9 Underrated Sign That Your Workplace Is Toxic

In today’s culture, toxicity ion workplaces has created a huge shift in how employees view their workplace and their careers, respectively. Terms like quiet quitting, the great resignation, and more have all been attributed to employees feeling overworked and over exhausted from working in a toxic environment.

Maybe you work somewhere where working through lunch is normal. Or maybe you take on the work of several people. You may notice that you have a lot of “normal” practices in your workplace that you may quietly question. If you are questioning these practices, chances are your workplace is toxic. It seems far and few between to find a workplace that has zero toxicity, and it has become a norm for workplaces to enforce these practices.

When it comes to “quiet quitting,” a term that has been going viral as of late, people have decided to basically do less and just work their nine to five schedule and be done with their work day. But they are doing so quietly.

And employers are beginning to notice. Quiet quitting is basically an employee who reduces the amount of effort that is devoted to their job and its duties. People have decided to do so quietly, with the reasoning that should their employer questions why they are doing less, the response will be that they are simply doing what their job duties actually entail.

Before quiet quitting started to go viral, it was the Great Resignation. That was employees leaving the workforce in the masses. It began during the pandemic and has slowly dissipated. People were fed up with employers work standards and work place practices and decided to quit altogether. Leaving employers with far less employees and with no one to replace those positions. Still today, you will see many “We are hiring” signs posted in work places.

Now, do you notice which one reason is the same across the board for these latest trending fads of quiet quitting and the Great Resignation? If you guessed toxic practices, then you guessed right!

Here are 9 underrated signs your workplace is indeed a toxic one:

Asking you to take care of something “super quick” when you are off the clock.

I can’t tell you how many absurd times this has happened to me! If your boss says something like, “Oh this will just take a couple minutes, no need to clock back in, can you review this with me?”, then you most definitely are in a toxic workplace.

While it can be made to sound innocent, it’s a definite sign that your workplace would rather you work off the clock. Whether it’s during lunch or after work, you should always be clocked in while performing work duties. It’s the law! Plus, we don’t do labor for free.

Your work promotes clock in early culture.

Many workplaces promote this unhealthy culture that if you clock in early or start early, you are showing that you are a hard worker.

I’ve been victim to this long dated work expectation. If you’re hours are 8am-5pm, do your mental health a favor and do not clock in a minute earlier. Unless your work is paying you overtime for starting early or staying late, work your scheduled hours/shift.

Doing the work of multiple people.

This is probably the most common one I see.

If you are doing person A’s work and then your boss has you doing person B’s work as well, then you are doing too much! Set your boundaries early on.

Given a vague and open description of your duties and expectations when you start a new job.

The first thing you need to do when starting a new job is get a copy of your job duties and job expectations.

Make sure they are exact not vague. Make sure your title is clear. Make sure you review this in detail with your boss. Make sure you sign and agree only if you really do. If the position says things like “perform various duties related to position title” or “expected to do perform all duties and any others given by supervisor” just stop reading and run.

Poor communication.

Scattered and confusing information is a huge culprit of a toxicity in a work place. When manager’s give you mixed information it can be frustrating.

If you find yourself wanting to be given clear direction, and you are not getting that from your management, then you likely have a poor line of communication coming from your manager. A workplace is never successful where there is poor communication. In fact, poor communication leads to so many other issues which in turn makes for an even more toxic work environment.

Gossipy behavior.

Though most work environments have gossipy behavior, it’s should never be tolerated. If there is a lot of gossip from the beginning, then you are likely in for a toxic ride.

Best thing to do, if you must stay, is keep to yourself so you remain out of the gossip. Gossipers will always try to find a way to gossip about everyone.

Rapid employee turnover.

I always say to ask this in interviews so you know what you’re getting yourself into. Ask about their turnover rate and ask why. If it’s high, that should definitely be a red flag.

Rapid employee turnover is likely due to no growth, not enough or unfair compensation, and lack of good management.

No work/life balance.

It’s important to have this in any work place. Most of the time, our own management have families of their own so they should, in retrospect, be understanding to needing time off for life outside of work.

If you work somewhere where they don’t approve vacation time, or you have very little sick time and get shamed for taking your time off, then it’s a toxic work environment.

We live in modern times. Employers should not be shaming you for taking the time that is rightfully yours. Employers should also be understand when you are your family is sick and you need to call out for that. It’s so important to have this balance for your mental health.

No growth and no encouragement to advance.

If you are applying for a job with the intention of looking for growth and advancement, and you are told it can happen but then it doesn’t, then you have ben lied to. It’s so unfortunate when this happens, but it’s eye opening. A place that has no room for growth nor advancement, usually doesn’t care about its employees or wanting to see them succeed. if that lack of care is present, it’s time to move on.

If any of these sign resonate with you, it’s time to leave your toxic job.

There are so many signs now a days that a job place can exhibit toxicity. If there are one too many of these signs at your current work place, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate if you still want to put up with it and perhaps think about moving on.

Have you or do you currently experience any of these toxic traits at your job?

About the Author

Jovi studied Journalism at Southwestern College. She currently works full time and is a mom to a beautiful daughter, named Olivia. When she isn’t working or spending time with family and friends, she enjoys being a crazy plant lady, watching HGTV and spending quality time with her daughter. You can often find her cozied up in a local coffee shop writing for her personal blog. She hopes to one day work full time as a writer and to inspire others to live a happy and successful life.

Website: www.jovicasie.com