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30 Signs Of A Toxic Workplace That Many People Are So Used To, They Don’t Recognize Them
You can’t understate the importance of the culture your company fosters in the workplace. It might be something intangible, but it has very real consequences. It affects you each and every day. And it can leave you feeling motivated and purposeful or quite the opposite—burned out and wishing you could quit.
The r/AskReddit online community recounted some of the main signs of a toxic workplace, and we’ve collected some of their most on-point insights. Scroll down to have a read. It’s a great cheat sheet to check whether your own management supports its staff or exploits them for a quick profit.
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#1
A high employee turnover is a quick way to determine its not a good place to work.
UpQuarkDownQuark (he/him) 11 months ago
I had a short-lived job at a car wash. They had about 20 people working per day, and in one year they hired and lost 180 people. I saw one new guy leave on his first morning break, another on his first lunch. Another new guy lasted a week and told the supervisor to go f*** himself and walked off. I made it three months!
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#3
When all your coworkers talk s**t about each other behind their backs, you know they're talking s**t about you behind your back, too.
Betty Vanderhooven-SchmaaSchmaa 11 months ago
Went in for a job interview. Listened to the boss talk s**t about other employees during the interview. Refused the job offer.
A toxic workplace environment is an amalgamation of lots of small things. There usually isn’t one single factor that drives all the negativity. Although, a sufficiently power-tripping and micromanaging boss might be able to do that all on their own.
According to Indeed, toxic workplaces tend to have high turnover rates. Companies that can’t keep hold of their workers and push away top talent clearly have deeper issues. Like being unable to properly motivate their workforce. Or pressuring them to embrace an unhealthy work-life balance. Or making them do ethically iffy things.
#4
Lack of promotion from within despite qualified and motivated employees.
Frequent reminders that employees of equal position should not discuss their wage and will be reprimanded if they do.
#6
Micromanagement.
Toxic companies also mostly focus on what their employees provide for the company instead of the other way around. Good management practices dictate that the business ought to find ways to support the staff. On the flip side, bosses who aren’t interested in seeing their workers grow professionally and improve their skills are only pushing them away.
You might also be surrounded by workplace toxicity if you’re constantly feeling exhausted, falling ill, and have very little enthusiasm for your job. If you’re constantly surrounded by colleagues who feel the same, then there’s a problem. It’s only exacerbated if there are little to no opportunities for positive social encounters. A thriving culture of gossip and exclusion is a sure sign that the environment is toxic.
#7
When it feels like you're in school again. If there's actively petty drama, it means either the boss doesn't know or doesn't stop it. Either way is no good. Also, the moment you start getting criticized for anything not related to your work (looks, intelligence, etc.). You shouldn't be getting paid to be bullied.
#9
Dirty employee bathroom. Check the ply on the toilet paper too. If it looks like Soviet-era wood pulp - end the interview and scoot out of there.
Social psychologist Tessa West, the author of ‘Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them,’ noted that toxicity at work isn’t all that rare.
“The hard truth is that most of us will experience toxicity at some point in our career, either from a boss or a coworker. Whether we realize it or not, we might also be part of the problem. My research found the dominant response by those witnessing toxic behavior at work is, ‘I’m not part of the problem; I don’t want to be part of the solution,’” she explained that many employees fear retribution or they feel burned out.
#10
For me, there are a few:
1. No one ever smiles. I get a lot of people have RBF and aren’t required to smile all day long, but if I walk though my entire workplace and not one person looks even remotely enthused then I probably am in a toxic environment. At my last job, you could go weeks without even hearing someone laugh in be break room because everyone was so dead.
2. Lots of turnover/new hires leaving quickly. This is a huge red flag and the hardest to overcome, because it is such a cycle. Top performers are unhappy, leave and put the workload on everyone else there, which makes them even more unhappy and they will leave soon after. Then, management tries to hire all new people but hey need time to understand the work, and then feel overwhelmed and leave. It ends up with everyone being overworked and no one sticking around for longer than a few months.
3. Finally, changes for the sake of changing. I’m all for innovation and new ideas in the workplace, but I believe that they should be done with a purpose. If no one is sure why something is changing, then it’s a sign that management is spinning their wheels and just hoping that something will stick.
Red Reilly 11 months ago (edited)
Number 3, my work is Hybrid, some days in the office some days WFH, if something came up and we needed to WFH? no issue. Recently there was drama over christmas as some of us were allowed to just WFH but other teams around the country had to be in the offic. Our managers manager had a massive freakout and now all of this flexablity is gone, and if something comes up we can't WFH, we have to take it as Holiday.
#11
Culture of fear. When nobody takes risks, and everybody has a CYA mentality. Then when something goes wrong, everybody scrambles to throw someone under the bus.
#12
When you first start, the managers are unwilling to answer questions you may have. Or are at least condescending about it. Bad sign. If you're new you should be asking plenty of questions, it only makes sense.
KatSaidWhat 11 months ago
My office mate has been here just over a year. She has retained no information, written nothing down and is wondering why we are all getting impatient when asks how to do the most basic of tasks. She also realised that I no longer have any answer but "it's in the user guide I gave and explained to you" so now she goes to different people on different floors. How she still has a job is anyone's guess.
