What Are the Signs of a Toxic Workplace?

Short answer: A toxic workplace shows itself in patterns, not in single bad days: people leave or fall ill at unusual rates, nobody dares to speak up, mistakes are punished instead of fixed, rules apply differently to different people, and disrespect or unethical behavior goes unchallenged. The clearest sign is often how you feel over time: drained, anxious and increasingly unsure of yourself. If several of these signs persist, it is not just a demanding job.

Every workplace has stressful phases. The difference is that a healthy organization recovers from them, while a toxic one turns them into the norm. A toxic workplace goes beyond one difficult leader: it is an environment in which harmful behavior has become normal, tolerated or even rewarded.

It also matters more than many organizations admit. An analysis of employee reviews and turnover data from large US companies found that a toxic corporate culture was by far the strongest predictor of employees leaving, more than ten times as powerful as compensation (Sull, Sull & Zweig, 2022).

Ten signs of a toxic workplace

1. High turnover and sick leave. People leave quickly, often from the same team, or are off sick for long periods. Exits are explained with “personal reasons”.
2. Fear of speaking up. Concerns are raised in the hallway, not in the meeting. Amy Edmondson (1999) calls the opposite psychological safety: the shared belief that it is safe to ask a question, admit a mistake or disagree.
3. Mistakes are punished, not discussed. Blame is assigned quickly, and errors are remembered and used later.
4. Disrespect is normal. Public criticism, sarcasm, interruptions, being ignored. In the analysis above, feeling disrespected was one of the core elements of a toxic culture (Sull, Sull & Zweig, 2022).
5. Different rules for different people. Favoritism, inconsistent decisions, promotions nobody can explain.
6. Unethical behavior is tolerated. Bending rules, misleading customers or covering up problems is accepted if the numbers are right.
7. Bullying, harassment or discrimination are ignored or played down, and the people who report them become the problem.
8. Poor or controlled communication. Information arrives late, selectively or not at all, and decisions are made behind closed doors.
9. No boundaries. Constant availability is expected, and taking leave or going home on time feels like a risk.
10. Little recognition, lots of criticism. Good work is taken for granted; the slightest mistake is noticed.

How it shows up in you

Toxic environments leave traces. A meta-analysis of 57 studies found that destructive leadership is associated with lower well-being and higher intentions to leave (Schyns & Schilling, 2013), and exposure to workplace bullying is linked to mental and physical health problems and burnout (Nielsen & Einarsen, 2012). Typical personal signs: dread on Sunday evenings, sleep problems, constant tension, withdrawal, and the sense that you are no longer yourself at work.

If you keep asking yourself whether the problem is you, read Is it me, or is my workplace toxic?. Toxic environments are very good at making people doubt themselves.

What to do

• Assess it systematically. Our free workplace checklist takes you through the signs and gives you a score.
• Document what happens. The Incident Log helps you turn impressions into facts.
• Look at the leadership. Is it one person, or the system? See bad leader vs. toxic leader.
• Protect your health and keep your options open. See building resilience and, if you decide to leave, your notice period with a toxic boss.

In the book: Chapter 4 of Breaking Free from Toxic Leadership includes a structured assessment: “Is Your Workplace Toxic?”. Chapter 11 looks at what it takes to build a healthier culture.

Related: Identifying a toxic work environment early.

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Sources

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. DOI: 10.2307/2666999

Nielsen, M. B. & Einarsen, S. (2012). Outcomes of exposure to workplace bullying: A meta-analytic review. Work & Stress, 26(4), 309–332. DOI: 10.1080/02678373.2012.734709

Schyns, B. & Schilling, J. (2013). How bad are the effects of bad leaders? A meta-analysis of destructive leadership and its outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), 138–158. DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.09.001

Sull, D., Sull, C. & Zweig, B. (2022, January 11). Toxic culture is driving the Great Resignation. MIT Sloan Management Review. sloanreview.mit.edu

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