan , Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels Report

Final score:

20points

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BoredPossum 7 months ago

Not necessarily true. Only if you're offered a worse position. If you are offered an equal or better job, they like you and try to find a position that fits you better.

12points

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#26

If you see a small few people working and majority of them f*****g around.

Dozinggreen66 Report

Final score:

17points

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Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 7 months ago

"How many work at your place?" "Half of them!"

10points

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#27

Disheveled interviewer.

SweetDk_Willy Report

Final score:

17points

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#28

When most key employees do not have many years on the job.

Lurker_in_Lakeland Report

Final score:

14points

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#29

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company Not disclosing the actual product/company without signing NDA first.

MarmotMeiche , Gabrielle Henderson / Unsplash Report

Final score:

14points

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Doctor Strange 7 months ago

Sorry, but no. NDA's are a fairly common practice in the business world in order to protect new advancements. Patents are a complicated process, taking months or even years to get. In the mean time, a rival company can learn about your idea and try to patent it first and now you've lost all of your investment. Point of fact, there are people out there who are literally paid to find ways to get around patents. So no, an NDA is not a red flag.

10points

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#30

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company When the grandfather was the COO, and after him the son was, and later the grandson...

Bad habits never die, they say.

Maso_TGN , The Coach Space / Pexels Report

Final score:

14points

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Debby Keir 7 months ago

If the family owned the company, what do you expect??

9points

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What do you think ?

geezeronthehill 7 months ago

I learned to check out factory jobs by going in through temp agencies. In a week I could tell if it was a good place or not. The view from the bottom is very clear.

4points

Petra 7 months ago

That's smart. Great idea!

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leendadll 7 months ago

I've learned to check the emotional atmosphere when interviewing. Are people generally happy and relaxed or do most people seem stressed... no chitchat happening?

Annie 7 months ago

If the manager who you'll be working for, and another key person in the same department, are both retiring within a few weeks after you start (but nobody said anything in the interview). Also a red flag was most people at the job had been there for 20, 30, 40+ years, so it was extremely cliquish, like being back in junior high school.

Nykky 7 months ago

That's where you just have to stomp your way into the job. Some little bimbo at my first job tried saying something under her breath, I snapped at her, basically challenging her, she immediately backed off. The girl who she was talking to was someone who seemed b****y, but was actually just really difficult to impress. Once I put the other girl in her place, the other was impressed and stopped teasing me about anything, actually becoming friendly after. Sometimes, it's not really about cliques, it's about earning respect. But yeah, a lot of the time it is cliques.

0points

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30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye Out For At Any Company

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