What makes a culture toxic?

When we refer to individuals, teams or organisations as ‘toxic’, what are we actually talking about?

There are many conflicting definitions of a toxic workplace or culture.

In 2022, researchers looked at over 1.4 million Glassdoor reviews (a platform where current and former employees anonymously review companies) and found that toxic cultures are described in five main ways.

The Toxic Five

1. Disrespectful

A culture that shows little or no respect for their people.

This can occur in many different forms of behaviour; from more subtle actions like being uncooperative or unsupportive, to more obvious actions like intimidating, insulting or dismissing. These are behaviours that show a lack of consideration, courtesy or dignity.

2. Non-inclusive

A culture that makes their people feel isolated, alone or disconnected.

While this can be more obvious seen through purposefully exclusive behaviour like leaving people out of team meetings, decisions and catch-ups, it can also show up through a lack of support, information sharing, or task sharing. This also includes behaviour that discriminates based on individual differences (e.g. gender, race, sexual identity, orientation, age).

3. Unethical

A culture that fails to do what is ethically right by their people.

This toxic trait is one that is a little more black and white. It shows up through behaviours such as dishonesty, lack of regulatory compliance, and anything that risks people’s safety. There are several OSH standards and government regulations in place to protect people from unethical behaviour, but this can also show up through actions such as making false promises, and sugarcoating the truth.

4. Cutthroat

A culture that is aggressive or there is constant friction and tension.

This toxic trait shows up through behaviours such as backstabbing, undermining, ruthless competition and a lack of coordination between team members or departments. This creates a culture where people gossip, point fingers, and sabotage.

5. Abusive

A culture that is consistently hostile towards their employees.

This includes behaviours like bullying, harassment, belittling, demeaning, yelling, or talking down to people. This results in employees feeling physically, mentally and emotionally unsafe.

The negative impact of workplace toxicity.

As a base level, people deserve to work in an organisation that creates a culture that is free from the toxic five. We know that…

• A toxic culture is 10x more predictive of someone leaving than pay (MIT, 2022)
• The Society of Human Resources Management estimates that 1 in 5 employees have left a job at some point in their career because of a toxic culture, which cost businesses more than $44 billion per year prior to the Great Resignation.
• Employees who work in toxic environments have higher levels of stress, burnout, mental health issues and other stressors that can lead to poor physical health.
• Disengaged and job-searching employees means lower productivity, and replacing an employee can cost up to twice the employee’s annual salary, according to Gallup.

Are you in a stage of contemplation?

Toxicity is behavioural, and behaviour change involves substantial commitment of time, effort, and emotion.

Pinpointing the elements that make a culture toxic is the first step to improving it.