There’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ company. However, that doesn’t mean that employers shouldn’t do their best to create supportive workplace environments so that their staff can reach their full potential. Some workplaces, however, are the stuff of nightmares that staff dread to return to. Toxic environments aren’t just bad for the employees, though—they harm the bottom line, too.
Knowing how to spot the signs early on can help you avoid a ton of disappointment and frustration later down the line. The members of the r/AskReddit community shared the biggest red flags to look out for that indicate a company might be an awful place to work. Read on to see what they had to say.
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5 rounds of multi-hour interviews
Unless you’re applying to be the f*****g CEO, there’s no reason to waste everyone’s time with such a horrible hiring process.
When the boss says it's illegal to discuss your wage with others.
When it's probably illegal for your boss to say that. My wages are my business, I'll discuss them with whoever I like.
The only way that's legitimately punishable is if you sign an employment contract agreeing to that as a condition of employment. Even then it's not "illegal". It's breach of contract.
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There is one reason the bosses claim it's illegal/ forbidden/ not allowed to discuss your wage: there are inequities among employees (different wages for the same job). And you may not be in the higher paid group.
It definitely used to be a thing years ago to not discuss wages. Led to a lot of inequality.
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It's not only legal to discuss, it's ILLEGAL on a federal level for your employer to try to prohibit you from discussing wages, even while on the clock.
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Soon after getting hired at burger king at the beginning of covid (relevant because hiring wages skyrocketed because many people quit their jobs either to self quarantine, be home with kids, or to get paid more by unemployment than they would earn by working) I learned I was making 3$ an hour more than the woman in the kitchen who had been there 5 years! I refused my promotion until they gave her a raise. They badly needed me to accept promotion so she got it but why don't existing loyal employees make more than new hires?! I make more than all the other managers too so I don't share my wage but I do advocate for others to get higher raises
Is this an American thing? I'm in the UK and I've never once been told this by an employer.
Some employers try this and get away with it because employees are so poorly educated they don't know they have a constitutionally protected right to discuss wages. Capitalism brings out the worst in humanity.
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The company I worked for, I don't know if they had a policy not to discuss your wages with other employees, but they did not want you to let other employees know what you made or did not want to ask other employees what their wages were.
So others can't jump his butt for being paid less after working there for years. Businesses don't want to implode so they made this rule. It's bs.
It's not illegal to discuss this, no matter how much your company tries to threaten you. They may find very little nitpicky things to fire you for otherwise, but it's just "taboo" to discuss it. Companies did this so competitive wages wouldn't be a thing. Display your pay loud and proud. Give others courage to join in on the conversation. Take back the power from the soulless corporations and the morons that make them their whole lives. Take back the power!
You don't have to be union for this to be bs. Wage discussion is projected speech under the 1st amendment
Load More Replies... I've never heard of a manager saying this. For myself, I would never discuss my earnings with colleagues, nor would I inquire on theirs.
What they can say is it's against company policy to discuss your wage. You can be terminated for violating company policy in the US.
in the USA if you get fired for discussing your wages you have grounds for a lawsuit. It doesn't matter if the company makes a rule about it being against policy. It is a federally protected right. One of the few we have in the worrkplace. Which in itself is ridiculous and appalling.
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Someone leaves, their responsibilities get piled onto someone else, and the business thinks it's working so why hire a replacement? Then that person eventually caves and now two jobs are piled onto the next person. By the time the company thinks they *have to* hire someone nobody wants to do 3 people's work for 1 persons pay.
Toxic workplace environments are absolutely awful for employees’ mental health. However, they also have a deeply negative impact on a company’s finances, too. If you constantly have to replace people who quit due to stress and mistreatment, you’re eating into your profits.
Research commissioned by SHRM in 2019 found that 58% of employees who quit their jobs due to workplace culture said that their managers are the main reason they left. The cost of this high turnover rate is a whopping $223 billion over 5 years.
In the interview ask them “What opportunities for advancement will there be?”
If they cant come up with anything, you’re either applying for a dead end position, or the company has no concept of employee retention and advancement, both of which are huge red flags.
This 1000%. Also, do not trust anyone who doesn't have a clear advancement plan in place already. If an employer is promising advancement, but doesn't have a specific plan or timeline, they are never going to promote you.
'We're like a family.' Just walk out. Hearing this means there will be cliques, and expectations to work long hours and to put up with some REALLY shady stuff. There are no outliers with this red flag.
A sign out front that says "Nobody wants to work anymore".
They do want to work. They just don't want to be exploited with low wages and generally be treated like shįt.
The SHRM report also found that just 38% of American workers were ‘very satisfied’ with their current job, while 49% have thought about leaving. A fifth of respondents have left their jobs due to the workplace culture there, while a fourth say that they dread going to work, don’t feel safe voicing their opinions about work-related problems, and don’t feel respected or valued at work.
