30 Signs That The Workplace You’ve Entered Isn’t Worth Staying In, As Shared By Folks Online
Whatever you do, do not decorate your office for Halloween using "ghosts" of people who used to work there. Like, specific employees with names and everything. You're gonna have a bad time. Just figured this should be included in the list.
Oh, what list, I hear you saying, dear Panda? Why, the list you can find below, of course. A list of red flags Redditors were pointing out that are sure to make anyone regret ever applying to work at a certain company. But like, red flags as in ones that scream "don't work here".
And Bored Panda has collected some of the most spot-on observations and turned them into a list. So, scroll down, upvote, comment, and share your thoughts and red flags in the comment section below!
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At the interview they offer you water. Suddenly you start feeling groggy. Next thing you know you are waking up in a bathtub full of ice with your kidneys missing.
Fool me once Hobby Lobby. Fool me once.
Yeah, waking up with a missing a kidney *might* suggest there is something off there. Keep observing.
Everyone you meet has been working there less than 2 years and it isn't a startup.
When your initial interview doesn’t start on time, and you’re waiting. They don’t respect your time. Which essentially means they don’t respect their workers.
The owners children are in high management / executive positions
There are small family-run businesses that are ok in this formula. I'm thinking of a small bakery near me; 6 people in total, 4 of them are the 2 owners and their 2 sons. But there is no "high management" position, and everybody works their fingers to the bone
Generally, if the kids have been working there since they were teenagers, plus were started at the very lowest position and had to prove themselves to move up—-and been passed over for promotion when someone else was just better than they were—-then OK. But when they just up and put their kids in charge of the entire company—-kids who have been living privileged lives, never ever had to get their hands dirty, and absolutely do NOT deserve a high management job because of that plus their rotten demanding spoiled brat personalities—-expect the atmosphere to immediately turn toxic, even if it was a wonderful place to work when their parents were in charge.
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The owner of a company I worked for promoted his son, who just graduated college in 2021, to Executive Director of Client Services. I've been in the agency world for 10 years, and he was leading the account team. I noped out as soon as I could.
Had an IT job at a car dealership in Houston. One of my tasks was to do a backup of the entire database 15 minutes before close. I was to then take the physical tapes (older system) to a special building that had a fireproof safe. One evening after completing this task I came back to the computer room to a ringing phone. One of the VPs (owners 26 year old daughter) was on the line. She immediately angrily asked "Where were you?!". I explained I was taking the tapes to the the next building to secure them. She told me "you can take your cassette tapes wherever you want on your own time - but I expect you to be in the computer room when I call". I explained they were not music tapes - but the backup tapes for the database. She instructed me that I need to call the receptionist to let her know when I was taking over the backup tapes and wouldn't be in the IT office. Um, it happens every night 15 minutes before close - so if you call and I am not here - that's where I am.
We promote family values here - almost as often as we promote family members.
Also, her 21 year old college drop out brother was the other VP. Not sure what his job was...
This describes my current place. Everyone in the family is either a President of .... or a Vice President of purchasing etc. Doesn't matter what happens they're not getting fired and they know it. There's pretty much two set of rules and that pretty much doesn't work. I've seen this structure work only ONCE and even then you'll never move up too far without marrying into the family.
Biggest red flag in my old job, 90% of the employees were related. Non family members weren't allowed to know what others earned. All family members had the highest paying positions and the biggest bully and thief was a family member who wasn't fired nor reprimanded. Anyone who left wasn't family and often left because of awful pay or harassment.
I worked in a doctors office once with two doctors; a dad and son. The wife was the manager and their son/brother was the accountant, NEVER again
Worked for a small manufacturing company (longest 3 months of my life) and probably no one in the building was earning even close to $10 an hour (as an office worker, I was making $6/hour) -- but the owner's kids were earning $200 "modeling" fees for photos in the catalog!
I worked for three different family-run companies and they were all absolute nightmares. Drinking on the job, sexual harassment, blatant favoritism of certain employees, total lack of ethics...you name it, I saw it. I finally made it out and now I work in local government. It feels nice to know I'm helping to make my city a better place and not just lining some rich jerk's pockets.
