Do You Have a Toxic Workplace Culture? | 10 Surprising Signs of a Toxic Work Environment
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2020
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Do you have a toxic workplace culture? In this video, Jeremy Webb, founder of Organizational Engineering covers the signs of a toxic workplace, answer the question: what is a toxic work environment, and lists the impacts of a toxic culture. A toxic work environment will destroy employee engagement, morale, productivity, quality, and your organization's performance and success. Recognizing the toxic work environment signs is the first step to fixing the issues and building High-Performance Organization.
Get in touch: OrganizationalEngineering.com 
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I just left my toxic boss of seven year and I feel AMAZING. In the end if was affecting my mental health and I had to get out of there
That's often a good move. Life is too short to hate your job and like you said, it can impact everything.
Congrats on your escape and I hope you landed in a better place!
Yup, describes everything at my job. It’s a total disorganized mess
Sorry to hear that but it's pretty common. I have worked with everyone from startups to fortune 100s and government agencies and nobody is immune. That's how I came up with the list :-)
But, it can be fixed and doesn't take as much effort as you might think.
@@OrganizationalEngineering yeah. I am going to tell them how to fix things or I am leaving
If you are open to a tip, the way you approve a situation when you want to make a change makes a huge difference in the likelihood of a positive outcome. The best chance of creating a positive change is to start by asking people what they want and then asking if they want help in achieving it.
If they say no, there is very little chance anything will change. If they say yes, you have the opportunity to present your ideas in a positive way.
I've been there. I have tried a couple times to improve organizations. Sometimes people are open but if they are too far gone, it just ends up hurting you.
@@AndroidCyclist You hit on a good point here. The people at the top of the company gave to want it to change. You might be surprised at how much progress you can make if people are willing to open their minds to alternate approaches. But, until they want things to change, nothing will happen.
It's kind of like someone who eats fast food every day and is suffering health issues. If the desire be ones strong enough, change will happen.
The problem is that it generally takes a catastrophic event to trigger a change.
Can someone please list some bigger companies that have healthy work environments? It feels like everywhere is like this....toxic
There are some lists of great places to work out there but the problem is that even within a given company there can be a lot of variation between departments. For example, Capital One is on the fortune 100 best places to work. I know a lot of people that have worked there and have done some work there myself. Some groups are amazing and others have challenges they need to work through.
The best way I have found is to ask the right questions during your interview or even to reach out to people on LinkedIn to get more information. When I was doing subcontracting, I actually avoided some engagements that would have been a terrible fit because I adked good questions.
You have to be confident in your ability to land work if you take that approach but it will cause the right people to notice you as a top candidate. The wrong people may be put off by your questions but if your goal is to avoid a toxic culture, you will be doing yourself a favor.
@@OrganizationalEngineering great answer and very helpful, thank you!
@@suzannemeyers9588 my pleasure. I hope it helps.
Some companies are great to work for and then they are sold and new management comes in a wrecks the place. I was at a place that lost over a point on Glassdoor (out of 5) in a short amount of time. Many of the new leadership were quite toxic.
At my larger company it 100% depends on your department and especially your Manager and team.
Speaking of the tenure, if it’s too short it’s also going to a a red flag, because it could be due to the toxic “hire to fire” culture like Amazon. Their PIP system is very notorious.
Short tenure can definitely be a sign but it also depends on the reason why.
My first job out of college was at the fastest growing company in the US. The rapid growth made for a very short average tenure. If you had been there 6 months, you were considered an old timer.
Some industries just have naturally high turnover like seasonal work.
But short tenure could be a good indicator to dig a bit deeper for sure.
If the turnover rate is more rapid than a McDonald's.
even the smallest startup can have heavy politics
if you are one of the top performers at the office, you could be the target of political play.
they might gang up on you
That's true. I have even been in one myself. As another person mentioned in the comments, the CEO/founder brought in his friends and family and it cause all sorts of issues.
I work in a care home that I think is utterly toxic. I'm a housekeeper. Most of the housekeepers have avoided going to the housekeeping manager with problems. The CEO was in one of the wards, pretending to be helping with the cleaning. He was in and out that quickly, the housekeeping team in that ward hadn't realised that he was there, until the photo that was taken appeared in the newsletter. When I tried to get the day off for my granny's funeral, I was told that I had to take a days unpaid leave in order to go, as compassionate leave was only for immediate family, which my employer says my granny wasn't.
That sounds like a terrible experience. Sorry you had to go through that.
@@OrganizationalEngineering Thank you.
Pretty sure that legally, Bereavement leave considers grandparents to be immediate family, ar least that was my experience when 2 of mine passed within 1 month of each other - 1 on each side of fam. I got 5 days Bereavement leave for each and I needed it. ❤
@@TimesUp8888 Not according to my employer. Mind you my employer claims to be proud to care, but the seem to be incapable of caring about anything but the money. The irony is, my boss took two weeks off for her sister.
