What Is a Toxic Work Culture?
A toxic work culture is a company environment dominated by practices, policies and management styles that perpetuate unhealthy habits and conflicts among team members.
It can be harmful to employees, preventing them from being productive and growing professionally.
How do you spot a Toxic WorkCulture ?
CONFUSING
They don’t make their instructions or directions clear. They might give you sketchy or contradictory instructions. If you ask for clarification, their response is only more vague or confusing. They are especially adept at giving you last-minute instructions as they are heading out the door, with no time for you to get clarification. They expect you to know what they want without them having to go to the trouble of explaining it to you. And then, of course, they get angry with you when the assignment is not completed the way they wanted it.
They give you specific instructions to do a certain thing, and you follow their directions exactly, but then they come un-glued at you because they don’t like the results, and blame you by insisting that the way you did it is not the way they told you to do it.
MICRO-MANAGEMENT
They micromanage everything you do. They don’t trust you to be competent enough to know what you’re doing. They always seem to be looking over your shoulder, watching, interfering, inserting their advice, telling you how they think you should be handling things, and not letting you just do your job.
CRITICISM
They criticize you in front of others. Some take it a step further and yell at you in front of others, and/or call you names like stupid, incompetent, lazy, etc.
PARTIALITY
They show outright favoritism for some employees over others. They give lots of slack to the preferred employees (those who kiss up to them) and are harsher on others. They will also give the cushier assignments to their favorites, and the dirty jobs to those they don’t like. They do not treat everyone fairly.
DO IT IN YOUR OWN WAY
They tell you to use your own judgment about something, and do it the way you want, so long as it gets done. So you do it the way you think is best, but they have a fit over it, and rant and rave about how you shouldn’t have done it this way, you should’ve done it that way.
MOODY
They’re very moody and volatile. You never know what kind of a mood they’re going to be in, and when they’re in a bad mood, you feel like you have to walk on eggshells around them. Any little tiny thing you do might just send them into a fit of anger.
NOT HAPPY
They are never pleased with anything. No matter what you do, or how strictly you followed their directions, or how hard you worked on something, or how reliable you were about meeting deadlines, etc. They will always find fault. They are experts at finding the one tiny flaw in an otherwise perfect project.
BULLIED
They’re bullying and intimidating. They make mean comments in the guise of “just teasing”. (“What’s the matter? Can’t you take a joke?”) They’re masters of putting other people down, and making people feel demeaned and belittled. They rule through fear. You always feel off-balance, and feel like you’re always in danger of being fired.
IN-APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR
They’re sleazy, sexual harassers. They ogle attractive employees and make suggestive comments or innuendos. They tell cringe-worthy sexual jokes that are inappropriate for the workplace (or anyplace else). They may find excuses to be touchy-feely, or make outright suggestions that the employee would get a better evaluation, or would benefit in some way, if they gave in to the boss’s sexual advances.
BIASED
They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc. and they let it be known through their comments, their “jokes”, and the way they treat employees who fall into one of their disparaged categories. They put down people for their religious or political beliefs. They mock those who are different from them, and treat them as second class citizens.
FAKE PROMISE
They make promises they don’t deliver on. If they say they’ll follow through and get back to you on something, they don’t. Or, if you remind them of something they said they would do, they don’t remember saying that. You can’t rely on them to do what they say they will.
NO WORK LIFE BALANCE
They’re workaholics who seemingly have no personal life. They come in early and stay late. They’re busy working every minute, and expect the same of their employees. They don’t demonstrate any social skills. They frown on people taking breaks, or chatting with each other. They frown on office potlucks or any kind of non-work activities. They promote a grim, nose-to-the-grindstone atmosphere.
NO CREDIT
They take credit for your ideas or your work. You slave away on a project, do a really good job, and it impresses the higher-ups. Instead of your boss mentioning your name to them to give you credit for your work, your boss allows the higher-ups to think it was all their idea, or all their work.
NO SUPPORT
They don’t have your back. If there’s some kind of problem, and you’ve been unfairly accused of wrongdoing, they won’t stick up for you. You’re on your own to deal with the fallout. And to go a step further, some will actively throw you under the bus to save their own skin.
