Does a typical workday feel like torture? Do you feel like your soul is being taken from you one day at a time? Melodramatics aside, a bad workplace environment can make our lives miserable. According to this article from Business Insider, Americans spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime and nearly 80% are dissatisfied with their jobs. If you’re working in a bad environment for a large portion of your career, it will have a negative impact on quality of life, happiness and stress levels. That’s no way to live! So what are the signs of a toxic work environment? In this article, we’ll talk about 10 things to watch out for.
Before we go through our top 10 signs, it’s important to consider whether we ourselves contribute to our environment being negative. It can be hard to stay positive at work when dealing with problems, but adding to the issues doesn’t help anyone. With some positivity, we can even improve our work environment and motive others to do the same.
Ultimately, though, we aren’t responsible for changing our workplace. If you’ve put in effort to make things better but things aren’t improving, it may be best to move on.
10 Signs Of A Toxic Work Environment
Without further ado, here are 10 signs of a toxic work environment to look out for:
- No Sense Of Teamwork Or Camaraderie
- Disconnect Between Management & Staff
- Problems Go Unaddressed
- A Bad Manager Or Boss
- Preferential Treatment For Some
- Overworked & Underpaid Employees
- Frequent Conflicts, Arguing & Fighting
- Drama, Gossip & Talking Behind Others
- High Employee Turnover
- People Openly Discuss How Bad It Is
1. No Sense Of Teamwork Or Camaraderie
What makes a workplace environment positive is usually a combination of things. Part of the magic comes from intangibles – things that can’t be measured or quantified, but everyone knows is there. Among these intangibles is a sense of camaraderie or chemistry between coworkers.
When people are happy, motivated and optimistic, a workplace functions completely differently. People don’t mind doing others a favor, working together or going above and beyond for the good of their workplace. When it’s crunch time, coworkers kick it up a notch and make sure the job gets done right no matter what. They take pride in their work and feel part of something bigger than themselves. Coworkers probably consider themselves friends.
In toxic work environments, the opposite is true. Everyone’s just working for the day, trying to pass the time until they can finally leave. There’s no sense of pride for the work being produced, no higher purpose served. People come to do their jobs, get paid and go home. No after work socializing, no motivation. It’s a job, and that’s it.
2. A Disconnect Between Management & Staff
Is there a distinct separation between upper managers and everyone else at your job? Do you feel like you barely know the bosses? Does management seem totally clueless as to what actually happens on a day-to-day basis? This disconnect between management and staff is a major indicator of a toxic work environment.
Managers are the ones who have the big-picture vision of the company; the people who are supposed to make sure the operation runs smoothly and continues to run well into the future. Because of this, managers are responsible for maintaining a relationship with their staff and understand the role of every employee.
When the managers are mere specters in the background of your office, you very well could be working in a toxic environment.
3. Problems Go Unaddressed
Similar to point no. 2 above, a sure sign of a toxic work environment is when problems continue to go unaddressed for a considerable amount of time.
The problem could be anything – crappy equipment, an incompetent coworker, time-wasting processes, etc. The main point is this – when problems are pointed out to management and never get fixed, it’s because they simply aren’t being prioritized by the powers-that-be.
While many employees complain for no real reason, a legitimate issue costs the company time, money and employee motivation. There’s no good reason not to find a solution, or at least keep the staff updated on any kind of progress. When problems never get handled, it’s because management doesn’t care, or they’re handling even bigger issues. Either way, these are signs of a toxic work environment.
4. A Bad Manager Or Boss
This one’s easy to spot. A bad manager or boss is great at making a work environment miserable – sometimes without them even knowing it.
Bad bosses come in many forms. A bad manager is often disconnected from the staff as discussed from the points above. Bosses who are clueless as to the work that’s actually happening are always a bad sign.
You might even have a boss with bad intentions. They may ‘get off’ on having power over others. Bad bosses like to exercise their authority by dumping work on others and pointing the finger when issues arise. Here’s an article we wrote about 12 signs of a manipulative boss, in case you’re interested.
The boss can make or break a workplace, and a bad manager is a main ingredient for a toxic work environment.
5. Preferential Treatment For Some
Are some of your coworkers criticized for the tiniest things while other coworkers seem to get away with everything? Preferential treatment at work is a major indicator of something negative.
The reason some coworkers are chosen as favorites is complicated. For one, a manipulative boss might do this to create instability among the staff or to create ‘minions’ – employees who are there to serve the bosses’ needs.
