It is unfortunate that work—a necessary evil in life, unless you’re born under an extremely lucky star—also comes in a variety of shades of toxicity. So, not only are you by statistical proxy forced to do it, it sucks too.
But, there are ways and means to avoid it by keeping an eye on the signs—signs that women of Reddit were recently pointing out as indicative of get the heck out of there right now. Or, at least at your earliest convenience. But no later than 2 work weeks.
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When a bunch of staff are in cliques and it feels more like highschool than a professional work environment.
If your coworker gossips about other coworkers, they will gossip about you.
I've never worked at a place where people didn't gossip. Nature of the beast. Just keep your tongue in cheek when appropriate and hope for the best.
Multiple people have quit because of one person but that person still works here.
Many people are more than aware of what toxicity is and how it manifests in a workplace. Sadly, It’s all too real for 1 in 5 employees who have to battle toxic environments on the daily.
Yep, nearly 20% of employees report having to fight against toxic work conditions like failure to act on feedback, ignoring work-life balance and unfair treatment, just to name a few.
"We wear a lot of hats around here."
Translation - "You will be stuck with a lot of c**p that is not in your job description, but nobody else wants to do!".
Husband-wife managerial team. Run!
Nah, I've worked with some great couples for bosses. I've only had one bad experience.
My husband and I run a business together. He is the boss and I handle the finance bits. We have 15 other colleagues. Everyone has been with us for between 8 and 18 years now. Nobody is unhappy. We have been very fortunate. Everyone is a long term enployee, still highly productive, efficient, competent and loyal! Not all couples are evil! Heh!
I had 6 Jobs with couples in charge and it was 50% bad experience. If both have a clear divided responsibilities, it works out great.
I don't think this one is true, I have witnessed many great couples who run their business with integrity and compassion.
Depends. I had a boss who had met his wife by the job, as she had a company that was in an adjacent field. They were a major supplier of, I think, turned and milled stuff, and eventually, they joined, but as that was pre-me, I don't know much of the details. Anyway, she was great, as a boss, and he was great, as a boss somebody tames at times. That, she could do. I could sometimes, but only in my specific field, and I needed taming, too, because I got too excited about technological features now possible, and don't give many effs about cost - hell, a simple twostage valvelift variation, nowadays, shouldn't be a question of cost, but of effictiveness - is it, of the well-reliable, well-developed means in that ballpark regarding cost, the most promising solution? Then, give it a go every time! This was back when internal combustion engines had a bit more time ahead of them than they have now, and IMO, we as engineers not only have to fulfil the economical demands, but also deliver the best restult we're capable of, and that includes making any machine as efficient as practically possible. Wasteful machines aren't good machines (of course, that has to be adapted by a few factors, type of machine, type of desired result, ... the thermal efficiency of synth'ing medicine is neither defined nor worth defining, but any thermal engine, of whatever make and fashion, ... anyway, ...). Somewhat a conception of professional honourability or so, I see in that, and a gasoline engine sure has potential not used, or, in other words, they could be better than they are, and that would not cost unjustifiable amounts or reduce reliability - a feature in greater series since 30+ years isn't a risk, but a given.
It goes without saying that toxicity at the workplace is anything but good. It is known to lead to increased absenteeism, reduced productivity and lower levels of enthusiasm. And that’s just the start. Ultimately, it can start seeping into other areas in life, affecting your general satisfaction and mental health.
When you start dreading the weekend being over because you don't want to go to work on Monday. Beyond just a general "I love my free time" feeling.
When the managers and other decision makers are bubbly and happy during meetings while the rank-and-file drones are exhausted, quiet and disengaged.
Cult like reverence required for the leaders or founders.
And that’s the key concept here: happiness. There is an argument of how folks are poisoning themselves by working in toxic environments as it gradually affects an employee’s happiness. And if you’re not happy as a human being, other mental health problems start coming out of the woodwork.
If there are a suspiciously low number of people who have been with the company for more than 2 years.
Also any kind of “employee appreciation” that isn’t an annual event that legacy staff looks forward to.
Everyone is joking about the work environment being super tough and people developing various ailments from it (e.g. migraines or stomach issues). These are not jokes, these are warnings.
