Workplace toxicity rears its ugly head once again as more allegations of toxic working environments take headlines; this time Jimmy Fallon is the accused. In a recent article by Rolling Stone, both past and current employees discussed the toxic work culture fostered by The Tonight Show host. “Show business” is not the only offending industry in the news; Tech’s Elon Musk is also catching flak for his bad boss ways once again. Sadly, many employees work in fear-fueled environments like these, and “bad bosses” are not always aware of how their behavior affects work culture.
In the case of Fallon, employees revealed that the overall “glum environment” impacted their mental health. While Musk is consistently making news for his erratic behaviors like mass firing, denying severances, and threatening employees in several ways. These two examples of “bad bosses” may seem extreme to some, but they are common for many professionals who have experienced toxic behavior in the workplace before. Why does this matter?
MIT Sloan conducted research looking into factors contributing to The Great Resignation and found that employees were about 10X more likely to quit a job because of a toxic work environment rather than leave due to compensation. For HR leaders, employee retention is at the forefront of job priorities, and working in a toxic environment affects this. Not only that, but word of mouth of a toxic work culture makes it much harder to recruit new employees. No one wants to work for “The World’s Worst Boss”. How do you identify a toxic workplace?
It is not too hard to notice if your workplace fosters a toxic environment. Often, workers seem negative, disengaged, stressed, or burnt out. At times, it may seem like mass chaos because of rampant gossip and role confusion. And of course, there is the high turnover rate. After identifying the problem, how does one repair it?
According to Joe Mull, workplace expert and author, the first step is to own the mistake and apologize. It is also important to work on creating a culture of safety. However, in some cases, you may need to consult outside HR professionals for more insight on how to handle the situation.
