Recognizing Toxic Workplaces: Understand the Signs and Symptoms

Lets start off with defining a "toxic workplace". Its an environment where the work, the atmosphere, the people, or any combination of these factors cause an impact on your professional journey and personal well-being. These environments and ill behaviours are characterized by significant interpersonal conflicts, systemic problems, and negative impacts on employee mental health and productivity.

As an experienced professional, Type-A, and INTJ personality types, I've observed, analyzed, and experienced various workplace dynamics throughout my career. The most recent experiences have been discriminatory and frankly inhumane. Infringing on my civil rights and impacting my livelihood that human rights complaints and civil litigation were raised.  

The ability to recognize a toxic work environment is crucial for maintaining one's mental health and professional growth. These signs and symptoms of a toxic workplace serve as a reminder, that encountering any one of these in your workplace, one needs to start to consider preparing an exit plan.

Delving deeper into each sign and symptoms, I've included personal examples of what happened to me. In hindsight I could have done much more to save my mental health, but given my personality I need to be reminded of the prime safety principle of putting my oxygen mask on first before even thinking of helping others.

1. Lack of Transparency

In toxic workplaces, information is often withheld or distributed selectively. This creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and mistrust. The lack of transparency directly impacted my job responsibilities, deliverables, and a collegial work environment. The best example of this toxic work environment sign was in my Americas PMO role.

The amount of information shared was on a need-to-know basis. Which in some circumstances may be acceptable. However, for this program, the amount of moving parts and vagueness was clear to me the "Leader" in charge did not know how to execute confidently. Withholding information was his means of taking credit for the team’s work.

Insecure leaders using this tactic cause constant uncertainty. Leading to anxiety and stress. Employees feel insecure about their roles and the project, program, or company's direction. This is also disguised as ambiguity and will come back to haunt you during performance feedback.

2. Excessive Micromanagement and Control

When leaders constantly hover and control every aspect of work, it stifles creativity and autonomy. Micromanagement example is a simple program status report. Many templates and forms existed, which could have easily saved everyone as the content is what that really matters. My upline leader required ten revisions, not for its content but for format. He was micromanaging every detail as to how it should look. Then went onto the particular verbs that should be used in write-up. The final report submitted to the project sponsors and executives was never shared with me nor the team.

Control was blocking access to key stakeholders, internal or external. This is another tactic used to impact your work. My role’s responsibility was work with key stakeholders to support and gain insights into current and future services and add value their customer’s journey. Blocking access, especially in client-facing roles, impacted my quota and target attainment. My stress levels increased and then I started to doubt my abilities as a client leader. Controlling actions like these impact how employees feel about their skills and judgment are not valued or trusted.

3. Lack of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

A workplace that lacks diversity, especially in leadership positions, is often a sign of systemic issues. This can manifest as a "boys' club" mentality or a predominance of a single demographic in decision-making roles. I wrote about my “bro” experiences here and have encountered this in many organizations.

Discrimination, marginalization, and racialization continue to be systemic issues in organizations. As an East-Asian Canadian woman, not seeing others who looked like me as a Partner or in Executive roles within my geography’s leadership chain was a red flag. Business Resource Groups (BRG) existed for fun, food, and festivals. The difficult conversations and continuous work to advance East Asians into senior leadership roles were absent.

For underrepresented groups, this can lead to feelings of isolation, imposter syndrome, and chronic stress from navigating an unwelcoming environment. The sense of belonging was superficial and evident in the firm’s disingenuous DEI campaigns. Conscious awareness and intentional actions are requisites to enact change.

 4. Unhealthy Work-Life Balance

Toxic workplaces often normalize and glorify overwork, expecting employees to be available outside of work hours and sacrifice personal time. During my annuity services delivery roles, work-life balance was non-existent. I was called at all hours of the day by functional leaders. One in particular would always call during scheduled vacations or time away. Backup coverage was never good enough to be able to answer or resolve his questions, none of which pertained to the client.   

The workplace boundaries of working hours and shifts were not respected. The mental health impact resulted in burnout and chronic fatigue. The constant grind and unpaid overtime led to depression and anxiety; increased risks and disorders encountered in toxic work environments.

5. High Turnover Rates

When employees frequently leave an organization, it's often a sign of underlying issues. Many times I’ve been asked to take over for someone who was leaving the business. There wasn’t the luxury of weeks of knowledge transfer or transition of responsibilities; it was days or even hours of notice. As I peeled back the layers, the issues noted within this list are the root causes of why employees leave - no work-life balance and excessive micromanagement.

Constant change and loss of colleagues can create a sense of instability and anxiety among remaining employees. This was the case for me taking over a troubled project and difficult client. The leadership team was already a revolving door, with me being the third program lead. The delivery team were all temporary. The remaining employees who were also ready to jump ship. High stress, anxiety, lack of motivation, and around-the-clock work was causing burnout. Watch for turnover. Ask questions during interviews about team moral and turnover. If the answers or what you see doesn't appear as it should, plan your exit.

6. Bullying, Harassment, and Intimidation

A toxic workplace often tolerates or even encourages bullying, harassment, and intimidation. Corporate policies and procedures are supposed to safeguard against these types of misconduct. False investigations, gaslighting, and retaliation have been ranked as the number one reasons why employees leave the work environment. When business guidelines or corporate codes of conduct are not enforced within the toxic work environment, especially when leadership accepts and participates in misconduct, then it is a toxic culture. Run. 

This sign is the primary reason for me sharing my insights and experiences through my Survivor’s Guide. I’m managing the professional and personal impacts of reporting misconduct and discrimination. The mental health impacts of bullying, harassment, intimidation, and even gossip have led to feelings of fear, anxiety, and depression. A hostile work environment affects everyone, whether you are the target, ally, bystander, or instigator.

7. Lack of Growth Opportunities

In toxic workplaces, career advancement may be limited or based on favouritism rather than merit. There's often a lack of professional development support. What I’ve observed and had individuals attest is the targeted approach to career development in the tech services industry, which is age-discrimination. Marginalized and racialized groups are at a disadvantage of career advancement to only be tokenized if promoted.

Watching an inexperienced associate promoted to become lead to a team of senior associates because they’re the Partner’s protégé evoked adverse reactions to team collaboration and trust. There were many talented and experienced leaders within the team, including myself. Promotion by lottery over merit is discouraging. This could lead to feelings of hopelessness, decreased motivation, and a sense of being trapped, potentially contributing to depression. All the more reasons to look for opporuntities elsewhere. You deserve the same or better supports for personal and professional growth.

I approached these signs and issues with a strategic mindset, always seeking to understand the underlying dynamics. It's crucial to be mindful and observant of these signs, as they can significantly impact our professional lives and overall well-being. Recognizing these toxic elements is the first step toward change.

By being aware and proactive, one can work towards creating healthier work environments that value transparency, diversity, and employee well-being. It's time to advocate for workplaces where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and contribute meaningfully, without sacrificing their mental health.

#ToxicWorkplaceSurvivor #WiserWorkforce #Resilience