Sounds familiar to my prior employment. Other red flags:
Micromanagemnt. There's a reason this was on every toxic boss list I ever read. Waste of time and disempowering.
High turnover: we had the McDonalds goong "at least we're not that bad".
Positivity as an expectation, not a managerial goal: I think too many miss the step in that process.
Excessive focus on teamwork: not a bad conceot, but the more someone pushes it, the more you should check to see if they're contributing or free riding.
Last minute culture: nothing says bad work envrionment like pushong deadlines.
Thanks for the additions.
I don't follow on the positivity as an expectation vs management goal. Can you elaborate?
@@OrganizationalEngineering Happy employees are supposed to be more productive. This is logical and makes sense. The thing is managemnt is supposed to make and keep them happy via a good envrionment. Where I worked, it didn't matter how long it had been since your last raise, or how burnt out you feel under problems always needing fixing. You were expected to be happy and positive about it. At best it's burying problems. At worst the imoact on people is harsh.
Happy New Year 2024!! Just found your channel!! Great advice!! I've seen all of these red flags at my last contract job at TCW out here in LA!!
Sorry to hear that. I hope your situation improves or you find something better!
The article I mentioned will be coming soon. If there are any signs you think I should add to the list, drop them in the comments!
You just basically described all human organisations.
Far too many, that's for sure. I have worked with some that didn't operate with these issues and it has always been a super rewarding experience.
"Human" organizations 😂😂
When the OSHA inspector shows up and half of your support just scatters like cockroaches because precisely ZERO of them hold the correct licensing. Also, when you work insane hours of overtime (over 100 hours) but HR conveniently miscalculates your paycheck in their favor. Or that time a co-worker simply did not receive a paycheck, manager dilly dallied and hid herself until a threat to report them to the state labor board fixed it up quick.
One of the things that drives me nuts about business these days is that there is so much focus on squeezing every cent of profit out. What's crazy is that in the long run that actually leads to lower profitability while making things less enjoyable for everyone.
Luckily that trend is starting to change but it's moving slowly and a lot of company will put out one message then take actions that directly contradict it. Sometimes it's intentional and sometimes it's unwitting.
In any case, the more companies adopt a more purpose-driven motive and treat their employees better, the better off everyone will be.
very true, thank you!
My pleasure. I hope it helped in some way.
Companies that allow violence and then fire the person that is doing their jobs right. Holding back monies owed to the worker and then blaming the worker for it.
I have personally not seen that but those do sound like pretty toxic practices. Possibly illegal as well. I hope that is not something you are going through personally but if it is, I hope you get it sorted out quickly.
Family could be a problem too
#6. I knew I wasn't crazy. I thought this same thing.
Glad I could validate your sanity for you. :-)
I work for city government. Most o these are apparent in municipalities, and it's no different where I am. I am getting out.
Staying in a toxic environment can have some pretty serious consequence on your life. It zaps your energy and drive, can impact relationships and even your health.
Getting out is a good option if you don't think you can change things.
Great points spot on 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Bruh… my unit shows every single one of these. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Sorry to hear that. I hope things improve soon.
I found the statement about average tenure to be the exact opposite of the criticism I've heard to date. I was born three years before the start of the millennial generation. Accordingly, I've been lumped in as a job hopper. These generalizations do not factor in that all but one of the organizations I've worked for has been acquired or ceased operations completely...yet, I always have to explain job changes as if I made the choices on my own. I recently hit 7 years at my current organization. I started as an individual contributor and now I'm a senior manager. Every individual that was in my department when I started has since left the organization. Since everyone else has left this company, it's disturbing to think that I could be going from being classified as a job hopper directly into now being classified as a part of the problem because I stayed. We really can't win, can we? Granted, I know the comment was a generalization and is applicable based on "average tenure," but what do we want employees to do? Do we want them to stay and grow with the organization, or do we want them to go? Which is it?
Thanks for the comments, Mike.
To your point about turnover, too much or too little of anything can be problematic. I believe I mentioned that a long average tenure (may) be a sign of something bad and doesn't condem the organization on its own.
There are more factors that contribute to average tenure. For example, hiring new people reduces average tenure and new people being new ideas.
That said, all of the places I have been that had high average tenure (15-20+) years had what I would consider a toxic culture. People had lost their drive and mostly seemed to be interested in climbing the ladder and getting a paycheck.
There are exceptions to the rule of course and I have worked with many people that have stayed at organizations for 10+ years that were great so this does not condem or label you in any way for staying with your company.