Not always! I worked at a company for several years and the bosses son started as my junior. I helped train him etc etc and when I left after many years, he moved into my role. He was a hard worker, had some excellent ideas and was very respectful - he never pulled the "my Dad is the boss" card. I hope one day he will lead the company and do a fantastic job.
That's the way it should work. I totally get if you want to groom one of your children to run the family business one day. But don't put them in upper management right out of college - let them work their way up the ladder and learn as much about the running of the company as possible.
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I dispatched for a family owned tow-truck company. Every one of the family me,bers worked there.. They went out and did calls just like the other Drivers did. I also knew that if I needed them no matter the time of day or night they would get in a truck and roll. I can remember one particular wreck that involved Tractor Trailers they were on the scene for over 12 hours. It was raining and about 40 degrees out. When they got back to the office they took about an hour break or so and went back out on the road.to help out.
Debatable. I work at a medium sized hotel with restaurant + another restaurant that belongs to them. It‘s a family business. I don‘t know how many generations work there. I interacted with a mother and daughter. It is one of the best workplaces around and THE best apprenticeship employer around (they‘ve been labeled/ won a prize for that). But we have stricter laws, mandated minimum 20 days vacation for a 5 day week etc pp, so it‘s a bit different).
Don't forget the owners boyfriend(at company 6 months) and friend from high school. Favortism!
Amen. I worked for the best coffee shop ever. Owner had 7 locations. A few years in, he put his 2 kids in charge of all the stores in our region. They immediately ran them into the ground. It was a tragedy. The whole chain was gone 5 years later.
When I'm the director and get a cubicle, and the owner's kid is a team lead and gets an office.
I briefly contracted with a company that had a CEO who was the son of the owner. He was such an out of control brat, had no idea how to run the business, harassed female employees, had super high turnover, and freely admitted he did not want to follow any federal or state laws. I canceled the contract.
As someone fit the description, a little sad. I've worked in different company for 5 years before working for my father. He asked me to move to replace him soon as he's nearly 60. And my baby brother refuse to replace him and pursue his politic career. I go to college and suit for the position, I promise. Not a nanahikari. 😊😊
Something to watch out for, certainly, but I don't think that alone is reason to leave your job
I worked for an ice cream place that had the owners daughter managing the retail store. Her boyfriend used to come in and grab cash out of the register. I was fired because money was missing. The daughter would poopoo my ideas for the business, then a month later they would be implemented as her ideas.
"Were like a family"
"Be willing to work in a fast-paced environment"
This is just code for "we will guilt you into doing things beyond your job, and we are poorly managed"
If all of the other employees look sullen and depressed. If you walk into the office area and feel like you've walked into a funeral service. Nobody's smiling, nobody's laughing. Nobody looks remotely happy or content.
Just turn around and walk back to your car. That is not a good place to be working at.
This one is extremely important for highly competative jobs. You see a much of people d doing a cool, high status job and they all look miserable to be doing it. I get that it was hard to get that job, but for your own sake turn and walk away. It's not worth it.
If you ever hear a higher up say anything along the lines of “I don’t have to do that because I’m a X”
As a manager/owner/lead/etc… Your job is to support your team, if that means as a store owner you’re cleaning puke off the bathroom floor guess what, you’re cleaning puke off the bathroom floor.
If you ever see a boss refusing to help when it’s busy or delegating a task poorly (eg the blind guy has to go pick stock while ur boss hangs out in the back room taking calls) quit.
This, I used to work in fast food and we would be getting hammered with orders and complaints. The manager and his favorite worker would be kicked back having a good time in the office knowing we were busy and a phone ringing non-stop right next to them.
Information overload. They expect you to understand everything and will somewhat train you Day 1. But after that day, they expect you to do everything to a tee.
Training takes a while.
A more practical way to say this: ask about onboarding process during interview. Be specific about how they will guide you through, how well organised policies are, can you look at their org chart and understand how to navigate, etc… Doesn’t have to be a deal breaker but it will expose HUGE red flags
Team activities that happen every week. Casual fridays, team meetings, group presentations. Just let me do my job we don’t need to dress up for halloween at the office
God I hate teambuilding events with a passion. I was even once put on a disciplinary for refusing to wear their stupid T-shirt.
