Toxic work environment: learn how to identify and combat it

Aug 10, 2023

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A toxic work environment negatively affects the performance of a company's employees. In other words, it's a situation that has a huge impact on the company, especially in terms of productivity and motivation.

Fortunately, there are a number of measures that can help combat the problem in the corporate routine. The Human Resources department must remain vigilant in order to identify cases and act as quickly as possible to reverse the situation.

Follow along and understand the characteristics, impacts and possible alternatives for effectively combating a toxic work environment! Happy reading!

What is a toxic work environment?

A work environment with toxic signs is made up of attitudes, behaviors, rules and routines that compromise the quality of life and the well-being of employees.

Therefore, it represents a place that impacts the performance, relationships and functions of the team.

In addition, a toxic environment affects physical and mental health. mentalThis makes professionals feel more stressed, anxiety and demotivation on a daily basis. It's a situation that can even damage the image and credibility of the organization as a whole.

In a toxic work environment, communication is not clear and open, leading to frequent misunderstandings. The leaders and managers, for example, can make attitudes and decisions that undermine trust and increase the general dissatisfaction of the team.

Undoubtedly, this type of situation can even affect business results, leading to a loss of revenue. productivity and, consequently, of profitability. The effects can also alter life outside of work, favoring the increase of layoffs and talent turnover.

Toxic work environment: what are the consequences?

You may have noticed that a toxic work environment has a number of consequences for the company. Here are the main ones:

It shakes the relationship between employee and employer;
Higher probability of accidents at work;
It compromises the company's image in the market;
Fall in productivity;
Loss of quality in the development of products and services;
Difficulty in providing good customer service;
Increased chances of being sued.

On top of everything else, a toxic work environment can have an impact on hiring new talent. This is because many candidates research companies before accepting a job offer. This makes it much harder to get the best professionals on board.

To avoid the problem, it is essential to know how to identify the signs that lead to the situation. These include a lack of positioning on the part of leaders and managers, low employee engagement, constant disagreements, inappropriate behavior and much more.

10 signs of a toxic work environment

Many factors that indicate a toxic work environment can be quite subtle, such as unfair practices, silencing and illegal acts or dangerous. Even so, there are specific signs that help to recognize when there is some kind of problem in the corporate routine.

See below:

Lack of dialog and openness to meetings and group conversations;
Discouraged employees with no energy to perform their duties;
High turnover of professionals in the company;
Constant gossip and criticism among employees;
Employee leave requests;
Absence of empathy between staff and managers;
Relationship and communication problems;
Increased cases of bullying, prejudice, intolerance and discrimination;
Negative influence of leaders on the work routine;
Power games and the exchange of benefits within the company.

If there are any signs of this, it is essential that the HR department adopts efficient measures to deal with the problem. Without this, the company runs a serious risk of losing credibility and trust, especially with business partners, suppliers and investors.

Toxic work environment: how to combat this problem?

As we've mentioned, management needs to define efficient actions to make the work environment more welcoming, harmonious and productive. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to overcome the problem and maintain balance in the workplace. organizational culture. See below!

Perform Integrity Test

Inappropriate and unethical behavior has a direct impact on a poor working environment.

That's why it's essential identify behavioral triggers and prevent risk-generating behaviors for the work environment.

Improving internal communication

Many conflicts start precisely because of failures in communication between employees and also in the exchange of information between the different sectors of the company.

To avoid this situation, it is essential to invest in improving internal communication.

In this sense, management can hold regular meetings, provide healthy dialog, increase interaction and promote integration between departments.

Consider the well-being of employees

One of the main actions to prevent the development of a toxic work environment is to prioritize the quality of life and well-being of employees. A good way to do this is to encourage mental and physical health care practices.

In addition, managers and leaders can be flexible when it comes to employees' working hours. Implementing a bank of hours so that they can leave early on certain days of the week, for example.

Conducting organizational climate surveys

A very interesting tool for assessing the quality of the corporate environment is the organizational climate. With this, it is possible to understand how employees feel in the space and whether they have the confidence to talk openly with other professionals.

The resource can also help management to identify whether there is inappropriate conduct being practiced in the company or even to discover certain toxic situations that are affecting the well-being of the team.

Adopt a feedback culture

Listening to employees' opinions should be one of the main steps in promoting a healthy and harmonious working environment. Another essential practice is feedbackThis can be used to point out the positive and negative points of the professionals' work.

Feedback is also an extremely valuable measure to help the team achieve its goals. goals established by the organization. In this way, employees are clearer about their mistakes and how to follow up in order to boost performance and productivity.

As we have seen, a toxic work environment affects the productivity, well-being and cooperation of the team. For this, company management can establish the measures listed throughout the content, as they are effective in preventing and avoiding the situation in the corporate routine.