As you mentioned, high turnover is also problematic. What you really want is a culture that promotes keeping the best people around and encourages people that aren't a good fit for the organization to move on. Ideally that is a small percentage and the people that do leave will most likely be happier at an organization where they are a better fit.
I hope this helps clarify the intent.
Thanks again for sharing!
@@OrganizationalEngineering Hey! Thanks for responding. I may not have articulated my response as I intended, but it was more general and not directly about your comment or intent. I'm sandwiched between the generation that stayed at jobs for 20-30 years and those that are considered job hoppers, so I was more so thinking about whether the 10-year mark will universally mean something in terms of employee tenure.
Personally, because everyone else in my department left the organization way before hitting year 10 (or year 5), I think the problems/challenges were already there before factoring in those that somehow grow and navigate within the organization. However, I can say that external consultants do come in with the messaging that "some people needed to leave" without addressing percentages as to how many of the people may have been bad hires vs how many of them we burnt out, vs how many of them just got tired of the environment. They don't talk about how many people left that we should have (could have) retained under different circumstances.
I say all of that to say, I understood your comment and point....and I think it holds weight. My response was more of me thinking/talking/typing out loud about how we as employees will be (or may be) accessed in the future based on tenure and longevity with an organization. Of course, individual circumstances should always be considered. 😊
@@mikeyllo thanks for clarifying.
To your point about how many people "need to leave", it varies by organization but I typically find that 90%+ of the people are generally capable of doing well in the right system and less than 10% fit the other category. Those tend to be the people that actively avoid change.
If people are willing to engage and try to hit the company's goals, there is generally a place for them.
Also, when you build the right kind of system, people tend to self select.
All of this depends on the type of organization as well. For example, retail tends to have a higher turnover than many knowledge woelrk jobs.
If you have any specific questions on challenges at your organization I would be happy to have a chat.
Watching on the same day I sent a report to OSHA after months of attempting to get help for this issue through leadership and administration. As a therapist there is no place for a toxic culture in our clinic.
There is no place for a toxic culture anywhere but it's a real shame when you hear about a therapy clinic having culture challenges.
@@OrganizationalEngineering its a member of support staff, not clinicians. However, this is what happens when unqualified, absent individuals are placed in positions of leadership. Since administration failed to make any corrective action on this abusive individual, maybe an outside agency will.
@@angiesizzlepants thanks for clarifying. I hope everything gets worked out for you and your coworkers soon!
I work in a hospital in the UK where we are understaffed and have trouble hitting our KPI.
Yet our mangers don't seem to care even though we raise the matter every month in our team meeting.
Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for the advice I know you must be very busy at the moment.
Hi Mark,
Sorry to hear you are having challenges.
There are only two factors in getting someone to take action - how much they want to do it and their perception of their ability to achieve it.
If you want them to make a change, you need to change their perception of these two factors.
I'm launching a new workshop this week where I will be discussing a bit more about this topic if you are interested. It's free for the time being but that may change. manageminimal.com/registration
Hi Jeremy, thanks for the great video. I need your help to identify if the new company I started working at is toxic. So here is how it working there: we are mostly working from home, and there is little communication between all colleaques. Whenever I need to get some information I am dependent on, the colleaques are always "too busy" to respond, so the only way is to push them through sending email with CC copy to my manager and then luckily will get a one-line respond. The responsibilities as well as the project handling chain is unclear and undefined (everybody does what they think is right), so everybody is trying to throw their assigned tasks from their shoulders to somebody else. Most projects are failing and many of the customers are not sattisfied. While on onboarding process I got almost 0 training and am overwhelmed by tasks from the failing projects. I recently got sick due to burnout and on a sick leave now. The only thing is the salary is a little above the average. I don't know if this company is good enough to be called "toxic" and does it worth staying there due to the Ok salary ? If its really toxic, I will do my best to quit it.
I feel your pain. I have spent the majority of my career helping organizations fix these exact problems, so I understand.
At the end of the day, you are the only one that can make the decision if you should stay or not. If you feel the organization is toxic, you should be looking for something else for sure because it will bring you down. But, just because it's not toxic doesn't mean you should stay.
When I am faced with difficult decisions, I like to visualize them. For something like this I make a list of the pros and cons and I give them weights based on the amount of happiness and well-being they will bring me. So maybe salary is +2, but lack of structure is -5. You may consider other factors as well like if the job will help you move forward in your career.
Also, if there is someone at your company that you think would be open to a conversation, I would be happy to chat with them about how they can resolve their challenges.
How about getting written up for leaving 20 minutes early with plenty of coverage, and 2 other managers on shift, reason for write up was there was no MOD on shift (when one of the other managers there was the MOD when I got off)
I have never been an advocate of 'butt in chair time' as a primary driver for job performance in knowledge work envoronments but I understand the need for having enough people on duty in certain environments.
