At a glance
According to a 2024 survey by The Culture Institute of Australia, 75 per cent of workers have experienced a toxic work culture in the past five years.
It is a concerning finding that has harmful knock-on effects including disengagement, reduced productivity and declining wellbeing among employees. In Australia, where new legislation requires employers to prevent psychosocial harm among employees, the onus is on organisations to address workplace toxicity.
How can employees determine if they are working in a toxic environment, or if their behaviour is contributing to one?
Define toxic
While it may be undesirable, it is normal to experience negativity, conflict and stress in the workplace. An organisation becomes toxic, however, when it makes employees unwell.
“A toxic workplace is one that negatively impacts people’s physical, mental and emotional health,” says Dr Megan Woods, adjunct senior lecturer in management at the University of Tasmania.
“Prolonged periods of stress without sufficient recovery can lead to burnout, which can then put the physical system into dysregulation. The impacts on mental and emotional health can include, but are not limited to, developing clinical experiences of depression, anxiety, and even trauma and PTSD.”
Understanding burnout: how to recognise and manage it
Toxicity indicators
Signs of a toxic workplace can include bullying and harassment, poor communication and a lack of trust. These workplaces are often characterised by cultures that value employees only for the work they do, not as whole people, resulting in problems such as overwork and a lack of boundaries between work and life.
“When a culture prioritises completing work over all else, it translates to people working long hours — including in the evening and over the weekends,” Woods says.
“Then not only are we asking them to contribute a large proportion of their energy and resources to work, but we’re also taking away opportunities for them to engage in activities outside work.”
A variety of social and emotional factors can contribute to workplace toxicity, says Dr Michelle McQuaid, a workplace wellbeing consultant.
“These can range from poor supervisor support to poor workplace relationships,” she says. “As a result, we feel like we're not being treated with respect, and we’re not getting the support we need to do our jobs consistently. We feel like we’re being set up to fail.”
Problems with work design such as high job demands, understaffing, unfair remuneration, a lack of recognition and reward, or mishandled change management can also create a toxic culture.
“One of the challenges we’re increasingly seeing in workplaces is that it can feel like change is being done 'to us', not 'with us', and that’s creating a lot of anxiety about job insecurity,” McQuaid says.
Another factor is poor organisational justice, which can manifest as favouritism and failing to accommodate workers’ needs. McQuaid says questions to ask include: “Do we feel like things are fair in our workplace? Are some people receiving opportunities over others?
Is there a bias inherent in our policies, which means some people get a lot of support and other groups feel like they’re not being seen and valued in the ways they deserve?”
Tips for leaders
Identifying toxic behaviour in others is more straightforward than recognising it in oneself.
“It’s easy to point the finger at other people, and sometimes harder to recognise the fingers that are pointing back at us,” McQuaid says. “The simplest way [to find out if individual behaviour is contributing to toxicity] is to ask for feedback.”
That feedback can come in the form of anonymous surveys, pulse checks or regular engagement assessments.
In instances when employees may be unwilling to voice their concerns, other signs to look for are high turnover, absenteeism, disengagement and an increase in the number of people taking stress leave.
“These are clues that you need to think about what you might be contributing to a situation that is making work harder than it needs to be,” McQuaid says. “Ask: ‘Does there appear to be a consistent pattern in which I am the common factor?’”
If the answer is yes, McQuaid recommends seeking out coaching or employee assistant program support to initiate the process of changing harmful behaviour patterns.
“Even if senior leaders aren’t contributing to the toxic environment directly, the fact that they are in some ways making it permissible by not setting clear boundaries or requiring accountability means they could benefit from developing their self-awareness.”
Workplace detox
When fixing a dysfunctional team, McQuaid says it is important to begin by focusing on the positive before identifying areas of weakness.
“It’s important in a toxic culture to figure out where the strengths are — not least because that will help people feel a little safer in that environment — but also because those strengths are likely to represent the best return on our effort.”
Implementing social support, encouraging recovery time after busy periods and initiating conversations about wellbeing are simple strategies that managers can adopt to get the ball rolling.
“Avoid playing a blame-and-shame game unless it is clearly an instance of something like bullying or harassment, when appropriate action should be taken.”
Most people who engage in toxic behaviour do not do so deliberately, McQuaid says.
“Most of us come to work each day trying to do good work with good people so we can go home and feel that that was a day well lived. Most toxic workplace behaviours arise from a lack of skills, support or self-awareness.”
