Some jobs just don’t feel right. You get a sick feeling in your gut whenever you enter the office, dread Mondays, and you just can’t wait for the clock to hit 5:00 p.m every day. While it’s tempting to just keep your head down, suck it up, and do the work, you should take a second to pause and ask yourself if what you’re experiencing is normal, or a toxic workplace.
Some companies out there just have bad corporate culture, far beyond what should be considered typical or healthy. That being said, here are 7 signs you might be in a toxic professional environment.
1. LACK OF TOOLS, RESOURCES, AND SUPPORT
If you’re supposed to come up with the marketing materials for your company but aren’t given the design software to do so, how can your manager expect you to deliver strong work? Well, in a toxic workplace, a boss might expect you to be able to knock it out of the park with little to no tools or resources. Another sign could be if your employer is not open to feedback on a lack of resources, so you end up stuck with whatever they provided you with.
2. POOR COMMUNICATION FROM LEADERSHIP
If you never know what specific deadlines are for tasks, the scope of work for new projects, or who’s responsible for what — this might not be your fault. This could be a result of poor communication from leadership. Unfortunately, this lack of clarity due to their weak communication skills often becomes your problem (and your fault) if you don’t get the job done right.
3. HIGH EMPLOYEE TURNOVER
If employees are leaving the company quicker than HR is capable of replacing the last person who left, that’s usually a sign of a toxic work environment. Remember, people leave bad bosses. Before starting work at a new company, try getting some information on turnover frequency, and why people might be leaving.
4. IT FEELS LIKE HIGH SCHOOL
If office gossip spreads like wildfire and cliques are formed within departments, you’re in a toxic work environment. A workplace shouldn’t feel like high school — you do not have to put up with this kind of behavior. This type of environment can make it impossible to work effectively.
5. LACK OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE
If you find yourself going through way more fire drills than necessary due to leadership’s demands every Friday at 4:58 p.m. — this is a sign of disrespect for your work/life balance. A healthy workplace understands boundaries.
6. MICROAGGRESSIONS ARE RAMPANT
Whether it’s your boss raising his tone at you, a colleague making a sarcastic remark, or a person from another department sending you emails in all caps (yes, it happens all the time) — microaggressions in a toxic environment are rampant. One or two of these isolated incidences might not send you running, but over time, they can add up to diminish your motivation. Daily (or even weekly) microaggressions can accumulate into anxiety, stress, and feeling of worthlessness — all signs of a toxic work environment.
7. UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS FROM UPPER MANAGEMENT
If your boss asks you to reach a new (and delusional) monthly sales quota from one month to another and doesn’t provide you with any extra tools to reach this goal, they’re essentially setting you up for failure. In a toxic workplace, this type of unrealistic expectation from upper management can be common. Next time you’re given an unreasonable goal, talk with your supervisor about the tools that you might use to reach this goal, and why it might be difficult to attain.
Lastly, while these points may be tell-tale signs of a toxic work environment, there is something we all have that you can use to help identify these types of negative places – your gut. If your gut is telling you that something is wrong, and you find yourself hating your job, listen to it. Take the jump and move on to the next opportunity. Your future self will thank you.