Six obvious signs your workplace is toxic

By Tom Haynes

In a feat of sheer laziness I have only actually written the intro to this week’s column. That’s because when it came to breaking down what makes a workplace truly toxic, there were only so many times I could whinge about editors, Twitter pile-ons, and other nuisances that would only make sense to journalists – and that isn’t very fun.

So instead I threw open my Instagram and Twitter DMs to anyone who had ever worked in a toxic environment. In their own (anonymised) words, this is what they said:

Taking holiday is somehow always a world-ending issue

“I had all of my holiday requests completely ignored. After I left my job they had to make me pay 20 days holiday since I wasn’t allowed to take any. It was because they were understaffed and they had one manager doing the rota on top of his actual job. I booked a holiday for my birthday last March and a week before they tried to cancel it – was a last straw moment.”

Leaving on time or taking your lunchbreaks is frowned upon

“I know I'm judged for coming in not early enough – and I come in at 7.40am. But people who leave at 5pm are, like, frowned upon and people always make comments about it – especially if people feel like they're not performing. Another one is getting judged for taking an hour lunch.”

Workplace romances sour the vibe for everyone

“When I worked in a pub, one of the managers wanted to get with a waitress seven years his junior, so they would be placed on the bar together. He would then do shots throughout the shift with her. Then after a month, he cut her off high and dry and she quit. All the managers got with people – there was also an affair going on which was very dodgy.”

New starters are magnets for gossip

“My managers would gossip to me about other new starters. I remember there were comments about one of them along the lines of "he's a special one" and stuff within that calibre that implied he needed extra care because they were useless. It's okay to think that, but conveying that message to other new starters obviously gives off terrible vibes.”

Work drinks turn into mass trauma-dumping sessions

“Literally any time there was a work drinks, the whole time would just be people bitching about their manager, the company, or their hours. If work drinks aren’t spent enjoying yourself, but venting about work shit, it’s probably toxic. I also used to regularly hear crying from the next-door toilet cubicle.”

You are not allowed to be ill. Ever

“My hedge fund boss once told me to only call in sick if I'm dying in the hospital. They seemed generally annoyed if I called in sick but couldn’t really say anything as I was an independent contractor. Oftentimes I’d call in sick because I was burned out and the feeling was that it was my own fault for not having better time management or planning regular holidays, which was difficult to do given I wasn’t getting paid holidays.”

Are these the signs of a toxic workplace? Or do the companies in question have a point? Let us know in the comments below.

5 stories I'm reading this week

Student loans | Millions are owed refunds – find out if you’re one of them

• Discover | How much is your coffee habit really costing you?
• Work | What working from home does to your career – and bank balance
• Money | ‘Why does Nationwide think my partner is up to something dodgy?'
• Career | How to ace your AI job interview – and get to the top of the (human) recruiter’s pile

Something you might have missed

How charity shops turned from a bargain-hunter’s paradise to right rip-off

For some, rummaging through charity shop rails is a fun hobby – the end goal being “the thrill of the find”, an affordable treasure hidden in a sea of bric-a-brac. But recently, bargain hunters have left charity stores feeling disappointed.

📨 Stay up to date with the week's most important tax, property, investing and pensions news and analysis, plus receive useful tips by signing up for free to our Money Newsletter.