16 Signs of a Toxic Work Culture and How to Fix Them

Hiring TipsEmployer Branding

When companies prioritize employee health, they see improved morale, retention, and an overall better reputation.

In today's job market, a strong company culture is key to sealing the deal with top candidates. Not only does a winning culture improve employee engagement, but it also leads to better retention and higher rates of productivity.

Your culture can be a great strength or your worst enemy. Pay attention to the signs of a bad company culture and work to improve them. In most cases, you can change your company culture in just five steps.

Toxic Work Culture

A plant in a toxic environment will not prosper and will eventually die; this is analogous to a toxic corporate culture. Employees can't thrive and it will not bring out their best and they will change jobs eventually.

One level of toxic work culture is institutional-centric; policies and procedures are designed with the company in mind, not its workforce. Outdated work policies and work requirements like office work only are falsely mistaken for the most productive for employees. It refers to benefits and perks that are easy on the company budget, but tough on employees’ lives. It means viewing employees as objects that fulfill the company’s needs, not as people who have their own lives and families.

A toxic work environment can lead to many problems for employees, such as a lack of teamwork, more absenteeism and lateness, decreased productivity, and high turnover.

What a toxic work culture looks like:

• No core values
• Lots of gossip in the office
• Unfriendly employee competition
• Employees often miss work
• Employees don't take breaks
• Outdates hiring policies
• No DEI policy
• No workplace giving initiatives
• No hiring from inside
• Employees publicly critizise

It is important for the longevity and success of your company to have a strong culture within the organization. You need to be careful when choosing the culture you want to create in order to attract new employees and keep existing ones. Be careful of the following company culture red flags to allow a positive work environment to flourish.

No core values

Problem: If a company does not have core values, it is likely that subcultures will form and jeopardize the company's success.

Fix: Create and release a list of core values. These should be the unchanging set of ideals that are important to your team and will help you reach your goals. Make sure C-suite executives, HR representatives and long-term employees are aligned on core values before promoting them to the rest of the team. Refer back to your core values during the hiring process to ensure each employee you onboard shares the same values as your team.

Managers Don’t Follow Core Values

Problem: It is the responsibility of employees to look to their managers for direction. If those in senior and middle management are not upholding the core values of the company, employees will mirror this behavior. Additionally, this will cause the staff to stop trusting leadership who exempted managers from following the rules. Consequently, there will be a clear divide between leadership and the staff.

Fix: Ensure that everyone upholds the organization's core values by holding them accountable and leading by example. Establishing and maintaining common standards among employees will create an open culture of equality and help instill your core values across all departments of your company.

Lots of gossip in the office

Problem: Turning colleagues against each other using gossip about someones personal life has never been cool, and certainly is not appropriate in the office.

Fix: If you find that the rumor mill is more active than usual, address the situation directly. The individuals who are causing the most problems need to be identified and spoken to individually. It is also important to make a formal announcement to the entire company so that everyone knows that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

Teams See High Turnover

Problem: If your company has a high turnover rate, it is likely due to a toxic culture. This will not only push employees to leave, but will also dissuade potential candidates from wanting to work for you. Many employees in the United States would rather have a job that is not their perfect match if it means they will be in a better company culture. This suggests that poor workplace morale might be linked to high rates of employee retention.

Fix: Now is the time to invest more heavily in your company culture strategy. However, in order to do that effectively, you must understand the source of the problem. Gather information from employees who are leaving during exit interviews about why they are choosing to leave. It is important to try and understand why your culture frustrated them, and which aspects they found it difficult to let go of.

Speak with employees - especially those who have been with the company for a long time - to understand what has kept them motivated.

Unfriendly Employee Competition

Problem: A healthy amount of competition is good for business as it spurs employees to do their best work and improve performance; however, if competition is the main focus of your workplace culture, it can lead to animosity between employees.

Fix: If you see that individuals are highly competitive with one another, it may be because you are placing too much value on performance. To keep your best workers from leaving, show appreciation for their efforts in different ways, not just through raises and bonuses. Encourage managers to give recognition to their direct reports who put in effort and reward those who achieve goals with prizes that focus on wellness, such as by comping a fitness class, giving a gift card to a favorite restaurant or an extra day off. In addition, create a platform for individuals to congratulate and thank their coworkers for a job well done. This will motivate employees and encourage a team-oriented mindset.

Employees often miss work

Problem: If your employees are frequently late and/or absent, this is a sign that your company culture is poor. This tardiness could be due to laziness, which would damage company morale, or it might be due to disengagement. Also, if they often miss work, they might not actually be interested in their work.

Fix: Employees often take their cues from their managers, so if a manager is late, their direct reports will believe they can do the same. Talk to the employees who often break the attendance policy about their work schedule. It is possible that there is a regular conflict, such as dropping off their kids at school or having to commute, that would benefit from an adjusted start time.

You should engage your HR department to improve how your team tracks absences for sick days, doctor appointments, and other approved absences. By utilizing these approaches, you can improve your absenteeism rate and workplace culture through better communication.

Employees don't take breaks

Problem: If employees often work through lunch, it is because they feel they don't have time to stop working, or they believe management doesn't condone taking breaks. Not only is that bad for business, but it will also discourage employees from being active members of the organization. It is unreasonable to expect employees to perform well while working eight hours nonstop; this also communicates to them that leadership only values their work output, not their contribution to the culture or personal commitment to the organization.

