Signs You’re in a Toxic Work Environment & How to Handle It

Peter Drucker was a renowned management consultant who said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast“. This means that your company’s success is almost always determined by your company’s culture, and the other strategies are apparently insignificant with regard to culture.

There are various statistics and insights that are more than enough to prove that the work environment does play a paramount role in the workflow of an organization. On the other hand, if a work culture is not employee-centric, the organization is going to witness its fall sooner than later. A hostile work environment is a foolproof way to amp up the amount of job stress you have to deal with on a daily basis. To be more precise, this isn’t exactly a phenomenon. Every now and then, all of us have a bad day (or even a week) at work.

Your client presentation didn’t go as expected; your boss wasn’t quite pleased with your idea; you had to work overtime to finish a project; your teammate has been making a series of noisy sales calls. However, there is a significant difference between occasional aggravating episodes and full-fledged toxic work culture.

Defining A Toxic Work Environment

A workplace where employees experience feelings like hatred, envy, and alienation from time to time is known as a toxic work environment. Because of poor communication, dominance battles, hostility, and abusive leadership, it becomes an environment of dysfunction. Teamwork, efficiency, and creativity suffer as a result and also increase the amount of anxiety, intimidation, and blame soar. Employee loyalty is eroded due to this, and employees are emotionally drained.

Signs To Look For In A Toxic Work Culture

Now that you’ve understood what a toxic work environment means, let’s take a look at the signs you should look for in such a case.

1. High Turnover Rate

If the staff in an organization is seeing a lot of turnovers, it’s almost certain that there is something wrong with the workplace. Toxic workplace culture is almost always accompanied by high turnover. A poor culture will not only repel employees but will also dissuade job seekers from considering your company. Employees today value work culture more than any other factor in a company. If your organization is losing staff left and right, it’s likely that they’re looking for a less toxic work environment.

2. Everyone Fears the Boss

There’s a significant distinction between having a healthy respect for your boss and being afraid of him or her. For instance, when no one but the boss does all the talking in a meeting, and employees are afraid of making small mistakes, the work culture is perhaps toxic. These signs are evident signs of a cultural problem that needs to be addressed right away.

The boss serves as the foundation for the workplace culture, and their management and interpersonal styles determine if a work environment will be hostile or joyful. As a result, if the manager yells at or criticizes his employees, or carries out equivalent actions, you should acknowledge that the organization’s culture isn’t good.

3. Inappropriate cliques

People naturally gravitate toward folks with whom they share similar interests. It should come as no surprise that many people have their closest buddies at work. However, in a toxic workplace, these groups of employees, or cliques, are loaded with drama, tension, and unfair competition. When these cliques engage in betrayals, sabotage, and intimidation, competition completely fails to be healthy.

It’s not uncommon to find upper management executives sitting separately, dining alone, and completely overlooking their employees, leading them to develop their own cliques in a toxic work environment. This is only one of the major pitfalls to recognize when it comes to hostile company culture.

4. Ineffective Communication

A lack of good communication, which is an absolute must to accomplish your task to the best of your ability, is a common symptom of toxicity in the workplace. You may discover that you’re putting in long hours without receiving feedback on how you’re doing, or that you’re not being recognized for your efforts. Inadequate communication can lead to confusion or misunderstandings, which can lead to a lack of commitment and productivity.

Effective communication in the workplace necessitates active listening skills, excellent written communication, and unambiguous verbal communication from managers and employees alike. Poor communication can take many forms, including a consistent lack of clarity about your role and daily obligations, conflicting communication from various colleagues, poor listening skills, or emotionally driven and impulsive reactions. As a result of poor communication, employees may experience a sense of apathy and a constant state of disarray.

How To Deal With a Toxic Work Environment?

While it may feel relieving to dump your work stress on family members or friends, it’s much better to draw a line between your professional and personal life. When you leave the work behind at the office while leaving, you will be able to focus on all of the things that are important other than work. It can also improve your mood and leave you in a better mental state to deal with toxicity in general.

While talking with coworkers is natural and good, gossiping might actually contribute to the toxic environment you’re looking to dodge. To avoid this detrimental tendency, remember to practice forming professional connections with coworkers and setting appropriate boundaries. Avoiding unessential gossip can help you concentrate on your work and maintain a good work atmosphere.

Final Thoughts

As per SHRM, 58% of employees leave their jobs due to a toxic work environment, and the yearly expenses of turnover related to work culture are nearly $223 billion. All workplaces have certain obstacles and unfavorable attributes, but determining whether yours has a reasonable number of challenges, is substantially dysfunctional, or is potentially toxic can be tough. 

We hope that by going through the indicators mentioned in this blog post, you would have settled on something concrete. At the end of the day, nothing is more important than your health, i.e., mental as well as physical. Also, if you’re facing a toxic work environment, you should deal with it immediately before it aggravates beyond control.