Most of us hate our work and wish that we worked in a different job that made us grind less. But a toxic work culture is more than a job that you hate. Bad Mondays, hard weeks, and even disappointing months may signal just seasonal work pressure and may not be a sign that your work is toxic. So what is a sign that you are in a toxic work culture? 

A toxic work culture is having these things happen on a daily basis without a break. These toxic work cultures not only hamper your productivity but also as an engineering workforce hamper the productivity all around you. Several studies have shown that one of the prime reasons why people quit their jobs is toxic work culture.

Here are a few signs that may signal you are in a toxic workplace.

1) You suffer from constant burnout

Do you constantly feel this way at your workplace?

Are you constantly frustrated and nonproductive at work?

Do you feel constantly not motivated to work hard or take initiative at work?

Do you do the work just to get it over with?

Are you doing a lot of work that is not a part of your job description?

All of these are major signs of burnout and impact performance and productivity at the workplace.

2) There are constant cliques, exclusions + gossipy behavior

“I want the workplace to feel like eighth grade all over again,” said nobody, ever. So when it does feel like you’re back in a middle school cafeteria, it can be pretty deflating. 

We all know what a clique looks like. It’s the group of people—whether at work or at school—that sticks together, grabs each other’s coffee, laughs at inside jokes (of which they somehow have roughly one million), and generally excludes anyone outside of their tight-knit ring.

The takeaway? Avoid cliques. Avoid coworkers who gossip. Don’t engage in rumors or hearsay. They have no place at work.

If you recognize that clique-ish behavior includes management and executive-level employees, then you may very well have an organizational mean problem—and that’s about as toxic as it gets.

3) There is bad leadership above you

This is a big sign of a toxic workplace where there is bad supervision. A leader who constantly gives you too much work without adequate supervision leads to not knowing what you should do and what you are doing wrong.

Bad bosses come in all shapes and sizes, they constantly micromanage you, not letting you work and come up with ideas, they have no adequate skills to supervise your work, they don’t respect you for your feedback, etc.

The takeaway? Move away from bad leadership. It leads to diminishing growth. The best way to deal with bad leadership is to talk to HR or deal with management about your growth.

4) Unclear Goals and No Transparency

A clearly defined goal is an essential pathway to move forward and pave your way to success. When everyone has a clear vision of the company and where it wants to be headed and how they can make their individual contribution there is no room for error. If you have a goal tracker it also leads to being transparent and knowing what you can do to improve your performance.

A toxic workplace lacks a clear goal. Their main focus is to see overall growth and financial gain and they have become so obsessed with it that they don’t clearly define how each one can contribute to it and this leads to a great fallback. People feel lost in their career path and this leads to underperforming talent.

Understanding your abilities and that of your subordinates leads to growth and maximizing their talent to improve the performance of the overall company.

5)  A Toxic Workplace Likely Has Unmotivated Coworkers

We’re not saying that the quality of work of others should determine whether the workplace is toxic or not. But a completely laid-back workplace further sets you back and impacts your performance.

You have to take responsibility for a ton of work that neither of the co-workers are managing which will lead to exhaustion. We all have a certain bandwidth when it comes to managing work.

Just like your colleagues can motivate you to work harder, be better, and incubate new ideas, they can wear you down. Unmotivated employees are usually a result of a much larger organizational problem.

Such workplace environments impact your learning and growth. The best way to deal with such problems is to talk to the management, create ownership of work, and constitute an activity that leads to better growth.

Conclusion

We all want to do better and be in an environment where there is constant growth and upbringing. Having a free-form work environment where everyone around you can express their concerns freely without the fear of being judged allows them to take ownership of their work and work harder. Appreciating people working under your supervision and giving them credit for their work can lead to a highly satisfied and motivated workforce.