Are you stuck in a toxic job? Is your boss power-hungry, employing manipulation tactics to ensure his team pledges loyalty to the profession? Does walking into work fill you with a sense of dread? Do coworkers often call out? You might work in a toxic workplace if you said “yes” to those questions. Let’s explore common workplace red flags to raise your awareness. 

1. We’re All Family 

Have you ever worked a job determined to prove its family-like qualities to potential or current employees? I have. Was it a toxic environment? Yes. “We’re all family” points to unfair standards placed upon workers in exchange for overworking and unwavering loyalty. Stating “we’re all family” perpetuates the idea that the worker owes their profession something. 

Since family members help their kin out free of charge, this phrase is a codeword for underpaying staff. Treating workplaces as family blurs the lines between professionalism and unprofessionalism and has consequences for the staff’s actual family members. Staff members in this situation might become riddled with guilt for setting boundaries or saying no to their boss, furthering a toxic workplace culture. 

2. Zero Communication

A job is a two-way communication avenue between boss and employee. Managers, higher-ups, and entry-level staff all fit into the communication pyramid, but the basis of a job is an open line of communication between supervisor and worker. How is an employee supposed to know what to do if their supervisor doesn’t tell them?

My first job was cooking eggs and making coffee at a local bagel shop. During the first week, my manager handed me a pitcher of cold brew, expecting me to distribute the coffee drink. I asked her how to make the drink, if we needed to dilute the substance, or simply pour it in a cup and move on. In a rush, she scoffed, telling me we should pour the drink into the cup and move on. 

After the first few cold brew orders returned to the counter, complaining about bitter, strong drinks, my manager screamed at me for not diluting the coffee. We could’ve avoided the mishap altogether with clear communication. I left that job a few weeks later.

3. High Turnover

Oftentimes, jobs hide under the guise of a healthy workplace, meaning employees realize the toxic culture only after their first shifts. However, jobs with high turnover rates can’t hide behind their repeated openings. While scrolling job boards, have you ever noticed a specific job opening return days after the position filled? This can happen when a candidate doesn’t mesh with the company. However, if this instance repeats, it signals a high turnover rate, alluding to low job satisfaction, clouded company beliefs, and even low pay. 

Remember, job postings specialize in amping up the job on paper. Recruiters speak highly of the job to draw qualified candidates in, tricking them into working for a toxic company. The turnover rate showcases job satisfaction and quality from former employees. Always pay attention to both factors. 

4. Work Hard, Play Hard Mentality

The phrase “work hard, play hard” represents a toxic workplace culture. The idea that one must work hard at one's job to earn the ability to relax signifies an unhealthy work-life culture. Let’s picture an office worker (Joe) immersed in the work hard, play hard lifestyle. When the office hired Joe, he cheered for his first office job. At orientation, the office let Joe in on the company’s vibe: devote every ounce of energy in the office (and sometimes out of the office) to the job to enjoy free time. 

The work-hard, play-hard mindset suggests employees can’t enjoy free time without sacrificing their well-being for their profession. Working hard and playing hard forces employees to devote extra time to the job and give up their mental well-being for a regarded place in their office, implementing a toxic, burnout culture and placing unrealistic expectations on the employee.

5. Dull Employees

A major red flag in a workspace encompasses a bunch of employees walking around the office, straight-faced, mimicking the same emotions over and over. They operate on an expressionless level. If they do show facial expressions, they’re limited to frowning faces and sad demeanors. Offices featuring droves of dull employees reflect a toxic, soul-sucking workspace. Everyone experiences a few dark days at work, yet when everyone in the office shows up with a sad face each day, the issue might lie in the workspace.

6. Constant Callouts

Employees call out for a multitude of reasons: emergencies, sickness, appointments, or the sheer inability to show up to a job they despise. I worked at a daycare where the management blamed the teachers for the kids’ bad behavior. Despite constant pleas for change within the school,  the management ignored the concerns, causing each staff member to call out multiple times a month, cycling a new excuse to escape work. 

After most of the staff grew tired of this blaming culture, they decided to write an open letter to the management expressing their issues with the school and the reason for their departure. Losing a hefty amount of staff almost resulted in the school shuttering its doors, but the mass migration forced higher-ups to examine the school and alter the situation. 

7. Miserable Manager

Picture a sad, grumbling manager who complains about their job every second they can to anyone who will open their ears. A manager who treats their employees with disdain leaves little room for communication and wishes to leave their office as soon as they clock in. Miserable managers illustrate a poor workspace; one flooded with unrealistic expectations, mean higher-ups, closed communication, and failure to improve the situation. Manager’s behavior says a lot about the company since they deal directly with overseeing their divisions. Miserable manager attitudes bleed over into the workers’ attitudes, contributing to a miserable, mopey company where no one wants to work. 

