What creates a toxic culture in the work place?
Listen here
A toxic workplace culture usually isn’t caused by one single thing…it’s the result of patterns of behaviour, leadership choices, and systems that reward the wrong actions or ignore problems.
Leadership sets the tone. Toxic cultures often start at the top, and can be created by micro management or abuse of power…leaders who have favourites, and a lack of accountability. When leaders don’t model respect, employees often follow suit.
There then becomes a lack of psychological safety, where employees don’t feel safe to speak up…punishment for mistakes instead of learning from them…fear of retaliation for raising concerns and ignoring employee feedback or complaints. This leads to silence, resentment, and disengagement.
Unclear expectations and poor communication…confusion breeds frustration…this can happen from constantly changing goals, vague job roles or responsibilities, and mixed messages from leadership…people feel set up to fail rather than supported.
Chronic overwork becomes the norm, with no respect for work life boundaries…as a consequence leading to irritability, and high turnover.
There is a lack of trust and transparency…employees feel information is withheld or manipulated. Decisions are made behind closed doors…morale and loyalty disappears.
When work feels meaningless, people disengage, and the company values exist only on paper, profit is prioritised over people, with employees being treated as disposable.
Make sure you avoid these pitfalls!