I had a job interview a long time ago where I asked if there was any office dress code. The response I got was, "Just try not to wear your gang colors all the time."
If a larger company buys your company out but says "Nothing is changing but the name and address that your paycheck is coming from" But then everything changes.
If you get asked in interviews about how you deal with workplace conflict and how you get along with difficult personalities. If they’re asking about how you deal with difficult customers, that’s one thing. If they basically ask how you handle a toxic work environment, it’s going to be a toxic work environment. I very naively learned this the hard way.
I disagree with this one. Conflict is an inevitable part of dealing with people. Asking how a potential employee handles conflict can tell you things like are they likely to try and resolve it themselves vs running right to a manger, do they involve others, how things went afterwards, and you may also get a feel for how often they are involved in conflict and to what degree do things get escalated. All these are important to try and understand before bringing someone in. Hiring someone who always runs to management or doesn't have the skills to deal with disagreements could be toxic and could turn a tight, well functioning team into a toxic mess.
Morning screaming and chants. Ringing a bell when you hit your quota.
Oh man i feel like my work place is filled with red flags. Like tonight for example, we had a 16 yr old get fired for being drunk while on the job and unable to function. They fired the kid about a month ago, I show up today and that same kid who they fired got his job back and was at work tonight.
It's sad when a place of business is so hard up on finding workers that they will rehire a 16yr old drunk
High turnover. A team with 10% turnover in three years had a few bad employees. A team with 110% turnover in three years is a bad employer.
Sounds like when I worked in the Vitamins department at a certain farmer's market. I was there 2 1/2 years. While I was there, we went through probably 20+ employees; average time they stayed in the job was a few months. It was all because we had an utterly toxic, narcissistic dept manager (who sported a Karen haircut, outwardly hated other female employees, thought COVID was fake, and kept a kitchen steak knife in the desk drawer to open our load boxes with). I was the only one who was there for over a year. I was mysteriously "let go" after I'd had enough and reported her s**t to HR. From what I hear, she was "out sick" for 8+ weeks recently, but is back to her old shenanigans of chasing off every vitamins employee.
The hiring manager who brought you in quit.
Worse: An interview, apparently successful, but the firm files for bankruptcy the next week. Are such new-hires merely more liabilities on a balance sheet?
They’re looking for “rockstars”.
There's a chiropractor in my town that says they're looking for "an individual who can demonstrate amazing multitask abilities (workplace kung-fu) ... self-motivated, hard working, high energy, as well as loves games and rewards for reaching targets." They have had this listing continuously reposted on Indeed for over 2 years, and a sign out front of their building that says *always hiring*. Like that's a positive thing???? They literally can't keep their staff. They also say in ALL CAPS that no masks or vaccines are needed.... but that's a different conversation. Related. But different.
One thing I look for when interviewing onsite is checking out peoples desks as I walk through the halls. If there are no personal effects or decor in workers cubicles, then that makes me think people just hate being there. I think if there are decorations, people are more comfortable and enjoy their job and workspaces and it's likely a more friendly place to work.
Or the opposite is true: they live there! Pictures of their children? They only see them when they finally have a day off
Trainers sleeping with the trainees.
Poor retention of staff.
Wine bottles in the toilet bins.
People constantly phoning in sick.
Companies that outsource majority of staff from agencies, 0 hour contracts are the norm.
Constantly having to speak with HR because of incorrect pay or not paid at all, bonus missing and all that s**t.
Companies not being able to supply all the kit needed for the job, you having to spend own money on kit.
Has a team specifically for beefing up its own reviews online.
An absolute huge team that deals with complaints and all things f****d.
I could go on but that’s kind of the flavour.
Extremely high pay for what is a very simple, low effort job.
Bonus points if they have a sign that says 'Now hiring' outside, year round.
This indicates that even with a high pay rate, they cant keep people on.
“Work hard, play hard” = “You won’t have a life outside the office, but we’ll pump you full of booze!”
Employers acting like they are doing a you a favor and they own you.
If they're plastering "It's so much FUN to work here!", all over the place, RUN. I believe in good workplace morale, but if they have to advertise it, it's not.