Fix: Encourage employees to take their lunch breaks by taking one yourself and reminding them to enjoy their break time. Providing food for the office from time to time is a great way to force a midday break, get to know your employees and let them socialize with their co-workers. In addition, make sure to let new hires know how long they are allowed for lunch. Otherwise, they might try to avoid taking a break altogether.

No Good Reviews of the Company Culture

Problem: The increased visibility of anonymous review platforms into any company's culture can help prospective candidates understand your business better. Unhappy employees will quickly spread the word about management styles, cut-throat competition, or discouragingly high turnover rates, ultimately giving your company a bad reputation.

Fix: Develop your employer branding strategy. While you can't control the public's perception of your company, you can help shape the story. Of course, it's important to build an accurate employer brand, which can only be done if you first create an appealing workplace culture.

The company gives nothing back to the community

Problem: Your company is sending the message that it doesn't care about the outside world if it lacks a matching program for charitable donations, never offers a yearly day of service for volunteer work or issues calls for donations in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane or other disaster.

Fix: Encourage employees to give back to the community through volunteering by providing a yearly day off for those who participate. Show your employees you care by participating in United Way's workplace giving campaign.

Employees don't get acknowledged or rewarded

Problem: By only recognizing the top sales rep of each quarter, you are inadvertently harming your company culture. This will make the majority of your workforce feel unimportant and unappreciated. Additionally, it can establish a negative company culture that is built on competition and hostility between employees.

Fix: It would be beneficial to talk to middle and senior managers about instituting more feedback sessions with their direct reports. This time can be used productively to provide constructive criticism and acknowledge the individual’s great work. In addition, allocate time in your monthly all-hands meeting for employees to show appreciation for other team members and establish routine employee spotlights. Providing employees with positive reinforcement can help motivate them and encourage meaningful relationships with their peers.

Managers Don’t Promote From Within

Problem: Only hiring from the outside, in management and senior positions, gives current employees the impression that they don't matter or never have the possibility of getting promoted. Both those messages are not good for company morale and can be toxic towards company culture.

Fix: Pay close attention to employee reviews in order to identify those who may be interested in advancing within the company. Create a mentorship program to help these employees reach their potential.

Managers Publicly Criticize Employees

Problem: Employees sometimes make bad mistakes. A work culture that is toxic makes a big issue out of these errors by calling out the employees by name and mistake in a public forum.

Fix: Give praise in public and correction in private to maintain a healthy work environment where employees feel comfortable learning from their mistakes.

Employees work very late or on weekends

Problem: If most of your team regularly works past the end of the work day (5:00 p.m.), this could be indicative of a problem. This suggests that your team members have too many responsibilities or that managers have unrealistic expectations of their direct reports. Quotas help to ensure that your growth plan stays on course, but if objectives are unrealistic this can lead to employee burnout.

Fix: It is important to avoid overworking your employees. Talk to managers about reassessing workloads so that every individual has enough responsibilities to be challenged and productively contribute to business success, but not too many that it leads to burnout. You might also have to evaluate the entire team's demands - if everyone is extremely busy at work, there might be a chance to hire another employee to help with the load.

Applicants get judged for cultural fit

Problem: You want every member of your team to feel like they are a valuable part of your company culture, but hiring strictly for culture fit is an outdated recruitment strategy that can cost you quality talent. A company that only hires employees who are like-minded will have difficulty pushing the envelope and may see its culture start to decline.

Fix: We are looking to hire for our culture add. This approach ensures that we bring on candidates who will connect with our team on a meaningful level. Culture adds are people who will help contribute to the success of your company by sharing the same values and being passionate about the mission, but also bringing their own individual backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences to the table. By following this strategy, we can build a culture that is diverse and inclusive.

Siloed Teams

Problem: The way information flows (or doesn't flow) between teams and managers can have a serious impact on company culture and profitability. Poor communication among employees can result in decreased productivity, impeded creativity, and an unpleasant work environment.

Fix: Develop team building activities and company-wide initiatives to get employees talking and working together, even if the topic is not work related. By breaking down these initial barriers between teams, and even within teams, it can help improve how information is shared for everyday work tasks. Having open-door policies at the leadership level can facilitate communication. Encouraging engagement and transparency from the very top can help prevent information from getting trapped.

No DEI Policy

Problem: If a company does not have an active and effective way to recruit, hire and retain women, gender-fluid people and people of color in this day and age, it smacks of corporate ignorance and contributes to a toxic culture. Having no corporate giving culture is like telling employees that management doesn't care.

Fix: Get your HR team together, and if need be, hire a workplace consultant in order to draft and enact a policy on diversity, equity and inclusion. Workplace policies that contribute to a feeling of safety for all employees should be designed in accordance with the saying: "Nothing for us, without us." Make sure to engage BIPOC and LGBTQ+ employees in this process. The policy should be publicized to employees and presented as a living document that is open to suggestions for improvement.

Your company's culture is important and should be given attention on a regular basis. Here are 14 signs of bad culture to be aware of and address. The strength of your company culture can be gauged by measuring employee engagement and frequently asking your team members for feedback. Remember that your hard work will pay off in the long term, so don’t neglect your company culture duties.