It sounds like there were enough people on duty in your scenario though so I am sorry to hear about your issue.
What are some pointed questions you can ask to avoid toxic workplaces? I've been on a stint of them. I'm tired of these places that are draining and whittle away your self-confidence, career progression, opportunities, and holistic health.
Toxic culture is the result of poor management, so ask open, but pointed questions about the management team. What can you tell me about the hiring manager? What about the managers in their chain? What is it like to work here? Tell me about the company culture. What are the good and bad things about working here? I have found that most people will be pretty honest and open with you during an interview. Asking questions like that can also help you land a job at the better companies because it shows you care and want to be part of the right kind of organization.
I also find I can tell a lot about a company from the job description itself. If the description is stodgy and full of generic stuff like 'must have 6 years of experience with x tool', it's a good bet the company is living in the past and probably uses antiquated management techniques.
I'm not sure what industry you are in, but in the tech world the best companies I have worked with or for tend to be the small, rapidly growing ones. Try looking for those in your industry as well.
Why recommend firing people that have been there over 10 years? No consideration of people wanting to be in a positive environment
Thanks for the question, Steve. It's not a recommendation to fire people just because they have been there that long. It's just saying that it's a potential warning sign if everyone has been there that long on average.
When you bring new people in, it lowers the average tenure. New people being new ideas. So, if your average tenure is high, you probably aren't growing and aren't bringing in new ideas as fast as possible.
Also, what I have seen is that when the average tenure gets to be very high, the company also tends to adopt a security and stability oriented mindset instead of a growth mindset. You will hear people says things like "that's how we do it here" or "that's the ways it's always been done" when you question things that may be problematic. That mindset will hold you back from success and block new ideas.
Does this help clarify things?
Misery likes company
Those people have nothing better to do...
I was at an organization that saw this as a problem. It was a very good company (until new leadership) and people enjoyed staying. They were doing awesome things. But I have also seen it where it is a big problem. The senior people aren't open to new ideas and best practices.
Why is RUclips recommending these kind of videos to me. Haha.
Could be some sort of AI based prediction. A few months ago Google sent me ads for the exact product that I had literally been thinking about 30 seconds before but I had not serarched for anything or said anything and it was not in my normal buying habits.
Coincidence or deliberate? Who knows...
Definitely reading your mind.. Nanu nanu
I started looking for a new job the second week on my current job. Red Flag #1: It turns out "We'll make sure we get you full time hours" is not the same as "We'll make the position full time." Sorry, not negotiable. I need full time. I have an interview scheduled for tomorrow.
In the mean time I'm trying to learn as much as possible so that I can spot issues and address them effectively instead of getting sucked into their poor patterns of behavior.
When I was hired, and during my first couple of days, I was repeatedly told that they were hoping I could help address the very poor documentation and staff getting into ruts. (It's an agency that provides companion care and behavioral support to people with intellectual disabilities.) In retrospect, it's a very similar situation to one I was in over twenty years ago where management thought, "She's really a wiz at this. If we transfer her to the program where the people are who suck at this, she'll make them good at it!"
So there I am, hired to "talk to the front line workers regularly. We need to get their documentation improved. They can't justify the hours we're billing for because they're just documenting observation, observation, observation. They're supposed to be providing support!" Pretty clearly some of the staff ARE providing support but aren't documenting it, and some of them are just documenting how frustrated they are.
Sorry you are going through that struggle. I have seen similar things many times. The real challenge there seems to be that the team doesn't have any authority to improve things. It's like getting hired in to figure out how to solve a puzzle, but they only give you one piece.
Is there a way I can email you? I got some questions.
Email me at info@org-eng.com. I will see it.
This video doesnt even BEGIN to describe this chaos/burnout as a vet med professional
Sorry you are in a rough spot. I hope things get better for you soon!
My workplace ranks 9 out of 10
Wow.
Sorry to hear that. If you are looking for good cultures, younger companies are probably a good place to look.
@@OrganizationalEngineeringi meant that comment to convey how thought provoking this content was. Thank you. I am sharing it to my colleagues too
As much as I hate hearing that people are in companies that show signs of toxicity, I'm glad it resonated with you for lack of a better term. There is no need, and I would go further to say there is no excuse for a company to have a toxic culture. It's not good for anyone.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏💯
10, 15, 20, 25, and 30!!! It's a noxious stew of abominable stench...
Sorry to hear you are in a rough place. Work is part of life and life should be enjoyed.
Hooooo boy😂😂 check, check check…check…check!!!
Unfortunately your situation is all too common. I hope you find something better if you decide to go that route!
Sounds like Walmart
Bull’s Eye.
All r applied in negative way