This post may includeaffiliate links.
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.
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 for1 in 5 employeeswho 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.
Many people are more than aware of what toxicity is and how it manifests in a workplace. Sadly, It’s all too real for1 in 5 employeeswho 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!”.
“we are like a family here!”.
Husband-wife managerial team. Run!
It goes without saying that toxicity at the workplace is anything but good. It is known to lead toincreased 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.
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.
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 thecompany culture, the employees, the corporate structure and pretty much anything else. It is ultimately subjective.Whatever the case, something always has to change.
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 thecompany culture, the employees, the corporate structure and pretty much anything else. It is ultimately subjective.
Whatever the case, something always has to change.
“Work hard, play hard.” Hard pass.
Poor communication. Everything is gossip, and you have to know the right people to get any information.
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 areseveral telltale signsto look out for.
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.
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.
Owner’s daughter is head of HR.
I always ask about team building during the interview. “Beers after work” makes it toxic to me.
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.
Leadership becoming defensive when new ideas are recommended.
High turnover .
People crying at their laptop.Yes people was me.
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.
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.
Continue reading with Bored Panda PremiumUnlimited contentAd-free browsingDark modeSubscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited contentAd-free browsingDark mode
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
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 theoriginal Reddit threador ourother workson the topic.
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 theoriginal Reddit threador ourother workson the topic.
Celebrating the week the boss is on vacation.
The manager is smiling too much while team members have poker faces.
When people take credit for other employee’s work.
“Don’t tell x what you’re making because (insert b******t reason here)”.
See Also on Bored Panda
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.
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.
Bosses talking s**t to you about your peers behind their back. .
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.
So called family members will start micro managing everything you do.
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).
No HR department. Run for the hills.
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. 🙄.
Low pay but expects “total ownership.” No thanks .
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.
When coworkers won’t answer their phone, texts, or emails.
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.
Modal closeAdd Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
Gabija Saveiskyte
Justinas Keturka
Indrė Lukošiūtė
Work & Money
