There are toxic workplace signs, you know the
toxic behaviors or work that you can spot and
we'll help you identify if you're in a toxic work
environment or on a toxic team. And then there's
the six deadly toxic workplace signs you need to
GTFO as quickly as possible no passing go, no
waiting for your equity grant does leave as
quickly as possible. Those are the toxic workplace
signs that we are discussing today. Hello, my
career besties. And if you're new here, welcome to
my channel for videos about toxic workplace
survival and how to thrive in your career. After
you make your escape, tuck the subscription button
and the notification bell I release at least one
new video each week, I have another video that
many of you might have seen 14 signs of toxic
workplace. One of the things I've noticed keeps on
coming up in the comments and conversations on
that video. And even in real life with work that I
do with my clients is that individually, those
toxic behaviors are present at pretty much every
company at some time in some level. So knowing the
science can help you assess and you know, gauge
the severity and all of that. But what are the
toxic workplace signs that you cannot walk back
from that once you identify them, you know, you
absolutely need to put your escape and move on.
Well, that is what we're talking about today. So I
wanted to make this video for you guys that really
boiled it down. So it's not toxic work signs that
might exist everywhere. These are the toxic work
signs that clearly defined, you are in a toxic
workplace. If you're ready to dig in, tap that
like button, and we're gonna jump into it. But
really quick disclaimer first, because I've said
this many times, but I want to be really, really
clear here. Your experience of a work environment
being toxic is something that is personal to you.
And this is going to make sense later on in the
video. But I just wanted to say this because all
of these must be things that you agree with. And
my perspective might be different from yours, even
if we're the same company are the same team, the
same manager and the same dynamics. Okay, so the
first severe toxic workplace sign is a total lack
of professional maturity. Let's face it, Every
company has office politics, co workers gossiping
about each other people throwing each other under
buses and stealing credit from each other to get
ahead, and maybe a few bad managers and jealous co
workers sprinkled in there. Are these annoying?
Yes, but can you escape them entirely? Probably
not. However, there is a line where these
behaviors and the motivations behind them are
based on low professional maturity. And where it's
not just one individual with low professional
maturity. It's a team or an entire organization
with low professional maturity. At some point in
your career, you've probably come across at least
one of these immature co workers, the way that
they approach their life and interpersonal
relationships really reminds you of high school,
they're operating down here where everyone else is
about here. However in a toxic workplace, you
might find that the entire team or the entire
company is operating down closer to that level.
How can you spot it? Wow, look at the typical High
School tactics that stage a toxic work
environment, malicious gossip, poor communication,
mistrust, yelling and mistreatment of colleagues
and passive aggressive behavior. Or just if you
have the tip offs. Well, if you have one person on
a team of low professional maturity, but everyone
else is all right, this is going to be annoying,
but probably not toxic. And it's probably
something that you can even avoid, as long as you
know how to deal with that toxic co worker, right?
If the entire team is of low professional
maturity, and especially if the greater
organization is lower in professional maturity,
and you're not operating at the same level, and it
doesn't feel good to you. This is a clear sign
that the workplace is toxic for you. And it's time
for you to plot your escape, if you haven't
already related to low professional maturity is
actually our next crucial sign of a toxic
workplace. And that is a complete lack of
boundaries in any toxic dynamic whether you're
dealing with a toxic person or you're in a toxic
work environment. And you're probably dealing with
things like narcissism and other toxic tendencies
which make boundaries problematic for the people
around you and make holding your boundaries even
more important. As you can imagine, this creates a
lot of tension. One of the most prevalent and even
socially accepted boundary stops is being expected
to work around the clock. I have found this to be
especially prolific in the tech startup industry.