If they have a black out period for PTO from November to January 2nd.
I can see this with some jobs. However, if it's a medical/emergency services job. That's what you signed up for. Also, be thankful for those who dedicate themselves to care for us when needed.
Machinists , if the shop is dirty and disorganized, if the coolant is disgusting and stinky, if everyone working there looks pissed off or dead in the eyes, if the person walking you around talks about how smart and important they are. Do not work there
This all damn day. If it's nasty and disorganized, they are probably worked like a rented mule trying to meet B.S. deadlines made by some salesperson or manager that wouldn't know an end mill if it was stuck up their butt, much less how to use it.
If there is a staff parking lot and all the cars are older / beater cars besides the management/owners cars.
I got hired many many years ago at Red lobster as a server and my first day of work when I was walking in I noticed five cars parked in front of the restaurant that all had all four tires slashed. I later learned that that was the entire management team and a former employee had done it. That should have been my first red flag! First of all why is the management team parking directly in front of the front door those spots should be reserved for customers anybody who works in a restaurant or retail knows that. So that shows you how entitled the management team is. At the end of that first day the chef and prep cook would take two lobsters out of the fish tank take the rubber bands off their claws and take bets on who would win in a fight and then let the lobsters fight. And sometimes they would actually eat the lobsters but sometimes they would just throw them away. I only went back the second day to return my uniform and training book and never went back.
When your supervisor and/or coworkers act like they think you hung the moon and stars by the end of the first month.
In my experience, this behavior just means that 1) they are two-faced backstabbers who talk s**t and spread rumors about you, and/or 2) they have very black-and-white thinking, and you’re handling a time bomb. Meaning if they think you’re an “amazing” person, and you do one little thing they don’t like such as make a mistake or ask them to correct something, they do a hard 180 and decide you deserve their eternal hatred.
This might be controversial, and its probably not universally applicable... but for the sake of something original: Nobody on staff really seem like they are "friends" with one another.
This comes from personal experience with a large portion of my life where I used to job hop a lot. I feel like I could always tell whether the job would be good or not within a few days of starting just by seeing how the staff interact with each other. If your co workers talk a fair amount about non-work related stuff, or have inside jokes or hang out OUTSIDE of work hours, those are all generally super good indicators of a really solid and happy workplace culture.
Every job I have ever had where the workers only discussed work and didn't seem to have any interest in a more casual work relationship all ended up being miserable jobs by the end of my time there.
There truly is a "vibe" to a workplace... It doesn't take long to pick up on. I have had really tough jobs (for example, being a dockhand) that were incredibly fun and fulfilling, as well as jobs that should have been incredibly fun (like a rock climbing instructor) become the complete opposite purely off the vibes of the team.
Nah. I have no real interest in being friends with coworkers. I have my own group of friends. I don't need work people knowing a lot of personal stuff about me. There might be a couple people I chat with about outside stuff but that's it.
There are some very very new workers and a group that has been there from the start,youre going to be treated like s**t by the latter.
I had such a female colleague who'd form small groups and bully the new colleagues, especially if they were young and inexperienced. As a former victim of bullying and mobbing, I don't react well to such things and I'm ready to step in (that includes written report to HR). Perhaps that's why she always avoided me.
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I would add to this to look at the rent for apartments in the 5-10 mile radius you're required to work at. If the rent required is 3300 a month on average and they pay you 15 an hour, they don't pay you enough to live reasonably and they probably don't care and will never pay you well. They know there's no way you can afford to live in NY, Boston, etc. with the 15 bucks an hour they pay. There's no point in working somewhere that far away if you're talking 60-80 bucks a week to fill your tank twice plus upkeep.
Not saying these are not good reasons to not take a job. But if you fallow all of these it covers ever job everywhere. So if you are not willing to put up with some of this at least in varying degrees you probably won't work anywhere. And yes that would make me happy but turns out you need money so live so...
