Lots of turnover/new hires leaving quickly. Miscommunication. No work-life balance
Sounds familiar? Well, these are some basic signs that prove you might be working in a toxic workspace. Doing a job you love is a comforting feeling, but what if the organisation you work for is toxic? Most of the time it’s hard to spot the signs in the beginning. But don’t worry, we got this for you! Here’s a list of the most eye-opening signs to know if your workspace is toxic.
1. “Gossip, exclusion, managers pitting employees against one another, or trash-talking employees to each other, sharing confidential information about employees.”
2. “Miscommunication between everyone in the workplace. Everyone is always out of the loop, and the boss is springing up new ideas without telling fellow employees about any changes. Either that or a boss that likes to talk shit about nearly everyone.”
3. “Colleagues who don’t listen to you because you’re a woman. I used to work with a guy who would point-blank and refuse to listen to any suggestion I had even though I was more experienced in the field. He would shut me down completely even if I showed him documentation and results. If another male colleague told him the exact same thing he would do it.”
4. “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 they 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.”
5. “If you give feedback to the boss/manager and they consider it as a personal attack instead and you stifle your needs for their culture. Basically, not encouraging change and growth in the company.”
6. “I have a general manager that threatens any employee who considers leaving, saying she knows everyone in this city and will make sure everyone knows not to hire them. Doesn’t seem right or fair, considering how many good employees I’ve seen leave because of her.”
7. “When a workplace is constantly having consultants come in for team building, executive coaching, employee morale-boosting, etc. If people were really happy and things were good – we wouldn’t need consultants every three months.”
8. “There’s no work-life balance. You’re always doing overtime, filling in for so-and-so, or “on-call” even when it’s not an emergency. As a result, your personal health and relationships are beginning to suffer.”
9. “Coworkers (or worse, managers) who flirt under the guise of “being friendly,” then get mad at you when you refuse their advances.”
10. “It’s driven by fear. For instance, employees know when something is wrong, but they are afraid to say anything, so management shoots the messenger. There’s no problem, the person who pointed out the problem is the problem.”
11. “Rewarding hard work and diligence with a larger workload. To be clear, I don’t mean by rewarding you with further responsibility in a general sense, I just mean basically being told to do someone else’s job too, cause Hey! You seem to be willing to work.”
12. “Emotional exhaustion. If you feel tired despite having done very little physical activity. If the idea of interacting with your coworkers makes you anxious. If you feel like you start the day in a good mood and almost always are in a bad mood by the end of the day. If everyone at work is negative. That shit is exhausting.”
13. “When they call you and your colleagues a “family”. Uh, no. I have a family and y’all aren’t it. I am here to work and make money and I go home to my family. It’s a fake way to create a close-knit workplace and any place that has ever done this has turned out to be a terrible place to work, so it’s a huge red flag for me.”
14. “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.”
Read more: 12 Subtle Signs Of Burnout That Mean You Need To Prioritise Rest.