#13
S****y communication, drama, your boss complains to your coworker about other coworkers, your boss doesn’t do anything to fix issues
#14
When everyone hates the boss but can't honestly tell him/her how to improve out of fear of retribution.
#15
Scapegoating and bullying. Someone asked me if I'd noticed that on one foreman's crew there was always one guy who was the scapegoat. If he left, they'd single someone else out to be the whipping boy.
#16
helping a coworker and getting glares from others during it.
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 11 months ago
I guess I've been lucky with my work environment then. You'd be in deep shįt with everyone else if you DIDN'T help. Whether it's helping someone lift something or give help and advice about how to do something, you never refuse.
#17
When there is a work outing every other day and they eg you on to come out and whine when you don't.
I SEE U GUYS MORE THAN I SEE MY OWN FAMILY
Wubedhheij 11 months ago
That is just sad, even as a child I spent more time in school which I hated than my actual family that I loved, it is so f*****g stupid.
#18
They tell you there's ample opportunity for overtime. That just means they can't keep enough people to run a full crew.
They tell you during orientation not to trust your coworkers, because everyone there is a backstabber.
They offer a reward program for spilling the beans on people violating the rules.
Team leads and managers openly speak ill of other employees in your presence.
People are constantly talking about each other, and then being friendly when facing that person.
Cops are called onto the premises at least once a month due to employee theft, fights, or threats.
Company announces that there won't be a raise that year, then the later the same day announces record profits.
Reports of drugs being sold on premises are ignored.
All of these happened at a single warehouse I worked at.
#20
Silos, people not willing to help others or answer questions.
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 11 months ago
That's easy to deal with. What goes around comes around.
#21
When former employees don't have many positive things to say about the place, whether or not they left on good terms.
Kelly Scott 11 months ago
Right before I left the terrible bank I worked for, the wife of one of the FOUNDERS of that bank told me he retired because he was tired of all the drama and cliques in it.
#22
The person who is really friendly on your first day, that then slags off their department on your second day probably isn’t the person you want to be friends with. Learned that the hard way. That persons name is now Crazy-*name* in conversation with my friends.
#23
An extremely lopsided and very open political landscape in the workplace. Good luck being in the political minority.
Scott Rackley 11 months ago
I got the TV's in the cafeteria blocked from showing fox news. Now they're on the weather channel, which is nice.
#26
When the managers exert their power in every way possible.
It's a manager's job to *manage*, not control, and even so, the best way to ensure a task gets done on time is to be constructive and try and let people do what works best for them. The maxim "absolute power unabused is absolute power wasted," need not apply to leadership positions.
#27
Your boss controls how and when you can communicate with others, including people on your own team.
#28
The employees conspire to either evade or save the management. When the bosses can't steer the ship you know it's about to go down.
michael kempken 11 months ago
Middle managers stabbing each other in the back, hiding faulty products or falsifying other shift production quotas just to get the production bonus.
#30
When there's too much of a family vibe going on. From my experience, it usually means the boss let's a lot of s****y things pass and when they try to reprimand an employee it's never taken seriously. Everyone does whatever they want and lots of time is wasted.
What do you think ?
DB 11 months ago
A few that got missed: Good Ol 'boy (or girl) culture where people are favored just for being around forever. Obviously incompetent people continually failing upwards. Hiring freezes when business is good or recruiting drives when it's bad. When the company refers to employees as "associates or team members".
Justin Tyme 11 months ago
The cars in the parking lot are junky old cars - except the the spaces reserved for managers where there are expensive new cars. It means that the employees are poorly paid and are transient workers (only stay in a workplace for a short time). One time I went to a job interview and noticed that almost all the vehicles in the parking lot were nice newer cars and trucks. I immediately got the impression that it was a good place to work. I was right. They hired me and I stayed for ten years until I did a career change.
Justin Tyme 11 months ago
Another little note is that the company did not have any reserved parking places. e.g. If the company president arrived when the main parking lot was full, that person would have to park in the secondary parking lot down the street. No coincidence that it was a workplace with a good teamwork environment.
Load More Replies... DB 11 months ago
A few that got missed: Good Ol 'boy (or girl) culture where people are favored just for being around forever. Obviously incompetent people continually failing upwards. Hiring freezes when business is good or recruiting drives when it's bad. When the company refers to employees as "associates or team members".
Justin Tyme 11 months ago
The cars in the parking lot are junky old cars - except the the spaces reserved for managers where there are expensive new cars. It means that the employees are poorly paid and are transient workers (only stay in a workplace for a short time). One time I went to a job interview and noticed that almost all the vehicles in the parking lot were nice newer cars and trucks. I immediately got the impression that it was a good place to work. I was right. They hired me and I stayed for ten years until I did a career change.
Justin Tyme 11 months ago
Another little note is that the company did not have any reserved parking places. e.g. If the company president arrived when the main parking lot was full, that person would have to park in the secondary parking lot down the street. No coincidence that it was a workplace with a good teamwork environment.
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