8. No Work-Life Balance

Some say the key to a happy life is a healthy work-life balance. For example, an employee wakes up in the morning, spends time with their family, heads to work, completes their day, and leaves their job in their office. Once they return home, they disconnect from their job until their next shift. Problems arise when work offsets the equilibrium. A stable work-life balance fosters workers who are happy to clock in for their shifts. The balance also contributes to higher productivity rates and happier home lives. 

When work overflows into home life, families become affected by the stress, mental health plummets, and workers burn out more quickly. For jobs that require homework (detectives, doctors, teachers), workers can take precautions to prevent the side effects of low work-life balance, such as establishing boundaries, setting aside free time, and implementing self-care practices in daily life. 

9. Scared of Speaking to Management

I used to write for a place that instilled fear in the writers who brought up issues to management. The writers found many unclear guidelines within the writer's requirements. However, when anyone questioned authority, they were fired or reprimanded in a public group chat. Newer hires witnessed this behavior and learned not to ask questions or reach out for help if they wanted compensation. 

We knew if we asked for help, we faced a chance of not getting a paycheck. A lot of us couldn’t afford that penalty, so the managers used it as fuel. They utilized fear-mongering tactics to scare us into blind submission and pledge our loyalty to the business. The company equated weakness with asking for help, affecting the worker’s productivity levels, mental health, and future job expectations. Someone who works in this environment faces difficulty asking for help in future professions.

10. No Mistakes 

Humans make mistakes. Mistakes are a part of life, as much as breathing and laughing are a part of life. A workplace without mistakes doesn’t exist. In fact, workers employed in high-pressure jobs still make mistakes–see ICU, nurses, doctors, armed forces, detectives. While workplaces don’t strive to make regular mistakes, every employee makes a few over their career span. Offices that disallow mistakes ignore the humanity of their staff and push the staff to perfection until they reach burnout. 

Relating to the above point, the same company that scared workers from speaking to management warned individuals against making mistakes. Whenever a writer formatted an article incorrectly or had a small typo in their work, the managers spoke to them ruthlessly. They threatened to cut their workload or fire them if the employee defended themself. A healthy workplace would not punish a staff member for an error. Instead, they would talk through the mistake with the employee and encourage them to learn from it in order to avoid future errors.

11. Unclear Guidelines

Read the employee guidelines once. Do they make sense? No? Read them again. Do they make sense now? Do you understand what the position entails? Clear employee guidelines explain straightforward expectations. Murky guidelines represent confused management or workspaces struggling to clarify what the company stands for or expects from its staff. General or unclear messages also provide a loophole for employers to overwork staff, granted the guidelines don’t explicitly state what the position entails. 

12. Constant Changes to Guidelines

Ever-changing guidelines are another red flag to monitor in the workforce. When the employee handbook changes more often than an iPhone updates, there is an issue. Surprise, surprise, the toxic writing company I worked for, edited its guidelines daily, sometimes multiple times a day, not only confusing writers but expecting them to remain aware of each subtle change or face termination. 

Continuous updates to the rules without alerting the company exhibit an abuse of power. An alternative finds the management team reviewing the guidelines on a weekly or monthly basis and meeting with the staff before changing the fine print. That way, the staff feels secure in their positions and open to change.

13. Cliquey Leadership

Back at the daycare, the school president formed a close relationship with one of the teachers. The two gossiped every day during lunch, flitting their eyes toward that day’s topic of interest. As new workers joined the staff, they noticed the cliquey behavior immediately. To avoid mean girl behavior learned in high school (where it should stay), the staff minded their own business, clocked in, clocked out, and went home. 

Helpful workspaces provide non-cliquey, safe environments where workers can voice issues and grievances without fear of judgment. In cliquey spaces, workers feel left out, which may decrease productivity. Plus, a cliquey workspace harms a business’ reputation. Few people yearn to work for a cliquey, unwelcoming team. People envision green flag workspaces as welcoming homes, eager to involve everyone. 

14. No Training 

Prior to my first day at the daycare, I completed a few online trainings to prepare for my first day in the school. The training explained standard ways to help a misbehaving child. The trainings did not illustrate school-specific rules. So, during my first day in the actual daycare, when a teacher threw me into a room of 26 two-year-olds (without explaining what to do), I panicked—the kids who weren’t screaming chucked toys across the room or fist-fought with each other. I attempted to calm their nerves and tidy the room, yet one person can only do so much in that scenario. 

15. Nepotism

Several family-operated businesses succeed. The issue with nepotism lies in higher-ups extending job offers to unqualified family members just because they’re family. Businesses that hire incompetent family members over top-tier candidates perpetuate an unfair reputation which can lead to lower productivity and a cliquey feel within the workforce.