When there's no real training, just 'ask someone if you're not sure' - and then whoever you're asking tells you by rote, telling you 'click this, then that' without demonstrating a proper understanding of *why* tasks should be done in a certain way. When they can't answer any questions about the process and aren't enabled to problem-solve, it reflects micromanagement and lack of communication, and usually a disinterest in lower level staff.
It is important to note that there are no clear criteria as to what a toxic environment is outside of it affecting one’s well-being.
One person might feel uncomfortable with a manager, while others have no problem with them. Same goes for the company culture, the employees, the corporate structure and pretty much anything else. It is ultimately subjective.
Whatever the case, something always has to change.
Poor communication. Everything is gossip, and you have to know the right people to get any information.
There's a German word "Herrschaftswissen" (hard to translate, approximately ''power knowledge" or "domination knowledge"). It's information that you have because you're in a position of power and/or gives you an advantage/power over others that do not have the same information so it's withheld. I find in environments with high levels of rivalry and a strong hierarchy this is often why there's a lack of transparency.
No one takes their PTO, and if you do you’re given a nasty side eye.
Toxic work environments are best avoided before entering them, and there are several telltale signs to look out for.
One of the biggest and easier to stop red flags is the turnover rate. These are most often caused by poor management, negative work culture, or lack of employee support. In the long run, not only do the employees suffer, but the company’s bottom line does so too.
They won’t do anything in writing. For example, during my interview they mentioned it would be a fully remote position once onboarded/90 days on the job. I brought it up to my hiring manager once I past the date and they mentioned that “they never said that” and “it’s not in writing so they wouldn’t honor it”.
When they treat the interview process like a reality show and invite 20 people all at once and you go through rounds where at the end they have you line up in two rows and announce which row will continue the interview process.
No thanks.
When a guy can sexually harass a woman at the workplace, she goes and complains about it to management, management makes *her* transfer to a different area to settle the matter, then not even a year later they promote HIM as manager over her area she was forced to transfer to, thus making her eventually quit because her complaints didn’t mean squat when it’s one of upper managements bros.
This happened at my workplace a couple years ago to a friend of mine I worked with. Horrible stuff. All of the upper management and area managers are apart of this blatant good ol boy system and it is horrible. They only promote those type of guys too. Anytime they promote a women it’s because they got forced into it or because one of those good ol boys wants to get their spouses in the role.
I was moved to another area, and the a$$hole approached me with another male coworker to try to call me out for telling my manager he had massaged my shoulders. I already felt like I tattled so I tried to avoid him. He had all the males on break giving me a hard time about it. All I wanted was to be away from his area. Retail nightshift, small crew.
Poor communication is another big one. In ideal cases, company staff that communicates clearly, openly and honestly foster trust and collaboration. And if you don’t do that, then there is little to no communication and so nothing realistically gets done, fostering a culture of passive aggression, contempt and just generally nobody having a good time.
When they’re late to do your scheduled job interview.
As someone that's been on the other side of the fence don't be so quick to write off companies for this. If you are being interviewed you will be one of several people being interviewed that day one after the other. Things happen like people getting stuck in traffic, zoom stops working, manager has to respond to an emergency. Its not a game and we don't want to keep you waiting but if the person in front of you over runs because of something out of their control I'm not going to cut their interview short and score a 0 for the last 2 questions, destroying their chances of getting a job so we don't inconvenience you by asking you to wait 15 mins. Would you expect that if you got stuck in traffic or got a flat tyre etc.
I always ask about team building during the interview. "Beers after work" makes it toxic to me.
I'm not your pal, I come here to fill my duty for $$, and my free time is mine period.
Micromanagement is also often cited as a sign of toxic management. It’s when a superior overdoes it with their control, surveillance and management of work related tasks delegated to other employees. It shows lack of trust and takes away the opportunity for employees to prove their potential for ownership. On top of that, it stifles growth, and, again, nobody’s happy.
"the last person that worked here walked out and quit".
You dread every shift and come up with excuses to avoid work. Or you're angry while you're there and take a while to come down from it when you're off the shift.
Where even newcomers stop smiling after 3 days.
It is not unreasonable to think that unreasonable demands are a part of a truly toxic environment. These are time consuming, draining or just flat out annoying—and it doesn’t get the job done, which entails a whole lot of trouble. It’s even worse if the employee is provided zero support under these conditions.
High turnover .
People crying at their laptop.
Yes people was me.