76% of respondents point out that it’s their managers who set the culture of their workplace. Meanwhile, 36% of employees have stated that their managers do not know how to lead a team.
When you arrive for your interview and you're being led to the interview room, you lock eyes with some of the employees and they slowly shake their heads "no".
When the longest working employee there has been around for less than a year.
My first jobb had a gentleman been working there for 30 years, lived in a tiny room and then on the weekends went home to his wife 2h away. The jobb was not that specialiserade, not well payed, nor ... well anything. Don't get stuck like that either? 👍
Speaking from experience: met with the hiring manager for an interview, got the offer at the table, they actually gave me more than advertised because of my experience, I started Monday, 8am.
Showed up bright and early. The department manager, office manager, and store manager had no idea who I was or that I was coming.
I was once hired by a consultant hired to make the team work more efficiently. The team didn't want me there. They literally worked around me so I couldn't do my job. And when the consultant went to the home office (in another country) for a meeting, they called my employment service and terminated my contract.
Talking to your manager, HR, boss, or union representative can help you tackle all the various problems that pop up at work. If they’re genuinely open to change and willing to make your stay at the company better—fantastic.
However, at the end of the day, we’re all personally responsible for setting the boundaries for how we want to be treated and what our work-life balance looks like.
If you find yourself chronically exhausted, drained, and demotivated at work, at some point, it might be time to look for better opportunities elsewhere. Your physical and mental health is worth prioritizing over petty office squabbles, tyrannical managers, and toxic coworkers.
Idk if anyone else has gotten this but a bar I used to work at after they hired me said “We could use good looking woman on our team”. Anything to do with “We could use [insert gender or race or anything else here]” generally is a red flag for me.
Usually means the bar is c**p, and the regulars are getting sick of it, so a "good looking woman" is hired to exploit and bring patrons to the bar.
- “We’re like a family here.”
- “We don’t do drama.”
- “We offer great perks like a pool table.”
- “We want believers here.”
- “We always do a trial employment first.”
- “After the 6th round of interviews, we’ll make a decision.”
- “The pay is low but only for a little while.”
- “We’re in the process of rebuilding.”
- “Are you willing to work weekends?”
- “We need someone who doesn’t mind being on-call all hours of the day.”
- “We’re not for everyone. Only the strong survive here.”
- “You’ll be reporting to 3 people from different departments.”
- “We’ll I’m interviewing you now because he was let go yesterday.”
- “Don’t worry about the pay. Look at the opportunity!”.
“We always do a trial employment first.” Unpaid, of course...
High turnover rate.
When the people interviewing you are anxious and tired.
When they say disparaging things about the person you're replacing, or about the team you're joining (with the hope that YOUR expertise will fix this seemingly "sub-par" team. In those situations, you will soon discover that you're joining a team of overworked people with no resources that some general manager likes to c**p on, but not support).
I was out of work and foolishly went back to work for a former employer. It was a small company and at this time business was slow. He had only had a part time person coming in prior to my return. He also wasn't always around the shop so I was there in the warehouse alone. I had only been back a few days when a woman was ringing the door buzzer. I answered the door and she was immediately questioning who I was. I told her I worked there and who was she? It turned out she thought she still worked there and was shocked that the boss trusted me alone there. He showed up while she was there. He took her to his office to let her go. What a creep. He could have dealt with her in a much better way.
When they say they have an open door policy, but you watch someone use it to report something, and they get punished/harassed for doing it, and the person they reported has nothing happen to them.
Also, if mangt tells you at said meeting that going to HR, they will open an invitation into both of you, and end the end, you both will be punished, so best not talk to HR.
But they make you watch videos on workplace harassment/bullying and how much they care, and will stop it.
Oh my sweet summer child, thinking their employer has their back. You're money to them, that's it. They don't care about you in any other regard. If your employer actually does care, that is awesome, and I'm genuinely happy for you. Never assume they do though because in my experience, an employer caring is the exception, not the rule.
One of my first jobs always had a sign in the window that said “we’re hiring”. So I applied, got the job along with one other person, but they never took the sign down. The job was awful, and it caused me impending doom anxiety every day I had to go there.
After I was fired (lol) I would walk by every so often and there was still the “we’re hiring” sign in the window.
We have three of those stores in the next bigger city - two never respond it seems and one needs a social worker and not a salesman given the amount of questions about how to deal with arguments between employees, employees and customers and employees and the manager
When you get paid more as a new employee.
Because you will be on the short end one day. And, with how inflation has been going, it wouldn't take that long.
When the employees are either close to retirement age or they're all fresh out of school but there's no one in between.
The most toxic person that consistently gets in fights with both other employees and customers got promoted to a management position because she's friends with the store manager and really good at kissing the high ups a*s.
"How long has your longest, non-manager employee been with you?"
"I dunno. Maybe .... a year and a half? Why?".
