How to Recognize & Deal with a Toxic Workplace

“Toxic” is a buzzword that is often used these days, but when it is used to describe a business’ work environment, it needs to be treated with deadly seriousness.

If a workplace is a place people don’t like to be, many drawbacks will ultimately impact operations. Thus, it is to your advantage to keep your business as positive a workplace as possible.

Listed below: how to tell if your organization has a toxic workplace and, if so, how to resolve it.

What are the Signs of a Toxic Workplace?

Numerous signs indicate a toxic company culture in the workplace. If any of these sound familiar, you may have an issue that needs solving:

Lack of Participation

If you have trouble getting your team to speak up and often find them watching the clock tick down to EOD, it pays to determine why this is the case. Those in a toxic workplace often avoid contributing to avoid criticism from their superiors or peers. 

People Gossip

Now, a little bit of water cooler talk can be perfectly healthy—even beneficial—in moderation. That being said, a line has been crossed when these chats become glances and passive-aggressive interactions between coworkers. Toxic workplaces are often overly competitive (more on this later), and this kind of infighting certainly doesn’t help your business accomplish its goals.

Communication Gaps and Lacking Transparency

If you find your internal lines of communication going unused, it can be a sign that your workplace has a few issues that need resolving. However, leadership can be just as guilty of this, as a lack of transparency with staff can be another serious sign that something needs to be fixed.

Absenteeism and Workaholism

While these may seem to be opposites, they share a common cause. Different employees will respond to a toxic workplace differently. Some will avoid the issue, calling in sick as often as they can manage, while others will dive into their work, trying to prove themselves valuable enough to be indispensable. Either approach is a sure sign of an unhealthy relationship with the workplace.

Unclear Expectations

If goals and objectives aren’t clearly defined, nobody will be sure what they are supposed to do, and therefore, nobody will feel comfortable at work. How would you feel if you showed up to work, day in and day out, unsure of how your day will go? Chances are, pretty bad.

Leadership by Fear

If the boss maintains influence in the office by threatening others and throwing their weight around, that’s not an environment anyone should be in. This goes for any authority figure in the office, too.

High Turnover

If new faces frequently appear in and disappear from the office, there is probably a reason for that. High turnover rates are usually a clear indication that something is rotten in a business.

Favoritism

Favoritism in the office can manifest in many ways, from preferential treatment to wage inequities to inconsistent policy enforcement. Any sign, however, can indicate problems in the work environment.

Fear of Failure

While failure certainly isn’t something to pursue, it must be addressed correctly in the workplace. An office that punishes failure does not do so and should be seen as toxic. The possibility of failure needs to be acknowledged and processed maturely.

Excessive Competition

Employees are meant to work as a team, and while a bit of competition between different individuals or departments can have some benefits, too much, with actual feelings of malice, creates an unpleasant work environment.

How to Fight Against Having a Toxic Workplace

First and foremost, look to the top.

In almost all cases, the source of toxicity is a member of management… if not the person at the top, then one of the people delegated to handle day-to-day operations. Yes, this means that you may be the problem.

This is bad because it means you may be working against your business, but it is also good because if there’s anyone’s behavior you can change, it is your own.

Once one's perspectives and behaviors are present and correct, various things can be done to help cleanse an organization of toxicity.

What Leadership Should Do

Identify the factors contributing to the toxic workplace.
Once you start looking, the root causes of your toxicity should become quite apparent… and you need to attend to them decisively once they do.

Give team members the safety to speak up.
Your team members need to be able to share their concerns with management and be heard… and just as crucially, they need to know they have this capability. Make sure your team members know they can approach you with their needs.

Encourage better work-life balance.
Your team also needs to know that you support everyone's healthy life outside the office, with work just being one aspect of their existence. Communicate this with your team.

Train managers to follow suit.
If your managers aren’t approaching your business with the tone you prescribe, this must be corrected. Make sure that everyone is on board with the business tone you want to take, stepping in to correct any issues as needed.

Lead by example.
Finally, to avoid workplace toxicity, you need to set a positive tone in your business. By taking everything we’ve discussed to heart and emphasizing the conditions in your office, you should be able to establish a company culture that is positive, collaborative, and beneficial to all.

We wish you the best of luck in solving any issues with your company culture.