In a toxic work environment. If you get an email
if you get a ping at 1130 at night when you're
sleeping, you're expected to wake up in the spring
into action. No matter how mundane the message
actually is your offline time your personal time
is not being respected. You may even be asked to
cancel personal plans or rearrange your schedule
in order to meet the needs of the company
constantly. Well, sometimes this happens in any
company, including non toxic companies, it is
going to be much more frequent and much more
common when you're in a toxic work environment on
a toxic team or enter toxic company. Another very
common boundary that's broken in toxic work
environments is one that we talked about a few
weeks ago here. We're like a family. Yeah, a toxic
as
A family also prevalent in the tech industry. But
that's neither here nor there. And while it's
great to have close positive and productive
relationships with their coworkers, there is a
line between having those relationships and being
all up in each other's business and being expected
to spend all of your time together, even outside
of working hours. I'm sorry, but who needs team
building events four times a week, this introvert
here does not no matter what the boundary is, in a
toxic work environment, it is going to be almost
impossible to hold. And when you hold it, it is
going to be very problematic. You may even be
reprimanded for having said boundary. And I know
that in some industries, having an 80 or 90 Hour
Work Week is totally normal, looking at you
consulting, legal and finance. And if you have
chosen to work in one of those industries, you
might have opted in. And that might even be okay
to you because there's the payoff of a huge salary
or something at the end of that, in which case,
you actually just don't even have that boundary.
So it's not problematic. However, if that is
contrary to your boundaries, and not necessary for
you to have the career that you want. It does
create a toxic work environment for you. Even in
terms of surviving a toxic workplace, knowing your
boundaries is absolutely crucial. And a lot of
people that I work with, and I know a lot of you
don't necessarily know what your work life
boundaries are. So I created a free fill in the
blank boundaries guide to help you figure yours
out, at least get the ball rolling, I'll leave the
link in the description so that you can snag it.
And this brings me into the next critical toxic
job a warning sign. And this is one that can even
help you avoid landing in a toxic workplace. If
there is a revolving door of employees, that
company is probably toxic. There are two different
flavors to this. First, there is what would be
called in the HR world voluntary employee
turnover. That is where people just keep on
quitting, they're quitting because they get better
opportunities because they're miserable, because
there's bad managers and they just can't stand
working for no matter. The reason behind it, the
number of employees quitting on a regular basis is
very, very high. On the flip side, we have
involuntary employee turnover. This is where the
company is either laying off or firing employees.
Now I know that a lot of companies are struggling
financially right now. So this might actually be
larger than usual, especially if you're in certain
industries. However, if the company is continually
getting rid of employees and saying it's because
they're a bad fit, that's an alarm bell ringing
for you. While that revolving door is problematic
at any level in the organization pay particular
attention. If you see a lot of executives turning
through, sometimes it's because they see the
writing on the wall. And there might be some
issues with that company, or it might be that
leadership is fractured at the top, and that is
definitely going to have a trickle down effect.
However, this also might be happening at lower
levels because of poor leadership no matter what
if there is a high turnover rate for any reason.
at any level. This is something that you need to
pay attention to. As I mentioned, you can even use
this to help you spot a toxic workplace before you
accept a job offer. During the hiring process, you
can ask the recruiter about their employee
turnover rate. Or this can be something that you
ask your prospective manager about towards the end
of the process. Or you can even ask it when you
actually have the offer in hand no matter what
Remember, if the company is a revolving door,
there is a reason behind it. And the reason isn't
going to be the vast number of employees who are
leaving, it's going to be a problem with the
company. And this takes us right into our next
critical sign of a toxic workplace. And that is
that there is no psychological safety. This is
something that pretty much every single person
that I've talked to that has been in a toxic work
environment has experienced psychological safety
is essentially that psychologically you don't feel
like you are in danger. The opposite is true in a
toxic work environment. This might come in the
form of judgment, shaming, undermining,
gaslighting, and many other delivery mechanisms to
make you feel unsafe at work. For example, if you
have a toxic boss, who criticizes and undermines
ideas that are presented in meetings, you're not
going to feel very safe to suggest any ideas in a
meeting Lord knows what the reaction is going to
be like this can actually even create some toxic
workplace habits that stick with you going into
the next job, like being afraid to share ideas and
meetings. Another example of low psychological
safety is where colleagues undermining you and
even taking credit for your work is absolutely
rapid and no one's doing anything about it, just
hugging each other on our buses. In my toxic work
experience. I had a manager who was just
constantly threatening to fire me. And when that
prospect didn't scare me because I knew how
important I was to the company. He really upped
the ante. The fundamental experience, in my
opinion underlying all of the ns psychologically
safe is that the right way to say those behaviors
is that there is zero trust involved. You can
trust anyone and they do not trust you.