Was me at home after work until my friend said he would be putting my resignation in for me. am currently watching my om do this. Sadly, and timely, a post about this from a year ago came up in my FB memories. So...
Believe it or not, lack of opportunities for growth is also considered a toxic workplace trait. It doesn’t matter if it’s structural (there are realistically no other opportunities) or artificial (someone is stifling your progress), all of it leads to dissatisfaction and a need to change that.
Oh, and also, toxic employees—they don’t help. Red flag.
Someone that has been there for quite a while quits and for the next six months everything that goes wrong was their fault because of…… just because.
The only friends and romantic partners the employees have are each other, not anyone else outside of work.
Women putting other women down. It may sound obvious, but it can be hard to catch at first. Making jabbing comments, making you feel bad for not working on days where you aren’t scheduled, judging you, questioning you on why you do things the way you do them, trying to make you feel stupid. I know it sounds like nothing you can’t just blow off, but it really makes the work time miserable.
Anyone putting anyone down really. Men can also put women down, women will put men down. All these behaviors are toxic
So, what are your thoughts on any of this? Share your takes and stories in the comment section below!
And if you’ve already done that, then you can also check out the original Reddit thread or our other works on the topic.
“Don’t tell x what you’re making because (insert b******t reason here)”.
Immediately seeing/being excluded by a clique from day 1 of a new job. Or being treated poorly by new colleagues in a new job. Any decent workplace should have a culture where the people you’ll work with want and try to get to know you as a person, learning what you contribute to the team.
Relatedly, managers who “don’t want to get involved” in things that are workplace issues. It’s their job to establish and enforce norms and boundaries.
When the manager treats the new person like a prize, and everyone else differently.
If there's a relationship in the workplace. In my last job, my manager was dating the manager of the other store two minutes walk away from ours. He used to come in and berate all of us on her behalf when it should have ben her raising her complaints. It's highly unprofessional and quite toxic.
All my former managers had mistresses who were employees of their department. Those ladies were treated differently, supported, promoted ahead of those who really deserved the promotions. And, obviously, those ladies were toxic and expected others to treat them differently as well: "If you don't do this, I'll tell our manager how you disrespect me, and I'll make sure you'll get punished!"
Getting singled out by your boss/manager in team meetings for making trivial mistakes. This s**t only embarrasses people and doesn't help them at all.
Always check the Glassdoor reviews. Look out for non specifics. "The culture is so great here!" If the culture's so great, why don't you have specific details? .
My workplace is very toxic but they’re good at pretending. They blow a bunch of smoke up our a**es for all the holidays and history months to make us feel like they care. So right now it’s apparently women’s history month and they have all these signs around about appreciating women and bla bla bla but I think it’s hilarious because I’m pregnant and they don’t offer anything substantial for expecting mothers.
If you ask the employees if they like working there and they can never give a straight up answer, high amount of turn overs, managers always stressed out, a lot of d**g abuse from stress, people that train you always annoyed and impatient due to training alot, stories of people just walking out.
If you ever get that funny feeling in your gut, it's there for a reason.
When the people who smoke cigs get 10 extra breaks but if I’m caught checking the time I’m told to put my phone away 😩.
Tell a fake lie to only one work person, an see how fast/far it goes and if it catches you.
Everyone is either crying, panicked, or unhappy in general. They have to skip lunch breaks (on hourly pay) to keep up. Most employees are just coasting but hoping to find another job soon. People don’t feel appreciated for their hard work so all start quiet quitting. This is my current job lol.
Entire departments quitting together. People warning you not to work there. Unusual employment policies.
Yelling, not to be heard over machinery or ambient noise, but to be heard over another person.
"Hey dude, grab me the wrench will ya!" is one thing.
"I can't believe you didn't balance the register correctly! How hard can it possibly be?!" is quite another.
...seems obvious, but apparently not to everyone. Take care of yourselves, ladies.
On day one they ask you to lie to customers and say you aren't new, just new to their project, because they don't want their customers to know (and worry) about the high turnover rate.
I regret to this day, not walking away from that job on that day. Never again.
“You’re not the first and you won’t be the last” when a complaint about workplace bullying was made.
When they offer you a signing bonus and you have to stay for a certain period of time. I’d prefer no signing bonus and my freedom. It happened twice and now I know better.
