The culture of your workplace has a direct and significant impact on the quality and quantity of the day-to-day work of your employees. A toxic workplace can affect not only the efficiency but also the mental well-being of the workers.
Employees who experience negativity in their working environment degrade their performance and settle on a cognizant decision to invest less energy at work. Many working professionals admit that getting the assigned task done is the easiest thing to do.
It is having to deal with politics, unfair policies, stringent rules, and negative vibes at the workplace, that makes their job difficult. This is because a stressful environment can make every other thing stressful too. A lot of competent individuals give up their jobs not on the account of the actual work or pay but solely because they get tired of working in a negative and toxic environment.
Thus, every organization needs to ensure that it instills a training software positive, supportive and healthy culture in its workplace. However, we understand that it is easier said than done. Therefore, in this blog, we will try to list some of the top signs of toxicity in the workplace culture that every organization should look out for.
1. No growth opportunities for employees
With various technological advancements and innovations taking place every day, it has become important both, personally and professionally, for employees to learn and hone new skills. Every employee puts in his individual efforts to upskill himself/herself, but as a member of your organization, he also looks up to your management to offer him reliable resources and opportunities to grow. With various e-Learning systems and training software that are now available in the market, training employees has become easy for organizations as well.
Thus, even after such ease, if you are failing to provide the required training and guidance to your employees, then it’s a major red flag for you to check.
2. Rapid employee turnover
We all know that quitting a job is no one’s first choice. Thus, if you have noticed a large number of your employees making this choice recently, this is a sign that something is going horribly wrong. Now, for a certain number of employees, a better salary package or a higher job title can be a reason to leave you, but a high employee turnover usually results from disorganization, lack of direction, poor management, and little or no growth opportunity.
3. No work-life balance
On being constantly subjected to close deadlines and unjustified long working hours, your employees can refuse to go that extra mile to get your work done. So, if you have been noticing a downward curve in the productivity of your employees, it could be a sign that your work is now interfering with their personal lives.
Every professional wants to leave his office worries in his cubicle, but, if your employees are being forced to work even after office hours, then you are disturbing their work-life balance. This is one of the most commonly found toxic traits of the workplaces.
4. Poor communication channel
Communication is the key. Without having an effective communication channel in place, you cannot expect an efficient workplace. Now, it can be argued upon as how a poor communication channel can support toxicity in the workplace. The answer to this lies in the fact that toxicity doesn’t always require something bad to happen. Important processes not being executed in the right way can also result in toxicity.
Misleading information, lack of clarity, single subordinate receiving orders from multiple superiors, and managers being unavailable for long hours are a few characteristics of a toxic workplace.
5. Groupism
With time, employees tend to form small groups at their workplaces, naturally. This also helps organizations in developing a friendly and positive work environment. However, the effects can quickly get reversed if employees start performing groupism. Members of different groups start focusing more on outshining the other group rather than achieving their own goals.
Conclusion
If your workplace is exhibiting any one or more of the signs mentioned above, it’s time for you to start making efforts to establish a more supportive and positive workplace.
