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How to Recognize a Toxic Workplace Culture


How to Recognize a Toxic Workplace Culture

A company’s culture consists of unwritten rules that can either support employees or lead to burnout. Distinguishing a healthy work environment from a toxic one can be challenging, but it’s essential to recognize the symptoms. Let’s explore ten signs of a toxic corporate culture and ways to implement long-lasting positive changes.



Ten Signs of a Toxic Culture


  1. Narcissistic Leadership


Narcissistic leaders often create a toxic environment by wielding power without accountability. They may demand high standards from others but fail to meet these standards themselves, shifting from micromanagement to outright control. This leads to hidden conflicts and unclear expectations for the team.


  1. Blame and Shame


In a toxic environment, criticism is more common than positive feedback or constructive responses. Leaders rely on threats rather than support, and key decisions are made in unofficial circles, leading to passive sabotage by team members.


  1. Harmful Competition


When employees compete to undermine colleagues or departments rather than striving for shared success, the atmosphere turns toxic. Teams lose sight of the primary focus, which should be on customers rather than internal competition.


  1. Lack of Work-Life Balance


Constant availability and expectations for employees to be reachable 24/7 can lead to burnout, workaholism, or absenteeism due to illness. Under pressure, flexibility wanes, and the company risks losing its best professionals.


  1. Negative Impact on Employer Brand


In a toxic culture, employees often criticize the company, both internally and externally, damaging its brand image. Evidence of this is seen in honest reviews from former employees on job review sites. The situation becomes a cycle: the more negative reviews there are, the fewer talented new employees the company can attract. Staff shortages increase the burden on the existing team, trapping the business in a vicious cycle.


  1. Low Service Standards for Clients


Employees competing with each other, burdened by work and criticism, often show irritability, distraction, unwillingness to address client issues, and rudeness in communication. This directly reflects a toxic workplace that seeps into all processes.


How to Recognize a Toxic Workplace Culture

  1. Low Initiative


If employees fear speaking up and display indifference, it’s a sign of a toxic environment that suppresses initiative. Consequently, the business may not only experience a decline in performance but also fall significantly behind in market innovation.


  1. Values on the Wall


Many companies have stated values that remain just words. Values are often written and forgotten. It’s worth noting that values do exist within the company, but they may drastically differ from those beautifully displayed on the wall. Corporate values reflect how people conduct themselves, make decisions, act, and communicate. In a toxic culture, these values mirror the prevailing atmosphere, regardless of what’s posted on the office walls.


  1. Toxic Peer Pressure


How does it manifest? Imagine a new employee joins such a team. If they are restrained in their actions and initiatives, forced to work slower, this is a clear sign of toxic pressure. The team simply does not need competition for results. Even if a talented individual joins and stays, the company’s performance remains unaffected.


  1. Lack of Trust


In a toxic environment, no one trusts each other: employees limit information sharing to protect their positions. Internal competition becomes the focus. This shift leads to blame, accusations, and criticism, breeding distrust among team members.



What Changes Should Be Made to Transform a Corporate Culture?


Recognizing a toxic culture requires taking systematic steps. Here are some strategies that can help:


  • Quantitative Assessment of the Situation

Determine the extent of toxic behavior through employee surveys and client feedback analysis. Remember that your team is your internal clientele with needs, issues, expectations, and internal well-being.


  • Informal Feedback

Provide all team members with an anonymous channel to share their views on the company’s situation to avoid bias and fear of reprisal. Use this information effectively.


  • Create a Change Implementation Project

For example, involve the entire team in analyzing results and decisions for change, treating the process as a project with attributes (goal, success criteria, stages, responsible parties, and deadlines). Hold regular sessions to review progress, changes, challenges, and agree on new work principles. External specialists, such as certified team coaches, are often invited to assist with this process.


Ignoring a toxic culture won’t make it disappear. The experience of major companies that have faced crises due to toxic environments proves this. However, changing the atmosphere is possible – it starts with support from leaders and the implementation of a coaching culture, where employees can make decisions independently and take responsibility for them.


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