No workplace is perfect. After all, workplaces are made up of people and famously, none of us are without our flaws.
However, there’s a big difference between ‘not perfect’ and toxic.
The trouble is, when you join a new company, it can be hard to spot patterns and make sense of the behaviour of those around you from the get go. It can also be difficult to see how the system responds (or fails to respond) when things go wrong. By the time you understand just how poisonous the culture is, thinking through your options and retaining perspective is tough.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the signs of a toxic work environment. We’ll also offer advice on how to protect yourself, your judgement and your sanity if you’re not currently in a position to quit and move on.
Whilst there’s no simple definition of what makes a workplace truly toxic, there are some patterns to look out for:
Regardless of how many of the above characteristics are present, it can often take a while to identify that you’re in a toxic workplace. This is because toxic workplaces often make you feel like you are the problem. You’re simply not trying hard enough, working smart enough or willing enough to go the extra mile.
If you’re in a toxic work environment, when it comes down to it, you have three options:
Whilst quitting is often the best option for your health and wellbeing in the long term, unless you have ample resources at your disposal it can feel genuinely impossible without a plan.
In this next section, we’ll share some tips to help you navigate your next steps, whichever of the three above options feel accessible to you right now.
Think about what support you can tap into - either through your company’s benefits package or privately. Whether it’s therapy, coaching, career guidance or financial planning, it’s important to have a safe, confidential, outlet.
A therapist or coach can help you assess the impact of your workplace on your health and relationships, without judgement. Talking about the situation will help you feel less alone and reduce the risk of you internalising blame and shame. They will also be able to offer tangible tools to help you cope and build the confidence to tackle next steps.
A career coach or financial planner can help you get to grips with the practical elements of preparing for an exit and figuring out how to avoid a similar situation in your next role.
If you don’t currently have the energy to access support, then we’d recommend exploring your organisation's approach to sick leave and working out how to maximise your entitlements. Taking some time out will not fix everything, but it could give you space to get the support you need.
Toxic work environments are an emotional rollercoaster, making you feel the need to maintain a constant state of alertness. When levels of cortisol and adrenaline are high, it’s hard to maintain perspective.
However, over time you can build your resilience by cultivating detachment. It can help to identify patterns of behaviour. Once you recognise the signs of imposing false urgency, for example, you can experiment with different ways to respond.
In part, this is about reminding yourself what is outside of your control and developing your own personal set of reminders to protect your peace in difficult situations. For example: you are not being paid to care about someone’s lack of ability to regulate their emotions; your life does not depend on impressing people you don’t respect.
Being in a toxic work environment can often erode your confidence or sense of self. To protect against this and rebuild your confidence, try keeping a record of your accomplishments.
Capturing your personal wins, big or small, helps you prepare for polishing your CV when you’re ready to move on. However, it is also a great tool to help reframe difficult situations. Just because a piece of work you spent hours on was not recognised, does not mean it has no value if you learnt something new.
Your ‘win list’ does not have to be limited to tasks you got over the line or positive feedback you received. You could also note down times when you challenged bad behaviour, asked for help or questioned a course of action.
Your wins aren’t the only thing you should be documenting in a toxic work environment. Keeping the receipts on bad behaviour is incredibly important. Even if you don’t feel able to report right now, this helps you to retain the option later.
Use meeting notes, take screenshots of emails and slack messages and jot down specifics after difficult meetings, ensuring that you capture the date and time as well as the details of what happened.
You could then use this evidence to speak to HR, submit a formal grievance or seek advice from an employment lawyer. However, even if you don’t pursue any of these options, keeping a written record helps you to resist normalising or minimising toxic behaviour.
If you want to change things:
It’s important to be realistic about how much agency you actually have to change a toxic culture. If you’re in a leadership position, you’ll naturally have greater ability to influence things.
Whatever your role, we’d recommend starting with small acts of courage to rebuild your confidence and test the water.
Try committing to doing one thing per day that truly aligns with your values. This could be giving feedback, choosing to help someone out even though it won’t be rewarded, removing yourself from gossip or interrupting a microaggression. Whatever the outcome, there is a strength that comes from exercising your autonomy.
Whilst you might not be able to change the working culture of your whole organisation, you can absolutely make a difference to your little corner of it.
If you’re a leader of a team, be clear on your red lines and intentional about the type of culture you want to create.
Ensure you provide positive role modelling and that your actions match your words. For example, if you’re trying to change a culture which rewards working long hours over output, make sure you’re leaving on time. Otherwise, you can give your team as much verbal permission to protect their boundaries as you like, but won’t see the impact.
Changing culture is hard. However, it’s much easier when you find allies. Look for people within your peer group who are also engaging in small acts of rebellion, or embodying behaviour that reflects a different value system.
You could start simply by providing peer support or co-mentorship, sharing strategies that you’ve used to create a better working environment. Over time, this will help you build confidence for bigger interventions, such as giving direct feedback to a leader who is causing chaos and confusion.
It’s important to remember that just as systems need enablers to function, they also need champions to change things.
Only you can make the decision on when it’s time to move on from a toxic workplace. Whilst no job is worth your mental health, moving on without a plan can be financially and emotionally devastating too. If you’re currently reading this and weighing up your options, we hope some of the tips in this article will be helpful to maintain your perspective and restore your confidence.
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