Run. Run like the wind. It sounds like a start-up. And/or they don't know anything about how to look after their employees.
When the staff keep dieing and /or develop severe chronic illness.
This happened at a high profile US finance firm that had a London office in which I worked.
In fact, isn't this a common occurrence in high profile financiers? I can think of two other such companies whose staff committed s*****e or literally worked themselves to death. It just never gets talked about.
When the job posting doesn’t say what the job is and have a weirdly high pay.
I had an interview once where I asked the interviewer, “what is your favorite thing about working at this company”, and she sat there for like an awkward 10 seconds and then was just like, “I just took this job after I graduated college because it was the first place that gave me an offer….but I guess the experience has been good”
I ask that exact question to everyone I interview with. If they can't think of anything they like that's a huge red flag!
Anything with a vague job description, especially if they do a mass interview. I spent 3 months at a well known retail and grocery inventory service until they screwed me out of nearly $500 in pay and wanted me to adjust my school schedule around them. That's the only time I have ever ghosted a job.
I learned that entry level marketing jobs are just terrible saĺes jobs.
When the job you apply for isn’t the one offered to you.
Not necessarily true. Only if you're offered a worse position. If you are offered an equal or better job, they like you and try to find a position that fits you better.
If you see a small few people working and majority of them f*****g around.
"How many work at your place?" "Half of them!"
Not disclosing the actual product/company without signing NDA first.
Sorry, but no. NDA's are a fairly common practice in the business world in order to protect new advancements. Patents are a complicated process, taking months or even years to get. In the mean time, a rival company can learn about your idea and try to patent it first and now you've lost all of your investment. Point of fact, there are people out there who are literally paid to find ways to get around patents. So no, an NDA is not a red flag.
When the grandfather was the COO, and after him the son was, and later the grandson...
Bad habits never die, they say.
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I learned to check out factory jobs by going in through temp agencies. In a week I could tell if it was a good place or not. The view from the bottom is very clear.
If the manager who you'll be working for, and another key person in the same department, are both retiring within a few weeks after you start (but nobody said anything in the interview). Also a red flag was most people at the job had been there for 20, 30, 40+ years, so it was extremely cliquish, like being back in junior high school.
That's where you just have to stomp your way into the job. Some little bimbo at my first job tried saying something under her breath, I snapped at her, basically challenging her, she immediately backed off. The girl who she was talking to was someone who seemed b****y, but was actually just really difficult to impress. Once I put the other girl in her place, the other was impressed and stopped teasing me about anything, actually becoming friendly after. Sometimes, it's not really about cliques, it's about earning respect. But yeah, a lot of the time it is cliques.
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The last company I worked for, I thought I had found the perfect place. Title was awesome & salary was great. So many perks as well. Should've known it was not a good place to work when the main director of Human Resources kept me waiting for almost 2hrs after my interview time. Stupid me I should've walked out, but I waited like a dumba**. Luckily it only lasted a few short months
One red flag is when they low-key accuse you of being lazy for not doing "professional development" while unemployed. Excuse you, I have a relevant degree, work experience, and experience in the software that they said was "a plus but not required". I have enough professional development for a lot of jobs so I would rather spend my time in between jobs helping out my disabled mother. Which I did. This company's stock price ended up tanking so I'm glad I got my current job instead.
The biggest mistake made by young people searching for a job is over estimating their value as an employee.
I learned to check out factory jobs by going in through temp agencies. In a week I could tell if it was a good place or not. The view from the bottom is very clear.
If the manager who you'll be working for, and another key person in the same department, are both retiring within a few weeks after you start (but nobody said anything in the interview). Also a red flag was most people at the job had been there for 20, 30, 40+ years, so it was extremely cliquish, like being back in junior high school.
That's where you just have to stomp your way into the job. Some little bimbo at my first job tried saying something under her breath, I snapped at her, basically challenging her, she immediately backed off. The girl who she was talking to was someone who seemed b****y, but was actually just really difficult to impress. Once I put the other girl in her place, the other was impressed and stopped teasing me about anything, actually becoming friendly after. Sometimes, it's not really about cliques, it's about earning respect. But yeah, a lot of the time it is cliques.
Load More Replies... The last company I worked for, I thought I had found the perfect place. Title was awesome & salary was great. So many perks as well. Should've known it was not a good place to work when the main director of Human Resources kept me waiting for almost 2hrs after my interview time. Stupid me I should've walked out, but I waited like a dumba**. Luckily it only lasted a few short months
One red flag is when they low-key accuse you of being lazy for not doing "professional development" while unemployed. Excuse you, I have a relevant degree, work experience, and experience in the software that they said was "a plus but not required". I have enough professional development for a lot of jobs so I would rather spend my time in between jobs helping out my disabled mother. Which I did. This company's stock price ended up tanking so I'm glad I got my current job instead.
The biggest mistake made by young people searching for a job is over estimating their value as an employee.