The reverse can also happen. Some employees decide to suck up to the boss in order to get ahead. They think by being buddy-buddy with the boss, they’ll get treated better. Sometimes they’ll be right.
Other times, the reason for special treatment of some employees is less nefarious, but still not good. In smaller offices, nepotism can be the culprit. Friends, family and friends-of-family that work together are influenced by the relationships they have outside of work. In other words, the bosses’ kid won’t get in trouble like any of us will.
Regardless of the reason for special treatment, it’s usually a sign of a toxic work environment.
Related Articles:
- How To Relax After Work: 10 Easy Ways
- Is My Boss Manipulating Me? Here Are 12 Signs Of A Manipulative Boss
- How To Not Get Bullied At Work: Essential Tactics
6. Overworked & Underpaid Employees
Let’s get real – we work in order to get paid. Sure, we may love our career or are passionate about our work, but that paycheck is needed to live.
Being overworked or underpaid are bad on their own, but a combination of the two is like ‘burning the candle from both ends’ – we burn out fast.
By no means am I saying that we shouldn’t strive to put in an honest days’ work each day. In fact, I believe in a trial-by-fire approach to a certain point – encouraging employees to push their limits and prove themselves to earn a raise or promotion.
When you’ve got a staff putting in 12-hour days, working weekends and constantly stressed while not even paying them a reasonable market rate? There’s something wrong.
The sad reality is that bad bosses often don’t give raises unless they have to. The work will continue to pile up, but until they can’t get employees to do the job anymore, they’ll keep the money for the bottom line for as long as possible.
7. Frequent Conflicts, Arguing & Fighting
Is your office a mix between the jungle and an episode of Jerry Springer? Frequent conflicts, arguing and fighting are sure signs of a toxic work environment.
First off, why do arguments and fights happen at work? Interpersonal issues are a part of being human, but when it’s a regular occurrence, it’s probably because tension and stress is already high to begin with.
Small issues always seem much bigger when we’re already angry. If coworkers are experiencing some of the items already discussed, such as being overworked/underpaid, poor management and ongoing issues, it’s no surprise that the day-to-day grumbles of a work environment are enough to push them over the edge.
Or, maybe the specific coworkers in your workplace just like to fight and argue.
In any case, it’s a bad sign when coworkers are always butting heads.
8. Drama, Gossip & Talking Behind Others
Just like in middle school, drama and gossip often make their way into the workplace. More often than not, gossip usually gets traced back to just a few people. These “gossip Kings/Queens” treat rumors and drama like it’s their job – even AT their job.
As humans, we’re naturally curious about what’s happening around us, so a little bit of chatter is normal. When the workplace is filled with drama, though, the vast majority of us want to run for the hills.
Constant gossip and drama is a major sign of a toxic work environment!
9. High Employee Turnover
Any company I’ve ever worked at or known of that has a high turnover rate of employees has an issue. Simply put, why would several employees come and go over a short amount of time if it was a good job to begin with?
Some causes of a frequent turnover are more benign. Entry level positions are meant to be occupied by employees with little to no experience. It makes sense that once they get some experience, they’ll move into another position and a new entry-level employee will take their spot. This can happen in a relatively short amount of time by design.
If there’s a new group of faces in the office every 6-18 months, though, it’s typically a sign of a toxic work environment. People don’t want to stay. Maybe the pay isn’t great, a manager is terrible or there’s no upward mobility. In any event, this is a big one to watch out for.
10. People Openly Discuss How Bad It Is
This last one is obvious, but is the most sure sign of them all. When the staff is openly discussing how bad it is at work, it’s a fool-proof sign of a toxic work environment.
At this point, it’s often too late. Some damage will be done. I worked in such an environment. We openly commiserated about most of the above points, including a bad boss, detached upper management, being overworked, preferential treatment, etc.
It probably comes as no surprise that people didn’t stay long, either. It was not uncommon for coworkers to stay less than one year. Our boss was terrible. No one understood what the future held for our division. Everything felt like it was close to bursting at the seams, and it’s incredible that our division stayed open for so long.
All of the above went on for a while before we openly discussed how bad our office really was. I suppose I was holding out hope for change; that enough positivity and teamwork could right the ship. When even the most optimistic people stopped caring, it was the final nail in the coffin.
In Summary
Life’s short. The vast majority of us need to work, but at some point, money is not worth our peace of mind. A negative work environment is no place to spend the majority of our time. As far as our original question of “what are the signs of a toxic work environment?“, we hope the 10 signs discussed in this article have been eye-opening and informative for you. Thanks for reading!
