Is Your Workplace Toxic?
A toxic workplace is not always easy to recognise, especially when you are busy running the business. Problems can develop slowly. A manager’s bad behaviour may be dismissed as “just their personality”. Long hours may become normal. Employees may stop speaking up because they do not believe anything will change.
By the time an employer realises something is wrong, good employees may already be leaving, productivity may have dropped, and workplace relationships may be badly damaged.
A toxic culture is not simply an unpleasant place to work. It can affect employees’ physical and mental health and expose an employer to personal grievances, health and safety complaints, absenteeism and high staff turnover.
What is a toxic workplace?
Toxic workplace is not a specific legal term. It generally describes a workplace where harmful behaviour, poor management or unhealthy working conditions have become normal. This may include:
Bullying, harassment or discrimination,
Unmanageable workloads,
Favouritism and inconsistent treatment,
Poor communication,
Blame and fear,
A lack of trust,
Employees being discouraged from raising concerns,
Managers ignoring inappropriate behaviour, or
Little support, recognition or respect.
Every workplace has occasional disagreements and stressful periods. One difficult week or isolated conflict does not necessarily mean the culture is toxic. The concern is greater when problems are repeated, widespread or accepted as “the way things are around here”.
Why do employers need to take workplace culture seriously?
Workplace culture is not just an employee engagement issue. It can also be a health and safety and employment relations issue. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, businesses must manage risks to workers’ health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. Health includes both physical and mental health. WorkSafe says businesses must identify, assess and manage psychosocial risks that may cause psychological or physical harm. These risks can arise from the way work is designed, managed and organised, as well as from workplace relationships and behaviour.
Employers and employees must also deal with each other in good faith. This includes being open, honest, responsive and communicative. Ignoring serious employee concerns may damage the employment relationship and, in some circumstances, contribute to a personal grievance.
Signs your workplace culture may be toxic
1. Employees are afraid to speak honestly
Do employees stay quiet in meetings but complain privately afterwards? Do they avoid raising problems because they fear being blamed, punished or labelled as difficult? A healthy workplace allows employees to question decisions, identify mistakes and raise concerns respectfully. If people believe speaking up will harm their careers, important information may never reach the employer.
Employees may also stop reporting health and safety risks, inappropriate conduct or operational problems. Silence does not necessarily mean everything is fine. It may mean employees have lost confidence that it is safe or worthwhile to speak.
2. Staff turnover is increasing
People leave jobs for many reasons, but a pattern of resignations should not be ignored. Warning signs include several employees leaving the same team or manager, new employees resigning soon after starting, good performers leaving without another job to go to, employees giving vague reasons for resigning, or exit interviews repeatedly mentioning workload, management or culture. Employers should look for patterns rather than treating every resignation as an isolated event.
3. Sick leave and absence are unusually high
Increasing sick leave, lateness or unexplained absences may indicate that employees are struggling. Work-related stress can contribute to fatigue and physical and mental health problems. WorkSafe identifies factors such as excessive workloads, low control, poorly designed work, bullying and harassment as psychosocial risks that businesses need to manage. Avoid assuming that employees are misusing sick leave. Look at what may be happening in their work environment.
4. Bullying or disrespect is treated as normal
Comments such as “you need a thick skin to work here” can be a major warning sign. Workplace bullying generally involves repeated and unreasonable behaviour that can cause physical or mental harm. It may include humiliation, intimidation, repeated personal criticism, exclusion, threats or deliberately making it difficult for someone to do their job.
Not every disagreement or reasonable management action is bullying. Managers can give feedback, set expectations and address performance. However, they must do so reasonably and respectfully.
Bullying is a serious workplace issue and employers are expected to respond responsibly when concerns are raised.
5. One person is allowed to behave badly because they perform well
A strong salesperson, senior manager or long-serving employee should not be given permission to intimidate other people. Employers sometimes tolerate harmful conduct because the person brings in revenue, has specialist knowledge or is considered difficult to replace. This sends a clear message that results matter more than respectful behaviour. Over time, the cost of protecting one high performer may include several resignations, stress-related absences, damaged client relationships and formal employment complaints.
6. Workloads are consistently unreasonable
A busy period does not necessarily create a toxic workplace. However, constant understaffing and excessive workloads can cause harm. Signs include:
Employees regularly working outside their agreed hours,
Staff missing breaks,
Deadlines that cannot reasonably be met,
Employees doing the work of several vacant roles,
Leave requests being discouraged,
Messages being sent late at night with an expectation of an immediate reply, or
Managers treating exhaustion as proof of commitment.
Employers should examine how the work is designed instead of relying only on wellbeing activities. Providing fruit or an employee assistance programme will not fix a workload that is fundamentally unmanageable.
7. Favouritism affects workplace decisions
Employees quickly notice when rules apply differently depending on who is involved. Favouritism may appear in decisions about promotions, pay increases, flexible working arrangements, leave, rosters and shifts, training opportunities, performance concerns, and disciplinary action. Different treatment may sometimes be justified, but employers should be able to explain their decisions using fair and consistent criteria.
8. Communication is poor or unreliable
Employees may become anxious when changes happen without explanation, decisions are reversed without warning or information is shared with only a favoured group. Managers do not need to share every confidential business detail. However, they should communicate honestly about matters that affect employees and consult where the law or an employment agreement requires it.
9. Conflict is allowed to continue
Employers do not need to investigate every minor personality clash. Employees should normally be encouraged to communicate respectfully and try to resolve everyday disagreements. However, repeated or escalating conflict should not be ignored. An employer may need to step in when the behaviour affects health, safety, performance or the wider team. Failing to act can cause both parties to believe that the employer does not care or has taken sides.