Not true. There are good jobs and good employers out there who don't follow this kind of stuff. How do I know that? I found one myself after job hopping since I entered the work force at 18. I'm 23 now and in the trucking industry with a company that actually cares about safety and respect. I got here because I didn't put up with s**t. Yeah, it was a struggle, but I know my worth, and I know that I deserve to be treated with respect and earn what I've worked for. If you're saying that this advice shouldn't be followed - you've given up and resigned to misery. Get your head up and out of the clouds and see the sun, it's possible to have a good job. You just gotta keep going.
Load More Replies... I had a boss that required woman to wear full make-up. They said it was equal to require men maintain their beards.
Ugh no. And I feel like that should be illegal or something. I was watching The Good Wife the other day and there was an episode where one of the male judge was forcing the female lawyers to wear skirts in 'his courtroom'. I know it's just a tv show but I was infuriated anyway, lol. That stuff still happens.
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Work is a scam. We've all been forced into a rat race where we have to wear ourselves out to make someone else rich. Every job is a horror show and every job exploits you. Most jobs contribute to destroying the world.
Many years ago I applied for a home loan 6 months after moving to a different state to look for work. If the loan officer at the bank suddenly has a change of heart and attitude about even dealing with you once he finds out where you work - you might be in for a rough ride. I know I was.
If your employer lives very close to the office/ in the same building, RUN. my boss basically has her home and office in one big building and she goes to rest whenever she wants while she makes us (especially interns) work like crazy. Sometimes even up to 3am. This country is so so f****d.
Clicks. That's an indicator. Only clicks are allowed to move up. Those not excepted are looked down on and used.
My sister declined a job because all desks were free of personal stuff. No pictures,no flowers, nothing. I totally understand this.
A lot of places hot desk though, so no personalisation possible. Pays to check before you make a massive decision based off a lack of photos.
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I would add to this to look at the rent for apartments in the 5-10 mile radius you're required to work at. If the rent required is 3300 a month on average and they pay you 15 an hour, they don't pay you enough to live reasonably and they probably don't care and will never pay you well. They know there's no way you can afford to live in NY, Boston, etc. with the 15 bucks an hour they pay. There's no point in working somewhere that far away if you're talking 60-80 bucks a week to fill your tank twice plus upkeep.
Not saying these are not good reasons to not take a job. But if you fallow all of these it covers ever job everywhere. So if you are not willing to put up with some of this at least in varying degrees you probably won't work anywhere. And yes that would make me happy but turns out you need money so live so...
Not true. There are good jobs and good employers out there who don't follow this kind of stuff. How do I know that? I found one myself after job hopping since I entered the work force at 18. I'm 23 now and in the trucking industry with a company that actually cares about safety and respect. I got here because I didn't put up with s**t. Yeah, it was a struggle, but I know my worth, and I know that I deserve to be treated with respect and earn what I've worked for. If you're saying that this advice shouldn't be followed - you've given up and resigned to misery. Get your head up and out of the clouds and see the sun, it's possible to have a good job. You just gotta keep going.
Load More Replies... I had a boss that required woman to wear full make-up. They said it was equal to require men maintain their beards.
Ugh no. And I feel like that should be illegal or something. I was watching The Good Wife the other day and there was an episode where one of the male judge was forcing the female lawyers to wear skirts in 'his courtroom'. I know it's just a tv show but I was infuriated anyway, lol. That stuff still happens.
Load More Replies... Work is a scam. We've all been forced into a rat race where we have to wear ourselves out to make someone else rich. Every job is a horror show and every job exploits you. Most jobs contribute to destroying the world.
Many years ago I applied for a home loan 6 months after moving to a different state to look for work. If the loan officer at the bank suddenly has a change of heart and attitude about even dealing with you once he finds out where you work - you might be in for a rough ride. I know I was.
If your employer lives very close to the office/ in the same building, RUN. my boss basically has her home and office in one big building and she goes to rest whenever she wants while she makes us (especially interns) work like crazy. Sometimes even up to 3am. This country is so so f****d.
Clicks. That's an indicator. Only clicks are allowed to move up. Those not excepted are looked down on and used.
My sister declined a job because all desks were free of personal stuff. No pictures,no flowers, nothing. I totally understand this.
A lot of places hot desk though, so no personalisation possible. Pays to check before you make a massive decision based off a lack of photos.
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