They’re never available when you need help with something. They’re always in their office and don’t want to be disturbed, or they’re away at a meeting somewhere. Or they just don’t have time to deal with what you need right now.
MAKING JOKES
They make you feel stupid for asking questions or needing assistance with something. Even if you’re relatively new and don’t know all the ins and outs of the job yet. Their harsh attitude toward you makes you afraid to ask them anything at all.
They’re constantly blabbing all about their personal lives and problems, or bragging about their latest accomplishments, bending your ear with too much information. It makes you (and everyone else) uncomfortable. They can go on and on, and you are their captive audience, squirming uncomfortably, and just wanting them to go away so you can do your damn job.
ATTITUDE
They have a “do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do” attitude. They’re sticklers for YOU following all the rules and policies to the letter, but they flout the rules and do as they please. For example, if you’re two minutes late getting back from your lunch break, they’re right there to bitch you out, but they take as long as they please with their lunches.
They always seem to be looking for ways to criticize you, and find problems with the work you do. They seem to especially enjoy being able to point out your errors, and harass you about your mistakes. If they are wrong about a mistake they blamed you for, they don’t apologize. They never seem to find any reasons to praise you, or compliment any of the work you do. No matter how conscientious you are, or what a dependable, good worker you are, they will only give you a mediocre evaluation, at best.
They treat their employees like their personal servants. They direct employees to run personal errands for them. They expect their needs to be catered to at all times. Nobody is ever to do or say anything they find annoying. They do not want to be questioned about anything, and will not tolerate any disagreement. When they snap their fingers, you are expected to jump. They are “Lord of the manor” and all employees are expected to be submissive to their every whim.
If your boss has the capacity to grant raises, they always seem to find reasons not to give you one. Or they expect you to be gushing with gratitude over some really small, paltry raise that will barely make a dent in your budget.
They tolerate a dysfunctional workplace. If there are problems among employees, the boss really doesn’t want to hear about it, much less deal with it. Some employees get away with all kinds of bad behavior, while others are stuck picking up the slack. There are lots of employee conflicts, yet the boss is doing nothing to improve working conditions. There is high turnover in this department, yet the boss just seems to turn a blind eye to it.
They expect unreasonable amounts of work, including keeping you overtime without paying overtime wages. Or they expect you to take work home with you to complete overnight, or on your days off. Or they actually call you to come into work on one of your days off.
They always seem to be lying in wait to catch employees making mistakes, or slacking off, or cutting corners. They have the attitude that all their subordinates are weaselly little slackers and cheaters, and are not to be trusted for a minute. They think everyone’s trying to get away with something, and it’s their job to make sure they put a stop to it. They’re always on the lookout for someone they can catch red-handed, no matter how petty a violation it might be, and they seem to derive great personal satisfaction from busting someone.
If you have to call in sick, or have some kind of family emergency that necessitates you coming in late, or leaving early, your boss is suspicious, and grills you like you were a criminal. They seem to have no understanding for how someone can get sick, or have an unexpected emergency. They treat you like you’re deliberately trying to scam them.
They are doing some underhanded, unethical, or illegal things, and expecting you to go along with it, and/or cover for them. If you go along with what they want you to do, you could potentially get into legal trouble, and if you don’t, you’ll probably get fired. It would be even worse if your boss has something he/she could hold over your head (blackmail) to coerce your cooperation.
They lie, and cannot be trusted to tell the real truth about much of anything. You never know if the information you’re getting from them is valid or not.
They are hungry for power, and desperate to climb the rungs of the corporate ladder. They kiss up to their bosses, and will do everything in their power to please them, even if it means screwing over their staff to do it. They have no loyalty to you at all. They are only interested in looking good to the higher-ups, and pursuing promotions at any cost.
Their personal toxicity creates a toxic work environment where the employees are all stressed-out, terrified of making a mistake, fearful of being fired, suffering because of being treated badly by the boss, fearful of being snitched on by the employees who kiss up to the boss, unable to keep up with an overwhelming and unreasonable workload, fearful of calling in sick, and feel like their morale has been trampled on. Every work day in this place is miserable.
Good post but lengthy!
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