And this doesn't just show up in behavior and the
actual interactions that you're having with your
co workers or with your boss, it even shows up in
the way that they treat you. For example, in toxic
work environments, they're monitoring what you're
doing on your devices. Right now, employee
monitoring tools are doing things like logging
your keystrokes, and taking screenshots, and even
pictures with your webcam and sending them theater
team or leadership to make sure that you're doing
what you're supposed to do, because they don't
trust you to do your job. And even if you raise
any concerns about the behavior, or the lack of
trust, you're just gaslit into thinking that
you're the problem here. And again, it's not for
me to judge what of these is problematic for you.
And what is it because some of these things people
don't care about, like some people don't care
about having their screen recorded by their boss.
However, if there are behaviors, especially
chronic behavior is that you do not feel
psychologically safe. And you're living in an
activated state, the non political way of saying
triggered, you are not going to be able to thrive
there, because that is the toxic work environment
for you on these toxic work environments. And the
undermining and the lack of trust have real
implications for you. And they can lead to the
next crucial sign of a toxic work environment that
you need to get out of right away. And that is
your job is impacting your well being that can be
your emotional, your physical or your
psychological. I know I always complain about
this, but I'm going to complain about it. Again,
while there is more discussion about toxic work
environments only see the cute little listicles to
help you figure out if you're in a toxic
workplace, what isn't being discussed is the real
psychological harm that can happen as a direct
result of being in a toxic work environment. Many
of my clients and the people that I've spoken with
have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and
PTSD, as a direct result of being in a toxic work
environment. These are real risks with real
implications that need real healing. And one
thing, and I talked about this in my last video,
too, because it's so important, I'm going to talk
about it again, the thing that I have almost
universally seen, even in myself was a ding in
confidence. I'm when your career confidence is
decreased your potential in terms of
opportunities, pay and pray, all decrease with it.
And that's exactly why I decided to create the
toxic job detox program, it's absolutely crucial
that you rebuild your confidence and also rebuild
the trajectory in your career. And look, I know
even the best of jobs, sometimes stresses out
stress at work is totally normal. And in fact, it
can even be a good thing. But in a toxic work
environment, that stress is going to be chronic,
and it is not going to be good stress is going to
be bad stress. And that bad stress over time is
going to impact you on so many different levels.
So if you're at the point that you're having panic
attacks at work constantly stress, losing sleep
and agonizing over what is happening at work or
suffering from the psychological impacts that we
just discussed, that is a toxic workplace, and you
need to leave immediately as quickly as possible.
And actually, just real quick, before we get into
that last sign, I wanted to interject with one
that I'll call a bonus. And that is you are
definitely in a toxic work environment, if you're
being harassed, or if you're being discriminated
against. Not only is it's a toxic work
environment, those things are probably pretty
illegal, you absolutely should not have to deal
with those things. You should be following
channels in order to report get assistance, all of
that stuff, you know, if it's happening to you
don't need me in this video in order to tell you
that if that is something that is happening, and
it is not stopping, you are absolutely in a toxic
work environment. And you definitely need to get
out as quickly as possible. Okay, back to the most
scheduled programming. And that actually brings me
to my last sign of a toxic workplace. And that is
a toxic behaviors are a feature, not a bug. I've
talked about this before as well the toxic
workplace that I was in was very toxic for me.
However, I had co workers that absolutely loved
working there, it was literally their dream job.
So when I discussed my concerns about the culture
that was being created in the company with my
manager, it wasn't a problem. It was exactly the
culture that they wanted to cultivate. So the fix
for it was not changing the culture. It was
getting rid of me and honestly, if I knew
everything that I know now that I talked about
right here on this channel, I would have quit long
before I actually left that company when concerns
have been raised and it's a decision not to do
anything about them. It's at some level a decision
of the company that that is how it wants to
function. And in fact complaining to HR might
cause a bigger problem for you. If you want to dig
into why complaining thr might not be the right
step for you. I want you to go in and check out
this video right now. However before you leave if
you enjoyed this video if it helps you figure out
if you're in a toxic workplace, give this video a
thumbs up it really helps my channel and it makes
you my favorite career bestie if you haven't
already consider subscribing as well. And as
always, thank you so much for watching my friend.
I will see you in the next video. Bye for now.