High turn over or everyone being very young/newish to work force (tells me they likely pay not enough and will try to take advantage of you at every opportunity).
Red flag: HR wears multiple hats. Like, there's no reason HR and sales are the same person. Total conflict.
When you’re the only woman in the company 🙋🏻♀️.
One very tall person stands at their cubical all day and watches everything everyone does. So very creepy! Plus, he hides in the bathroom when he sees customers drive up.
"you are expected to come to the office 3 days a week".
For jobs that don't require a physical presence. 🙄.
Change in upper leadership that then gets split into multiple positions. Nobody knows who to go to and then the “co directors” or whatever position argue over who has more authority while chaos reigns.
Being hired on the spot.
Hmmm. It depends. I was hired on the spot for my career and worked there for 30 years. Every time other companies tried to recruit me, my pay was restructured to my advantage.
When coworkers won't answer their phone, texts, or emails.
If they ain't in work they shouldn't have to. If they are sat in the office looking at you then ok they should be working
Either they offer you the job you right after your interview or they take 5+ interviews including unpaid "working interviews" (a.k.a projects, assigned work samples, etc) to decide. I've had both and both places had their issues. It's better to be somewhere in the middle.
Ask them what their SOPs are, also ask them what their ORG chart looks like. If they don't have that they don't have it together.
If your coworkers are weird about sharing their wage information !! like i wanna know so we can make sure we’re ALL being paid correctly and within reason.
Scrolled through all and how the hell does NOT ONE mention employees being "freelance" not payroll? I guess it's US dominated, and the US doesn't do employee rights, but in countries with employee protections that's both the most common abuse and a clear red flag. Unfortunately, it can be so ubiquitous that many people can't afford to heed the warning...
Many of these items were listed like this is the only job on the planet. If you aren't happy, move on, you owe that much to yourself.
It's not always that simple. Finding a new job is time-consuming, and it can be hard to find free energy and concentration when you're drained.
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Years ago I interviewed for a sales position with an insurance supplement company, a big one (they have their name on an NFL stadium). The "interview" consisted of a 90-minute presentation to about 20 candidates, in which local managers raved about what a great job/opportunity this was. Essentially, they were selling us the job, and selling it hard. It reminded me of Amway presentations and time-share pitches I'd suffered through before. I thought, if the job is THAT great, you wouldn't have to be hard-selling it to 20 candidates at a time. Went home and looked the company up on Glassdoor and found out most of what I was told was lies and the job was miserable. Even though I'd been out of work for a while and really needed a paycheck, I gave that one a hard pass.
I am an old age pensioner but when I was still working I used the public transport system as an excuse to come in very early for an interview. That made it possible for me to walk around a little and listen to how employees were talking to each other and see if most were smiling. I have always found that a surefire way of avoiding toxic work places.
From a Government perspective, whenever there is a change of Government and a branch is "swept" out. ie: They were all political appointees. When you see 10 out of 12 people from the Director down get axed and replaced you know the new ones are all basically yes men for the new Minister. You also know that strategies and policies implemented by the previous management are going to be either thrown out, or rebranded as "new and improved" and claimed by the new people.
When you ask current employees what they like the most about working there and they struggle to answer or come up with something generic, run.
And I like to add the most redundant and useless 'annual employee survey' for a global company. Wasting time for everyone because when the results are out, the management will most definitely get those who have complained or are unsatisfied to solve their own problems (the 'you raised the issues, you find a solution to solve it' type of solution).
Toxic positivity. If the company leadership shares aspirational messages every meeting and only wants to talk about solutions (or worse, only what's going well), I find those organizations are often wildly dysfunctional. Sometimes it's hard to like the "but what about" member of the team slowing things down, but those individuals often save groups from (very positively) implementing solutions with disastrous foreseeable consequences.
man i have seen some s**t during the years. Some places i cleaned at were toxic like hell and absolutely made my mind that i never wanted an office job (yes, i know this happens everywhere) One time i worked as a temp, walked into a big open office around 5pm. one woman still working, so i said hi how are you. Next day she was there again so i said hi how are you, isnt it great that the sun finally came out today! She started crying because i was the only one the spoke to her that day. RUN GIRL RUN!! i think about her a lot, hope she's doing better now!
