How does an employer know if they have a toxic work environment within their organization? How does an employee know if they are working in a toxic work environment? Generally, employees know before employers and most employers are oblivious to the fact that their workplaces have turned toxic. Let’s learn more……
Toxic Work Environment Defined
A toxic work environment occurs when there are negative behaviors in the workplace from the leadership/management team, or a member of the leadership/management team, or an employee, or group of employees, or from customers/clients. Toxic behaviors may include: rudeness, lack of respect and acknowledgement, ostracism, manipulation, bullying, yelling, the blatant display of narcissistic behaviors, and/or offensive or aggressive leadership behaviors, that are so intrinsic to the culture of the organization that the actions become the norm. While there are no legal definitions for a toxic environment, there is a definition for what is considered harassment in the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines harassment as unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or over), disability, or genetic information (including family medical history).
Reasons for a Toxic Work Environment
In the 2024, Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) report, The State of Global Workplace Culture (https://www.shrm.org/content/dam/en/shrm/research/the-state-of-global-workplace-culture-2024.pdf), the researchers find that in addition to inadequate pay, workers’ top reasons for leaving their organization are linked to poor or terrible workplace cultures. Many of the reasons include: poor management, unfair treatment, insufficient regard for employee well-being, and lack of empathetic leadership. Specific examples may include actions related to the following: belittling of employee’s ideas, blaming employees for mistakes, taking credit for someone else’s work, demonstrating poor values, creating heavy workloads, cliquish behaviors, gaslighting, microaggressions, continually changing expectations and/or guidelines, underappreciation, micromanagement, lack of opportunities for growth, and chronic negativity.
Impacts on Mental Health
Most employees spend the majority of their lives at work. So, when there is a toxic work environment, the majority of one’s day is spent trying to deal with the negativity of the work environment, which has a significant impact upon mental health. Employees often feel extremely stressed, anxious, and depressed. As a result, high levels of stress and burnout stifle creativity and innovation, which decreases productivity and lowers self-esteem. It is usually a work environment where employees feel, at a minimum, psychologically unsafe and sometimes physically unsafe when they arrive at work. It is the inability of the employer to allow the employee to implement a healthy work-life balance.
Results of a Toxic Work Environment
When the toxic work environment impacts an employee’s mental health, it leads to absenteeism, lack of productivity, lack of trust, infighting, incivility, unfair or underpaid compensation, unsafe working conditions, excessive gossip, abuse, and in many cases, where discrimination becomes the norm. Employees become disengaged, decreasing productivity, which results in high turnover. According to a recent report from MIT Sloan Management Review (https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/toxic-culture-is-driving-the-great-resignation/), a toxic workplace culture is over 10 times more likely to contribute to an employee quitting their job than low pay. Ultimately, this leads to less revenue for the employer, as they are always dealing with chaos, unhappy employees, and turnover.
How Employees May Improve Their Mental Health in a Toxic Work Environment
There are several steps that an employee may take to help improve their mental health in a toxic work environment. Steps include:
- Creating a positive attitude and collaborative mindset.
- Remembering that they are not always at fault.
- Taking a break away from the toxic work environment to rejuvenate and refresh.
- Setting boundaries within the workplace, such as defining hours worked and not skipping breaks.
- Staying away from the drama, as nothing positive comes from engaging in it.
- Staying focused on goals, knowing that there are bigger and better things ahead.
- Staying active after work to clear away the negativity, like taking a walk in nature, communicating with a peer/friend, or reading for fun.
- Engaging with a few trustworthy friends at work who may be able to support them within the toxic work environment.
- Being kind to others and never compromising one’s values.
- Planning an exit from the toxic work environment, if it is not improving.
How Employers May Improve and/or Prevent a Toxic Work Environment
Employers should never leave a toxic work environment alone, because it won’t self-improve. They should also remember that it did not become toxic overnight and that it is going to take some time and a bit of a struggle to make changes. There are several actions that an employer may take to help improve the work environment for their employees. These actions include the following:
- Rethinking how the organization hires, by making character and attitude as important as skill-set.
- Knowing and living by the organizations core values, as they are positive identifiers that employees attach themselves to through the employment process.
- Remembering that employees model management/leadership, so making sure that management/leadership walks the talk.
- Communicating effectively through quality employee handbooks, employee meetings, or training and mentoring sessions.
- Finding out what employees and others are saying about the workplace by conducting stay-interviews, reading online reviews, conducting surveys, etc.
- Dealing with employee absenteeism, unproductivity, poor performance, etc. promptly and fairly.
- Making workplace a safe environment for everyone. This includes freedom from bullying, mockery, and fear-fueled leadership, while creating an environment where an employee may voice ideas and concerns, and feel safe to fail, succeed, and remain fully confident.
- Valuing employees, celebrating diversity, and remembering that every employee has unique qualities.
- Dealing with employee turnover as part of the problem and not just the symptom.
Conclusion
While employers may not always be aware of when their workplaces are toxic, it is ultimately their responsibility to engage with their employees to work on improving the toxic environment within their organizations. Understanding how to fix the toxic environment is not only about increasing productivity, but also includes making sure that employees are feeling valued, safe, and motivated in their jobs. Employers have a responsibility to identify the root causes of the toxicity, and implement positive changes, which will ultimately foster a more efficient and harmonious work environment for all.
For additional information related to toxic work environments and how to improve them, please contact us at www.newfocushr.com.
Written By: Kristen Deutsch, M.B.A., CCP
President
03/07/2025
