A toxic work environment is one of the main reasons why employees quit. It's not just about a bad day at work. It's about constantly thinking about your boss or about tyrant colleagues - moral torturers, even after returning home, even on sleepless nights. It's also about the way to the office, filled with fear at the thought of having to communicate with colleagues again or ask them for help. Working in a toxic environment by definition cannot bring any pleasure. Its consequences - you can become a victim of bullying or discrimination from colleagues or managers.
Here are some signs that the work environment may be toxic for you.
1. They speak ill of employees in your presence.
There is a rule: what a person says about others when they are not around shows how he will treat you. If the management speaks ill of current employees, maybe even rudely in their presence - a red signal!
2. You are not allowed to communicate with other team members.
In a healthy atmosphere, an atmosphere of trust and transparency of internal processes is created in the team, employees share their work experience and help each other. In a toxic environment, everything is the opposite: managers strictly control communication in the team, including with potential employees, this is a red signal of a lack of trust and partnership in the team.
3. The team does not acknowledge its internal difficulties and shortcomings, does not see prospects for its growth.
In toxic teams, managers often refuse to admit that they and the team have room to grow. Usually, such a boss will say about other employees that they have difficulties, but not him. Refusal to honestly talk about weaknesses is also a red signal. Because a team with a healthy atmosphere created within it feels psychologically protected enough not to be embarrassed by its vulnerability and not to hide its mistakes, not to blame others if something does not go according to plan. In such a team, everyone takes on a new level of responsibility and does, changes the situation for the better.
4 It is also important how the manager defines success for himself. If the boss talks about it in the context of a competition where there are winners and losers, perhaps he is used to cultivating rivalry among employees. In competition there is no trust and no internal support, there is little one to rely on within the team.
5. Team Members Look Unhappy
The office atmosphere is one of the most important signals of toxicity or lack thereof. Pay attention to your team. Do people in the office look happy? Lethargy and apathy among colleagues indicate excessive work. Most likely, the manager does not focus on motivating their employees and does not acknowledge their successes with his or her support.
Let's go back to the team atmosphere. Do your colleagues try to avoid eye contact with you? Perhaps someone is shouting in the conference room? Do your colleagues fall silent when they meet you? Do your colleagues rarely talk or discuss work processes at all? When the Leader starts speaking, there is a “ringing cold silence” - a sign of fear of punishment or condemnation. There are only a few people in the team who talk all the time, and everyone else just listens to them and does not have the opportunity to express their opinion - this is also a red signal indicating that not everything is okay in the team. All this will help to form an idea of the “inner atmosphere” of the team.
Four further patterns to notice
6. In a toxic team, overtime is considered the norm and a duty. In response to a phrase about fatigue from colleagues, you can hear: "We are all like this here!" If the manager approves and does not encourage constant overtime, considering it a common and normal thing, think about whether you are ready to sacrifice your personal time, family, health, hobbies, etc.?
7. They treat you well only on paper. Many companies have websites where they want to write a lot of beautiful words about themselves - about corporate culture, openness and atmosphere. It's good when these words correspond to reality and do not make employees laugh sarcastically. After all, often in companies that write about the transparency of processes, people do not know their responsibilities and are responsible for everything. And where there is "openness", they are afraid to even look at the director.
8. They manipulate when you ask about salary. If you believe that you are achieving good results and deserve a raise, a competent manager will note this: it means that you know your worth and want to develop here, and not go somewhere else. Sometimes personal beliefs come before this: for example, that a young employee should work for 5 years without a raise to deserve it. Or that it is impolite to talk about money, because you need to work for the idea.
9. They don't delve into your work. People are hired so that everyone is responsible for their own affairs. But managers may not delve into the responsibilities of their employees, but only expect quick results. Their favorite phrases are "what do you mean so long", "what's so difficult about it" and "we need it yesterday". Not everyone will dare to set boundaries: responsible employees may think that the problem is in themselves. Toxicity is a poison that is very difficult to recover from later; it requires a long time and faith in your own resources.