Working in the right environment can make you more productive and help you hone your skills. It can also be good for your mental health. On the other hand, a toxic workplace can hurt your productivity and be bad for your physical and emotional wellbeing. Here are some signs you should watch out for:
1. Your Employment Conditions Changed Without Your Consent
Did your employer change your work conditions without your consent? For example, did they ask you to take a significant reduction in your salary? Or did they move to a location several hours away and force you to drive significantly further to work without compensation? If so, you may have grounds for constructive dismissal.
Get in touch with an employment lawyer in Toronto as soon as possible for help if you live in Canada’s most populace city. Remember, you may be hurting your case if you accept the new conditions, even indirectly.
2. Poor Communication
Poor communication is one of the most apparent signs of a poor work environment. Your organization may be suffering from communication issues if you receive contradictory instructions from different levels of management or get caught in debates between different superiors.
3. You Feel Excluded
Although it’s natural for friendships to develop in any organization, cliques can be toxic. Your organization may have a problem if a small and influential group in the company shares lunches, breaks, and organizes events while deliberately leaving out others. Such groups can be problematic if they’re getting promotions ahead of others, landing the most lucrative projects, or engaging in petty office gossip.
Cliques can be worse if they involve upper management. For example, it can be unfair if your boss only invites a particular group of people to go out with him every time. After all, it’s not unusual for work to be discussed at social events involving decision-makers from work.
4. High Employee Turnover Rate
Organizations with healthy work environments that offer competitive salaries and perks usually don’t have trouble keeping long-term employees. A high employee turnover rate can also make the work environment worse, with productive employees leaving to avoid the toxic elements. New employees coming in, especially at the management level, can take time to adjust to or correct the atmosphere.
5. Lack of Motivation
Are you and your co-workers feeling unmotivated? Do you only do enough work to keep your job? These are signs of a toxic work environment where the employees subconsciously reciprocate their company’s negative attitude.
6. Bad Boss
The most obvious sign of a toxic work environment is a bad boss. An unpopular and dysfunctional boss who frequently loses his temper refuses to accept responsibility and is often on a power trip can ruin any organization’s atmosphere. Unfortunately, it often starts at the top. Middle management will invariably take a tyrannical bosses’ lead and be unkind to other employees.
These are six obvious signs of a toxic work environment. Please get in touch with the best employment lawyers if your rights are being violated at work. Staying in an unhealthy organization is just not worth the long-term ramifications.
