A psychologist has warned of eight red flags which could you work in a toxic environment that could harm your health.
We apparently spend a third of our lives in our jobs and while life has its stressors, none of us want to be feeling miserable for that amount of time…
Working in such an environment can negatively impact our mental health, as psychologist Steven Buchwald, from Manhattan Mental Health Counseling, has warned.
“The rise of toxic workplaces can be attributed to a few potential causes,” he explained, adding: “An institutional failure to prevent mental or emotional harm to employees is a common issue.”
Here are the eight signs of a toxic workplace that Buchwald warns you should beware of…
A lack of healthy boundaries
Toxic workplaces might expect you to have few boundaries, such as expecting you to work nights, stay late in the office and respond to messages at any time, even on weekends.
Buchwald said of the importance of work-life balance: “No matter how much people love their job, if they do not have the time to disconnect from it, it will hurt the mental health of them and those in their immediate circle too.”
General negativity
Buchwald warned that ‘poor employee morale’ not only indicates a workplace does not value its team, but is also a direct contributor to toxicity.
“Negative behaviours form a cycle, influencing how others see their work,” he added.
Fear of mistakes
If people are afraid to make mistakes, and will do anything to push away responsibility, it can leave employees paralyzed to step out of their comfort zones, which constrains the whole team.
How can you grow professionally in an environment that doesn’t allow you the room to do so?
Zero implementation of feedback
On the other hand, if you feed issues back to your employer and solutions are never implemented, this could also be a sign of toxicity.
“What can start as small problems can very easily become part of a long-term toxic culture,” Buchwald warned.
Favoritism
Clique-based work environments and informal social hierarchies – such as ‘Queen’ or ‘King Bee’ types – are indicators of ‘highly unprofessional behavior being allowed to run rampant’, Buchwald said.
Any workplace that sees certain employees getting preferential treatment, such as promotions, special assignments, and other benefits for reasons other than merit, can foster resentment, creating an ‘adversarial relationship between coworkers’.
Tense atmosphere
“The signs of a toxic environment are not always easy to spot,” Buchwald said.
But widespread intimidation, tension, or fear might cause ‘non-verbal cues like silence, passive-aggressive gestures, and generally timid body language’.
These can highlight broader institutional problems – like those mentioned so far in this article.
High turnover
While a high turnover of staff has many potential causes, if it’s combined with other workplace issues mentioned previously, it’s ‘likely due to workplace toxicity’.
Bad interview processes
Some toxic environments can be spotted as early as the interview process.
Buchwald warned that unreliable communication, endless interviews and random changes to the interview schedule can sometimes highlight a company’s ‘bad attitude towards workers’.
Prospective employees should also be aware of interview questions that feel designed to ‘trick’ you – and there have been plenty of those dissected online.
“Workplaces that have poor communication also tend to have poor problem-recognition and problem-solving abilities,” Buchwald stressed.
What to do if you’re in a toxic work environment
If the above sounds like your work environment, then fear not, Buchwald has some tips on coping.
“You can attempt to get through it by setting boundaries, staying positive, and focusing on what you can control, like how you interact with your fellow workers,” the psychologist advised.
But he warned that ‘the risk of emotional harm’ as a result of being in such a place is ‘often not worth trying to bear’.
“Instead, it’s usually better to start planning your exit, if possible,” Buchwald added. “Learning to better recognise and avoid a toxic workplace is often the healthiest strategy.
“That people aren’t aware of toxicity in the workplace until it’s too late is a major problem.”