10. Managers are stressed, unsupported or poorly trained
A toxic culture is not always deliberately created. Sometimes managers have been promoted because they are technically skilled but have never been taught how to lead people.
Managers may avoid difficult conversations, give unclear instructions, lose their temper or handle complaints inconsistently. They may also be carrying unreasonable workloads themselves.
Managers need clear expectations, practical training and access to support. Their behaviour has a significant effect on the people they supervise.
Signs workplace culture may be affecting employee wellbeing
Employers should pay attention when they notice:
Increased sick leave or stress-related absences
Employees appearing exhausted, anxious or withdrawn
Frequent conflict or emotional reactions
Reduced concentration and more mistakes
Employees working excessive hours
A drop in participation or enthusiasm
Complaints about headaches, poor sleep or fatigue
Employees avoiding particular people, shifts or locations
More requests for transfers, flexible work or reduced hours
Employees saying they feel unsafe, unsupported or unable to cope
These signs do not prove that the workplace is the cause. Employers should not attempt to diagnose an employee’s health condition. However, the signs should prompt a supportive conversation and a proper review of workplace risks.
What should you do if you think your workplace is toxic?
Listen before defending the business. It can be uncomfortable to hear that employees are unhappy or feel unsafe. An employer’s first reaction may be to explain why a decision was made or defend a manager.
Start by listening. Ask what has happened, how often it has occurred, who has been affected and what the employee believes needs to change. Thank employees for raising concerns, explain what will happen next and avoid promising complete confidentiality when an investigation may require information to be shared.
Gather reliable information. Do not rely only on your own impression of the workplace. Senior leaders often experience the culture differently from junior employees. Useful sources of information may include:
Confidential staff surveys
Individual check-ins
Exit interview themes
Sick leave and turnover data
Health and safety reports
Complaints and grievances
Workload and overtime records
Feedback from health and safety representatives
A workplace culture problem is rarely fixed by telling everyone to be more positive. Look at what is driving the behaviour. Possible causes include:
Unclear roles and responsibilities
Inadequate staffing
Poorly trained managers
Unrealistic targets
Inconsistent policies
Job insecurity
A lack of accountability
Leaders modelling disrespectful behaviour
Complaints not being properly addressed
Employees having little control over how they perform their work
Consult employees when identifying psychosocial risks and deciding how those risks will be managed.
Respond properly to complaints. If an employee raises bullying, harassment, discrimination or another serious concern, take it seriously. Depending on the circumstances, the response may involve informal resolution, facilitated discussion, mediation or a formal investigation.
Before taking disciplinary action against an alleged wrongdoer, follow a fair process. This normally includes clearly explaining the concerns, providing the relevant information, giving the employee a reasonable opportunity to respond and genuinely considering that response before deciding what action to take. Do not reach a conclusion before the matter has been investigated.
Protect employees from retaliation. Employees should not be disadvantaged because they made a genuine complaint, participated in an investigation or raised a health and safety concern. Watch for more subtle forms of retaliation, such as exclusion, reduced hours, undesirable shifts, hostile performance management or missed development opportunities. Remind everyone involved that retaliation, victimisation and attempts to interfere with the process will not be accepted.
Set clear standards of behaviour. Employees need to know what respectful behaviour looks like and what conduct will not be accepted. Relevant policies may cover:
Bullying and harassment
Discrimination
Health and safety
Workplace conduct
Complaints
Flexible work
Performance and discipline
Policies must be more than documents stored in a folder. Explain them during induction, provide regular reminders and ensure managers apply them consistently.
Hold leaders accountable. Culture is shaped by what leaders do and what they allow. Senior employees and high performers must be held to the same behaviour standards as everyone else. If managers contribute to the problem, coaching may help, but serious or repeated misconduct may require a formal employment process.
Fix the work, not just the employee. If several employees are stressed, the answer is unlikely to be that they all need to become more resilient. Review staffing, hours, workloads, deadlines, resources, role clarity and decision-making authority. Consider whether employees have the information, equipment and support they need to perform their jobs safely. Employee assistance programmes and wellbeing initiatives can be useful, but they do not replace the employer’s responsibility to manage risks created by the work itself.
Create an action plan and report back. Employees may become more cynical if they provide feedback and nothing appears to happen. Prepare an action plan that identifies:
The problems to be addressed
The changes that will be made
Who is responsible
When each step will happen
How progress will be measured
When the plan will be reviewed
Tell employees what you learned and what you are changing, while protecting personal and confidential information.
When should you get external help?
Consider getting independent HR or employment relations support when:
A complaint involves a senior manager or owner,
There are allegations of bullying, harassment or discrimination,
Several employees raise similar concerns,
An employee’s health may have been affected,
A formal investigation may be required,
Disciplinary action is being considered,
Trust between the parties has broken down, or
Previous attempts to resolve the problem have failed.
Independent support can help you select a fair process, manage legal risks and avoid making an already difficult situation worse.
A healthy culture requires ongoing attention. Workplace culture is not fixed by a one off team building day or a new values poster. It is built through everyday decisions: how managers speak to employees, whether workloads are reasonable, how complaints are handled and whether leaders are willing to address poor behaviour.
If you recognise warning signs in your workplace, act early. Listen to employees, identify the risks, address the causes and follow a fair process where individual conduct is involved. Employer Direct can help you assess workplace concerns, respond to complaints and put practical processes in place. Getting advice early can protect your employees, reduce legal risk and help rebuild a more respectful and productive workplace. If you are concerned that your workplace may be toxic, get in touch with Employer Direct today.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. While we strive to keep the information accurate and up to date, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the blog or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the blog for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. For specific legal advice tailored to your situation, please contact a qualified legal professional.
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