You work for the NHS. Obviously that one is UK specific. The NHS is great, they do amazing work and I would have died without it. However, as a workplace it's one of the most toxic organisations to work for. No support for staff, so they end up burned out. Any complaints are brushed under the carpet or twisted to make the person complaining look like they're just making a fuss for no reason. Too many senior managers that do very little. For an organisation that is supposed to be about caring for people, the NHS is not good at caring for it's own staff. Then they wonder why they can't fill vacancies. I am talking from personal experience. I'd never work for the NHS ever again.
It's all trusts these days, isn't it? I've never worked for the NHS but I have family members who do, and my impression has been it depends on the trust - there's no one "NHS" to speak of any more. I've heard horror stories but also very very positive things depending where people are. I could be wrong though, it may just depend on sectors, teams etc.
Load More Replies... Scrolled through all and how the hell does NOT ONE mention employees being "freelance" not payroll? I guess it's US dominated, and the US doesn't do employee rights, but in countries with employee protections that's both the most common abuse and a clear red flag. Unfortunately, it can be so ubiquitous that many people can't afford to heed the warning...
Many of these items were listed like this is the only job on the planet. If you aren't happy, move on, you owe that much to yourself.
It's not always that simple. Finding a new job is time-consuming, and it can be hard to find free energy and concentration when you're drained.
Load More Replies... Years ago I interviewed for a sales position with an insurance supplement company, a big one (they have their name on an NFL stadium). The "interview" consisted of a 90-minute presentation to about 20 candidates, in which local managers raved about what a great job/opportunity this was. Essentially, they were selling us the job, and selling it hard. It reminded me of Amway presentations and time-share pitches I'd suffered through before. I thought, if the job is THAT great, you wouldn't have to be hard-selling it to 20 candidates at a time. Went home and looked the company up on Glassdoor and found out most of what I was told was lies and the job was miserable. Even though I'd been out of work for a while and really needed a paycheck, I gave that one a hard pass.
I am an old age pensioner but when I was still working I used the public transport system as an excuse to come in very early for an interview. That made it possible for me to walk around a little and listen to how employees were talking to each other and see if most were smiling. I have always found that a surefire way of avoiding toxic work places.
From a Government perspective, whenever there is a change of Government and a branch is "swept" out. ie: They were all political appointees. When you see 10 out of 12 people from the Director down get axed and replaced you know the new ones are all basically yes men for the new Minister. You also know that strategies and policies implemented by the previous management are going to be either thrown out, or rebranded as "new and improved" and claimed by the new people.
When you ask current employees what they like the most about working there and they struggle to answer or come up with something generic, run.
And I like to add the most redundant and useless 'annual employee survey' for a global company. Wasting time for everyone because when the results are out, the management will most definitely get those who have complained or are unsatisfied to solve their own problems (the 'you raised the issues, you find a solution to solve it' type of solution).
Toxic positivity. If the company leadership shares aspirational messages every meeting and only wants to talk about solutions (or worse, only what's going well), I find those organizations are often wildly dysfunctional. Sometimes it's hard to like the "but what about" member of the team slowing things down, but those individuals often save groups from (very positively) implementing solutions with disastrous foreseeable consequences.
man i have seen some s**t during the years. Some places i cleaned at were toxic like hell and absolutely made my mind that i never wanted an office job (yes, i know this happens everywhere) One time i worked as a temp, walked into a big open office around 5pm. one woman still working, so i said hi how are you. Next day she was there again so i said hi how are you, isnt it great that the sun finally came out today! She started crying because i was the only one the spoke to her that day. RUN GIRL RUN!! i think about her a lot, hope she's doing better now!
You work for the NHS. Obviously that one is UK specific. The NHS is great, they do amazing work and I would have died without it. However, as a workplace it's one of the most toxic organisations to work for. No support for staff, so they end up burned out. Any complaints are brushed under the carpet or twisted to make the person complaining look like they're just making a fuss for no reason. Too many senior managers that do very little. For an organisation that is supposed to be about caring for people, the NHS is not good at caring for it's own staff. Then they wonder why they can't fill vacancies. I am talking from personal experience. I'd never work for the NHS ever again.
It's all trusts these days, isn't it? I've never worked for the NHS but I have family members who do, and my impression has been it depends on the trust - there's no one "NHS" to speak of any more. I've heard horror stories but also very very positive things depending where people are. I could be wrong though, it may just depend on sectors, teams etc.
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