The Anti-Bullying Lawyer • Speaker • LinkedIn Top Voice • Writer • Activist Leading the Charge for a Safer Future at Work •
If you stay in a toxic workplace, you are providing dishonest feedback and encouraging the company to continue on as if its unhealthy culture is acceptable. Your presence, despite the toxicity, communicates to the company that its behaviour is tolerable and that there's no urgent need for change. By staying there, you inadvertently endorse the toxic environment and enable it. If you want to do your bit to change a company's culture, the best approach is to leave after trying to address the issues you are facing (depending on your circumstances). Here’s why. A workplace unable to retain or attract talented employees will inevitably suffer a decline in productivity. Replacing staff is not just expensive. It's a drain on resources. The costs of recruitment, training, and the loss of institutional knowledge are staggering. Word spreads quickly about toxic workplaces and damages their reputation irreversibly. This ultimately forces leadership to confront the underlying issues. Do you agree? ♻ Repost this. Let's make the future of work safer. #workplacebullying #harassment #work #career #mentalhealth #wellbeing
As well-intentioned as this quote likely is, it seems to be lacking in nuance. People often stay in toxic workplaces not because they are complacent but because they are at a complete loss for suitable alternatives that will meet their financial needs. Given this situation, statements like this can come across as unempathetic and judgemental instead of supportive. I'm sure there are people that this post applies to, but I hope we can avoid generalizations as we work to create better work environments.
Not everybody can up and QUIT. You do know some adults love alone & don't have the thing called a partner that is working to cover the rent. I WISH I had that. if you live ALONE & don't have mommy/daddy supporting you because they are DEAD & if you never had kids so no adult kids to live with. Your comment sounds very immature! You do know rent comes every month? You'd think about quiting when your RENT IS DUE. Unless this person gas 6 months of saving saved. And who has $6k saved? If this A hypothetical person was only making a $1k a month. They would need to have $6k saved for y months income. ! Let's take it to more reality. 3k net a month. $18k saved up How long would it take for a person LIVING ALONE to save $18k IF she saved $100 a month? A long long time. think of other ppl that don't have that safety net of mommy. I miss my mom. I had no idea what I had & she slipped away so very slowly & didn't get alzheimer's disease until 12 days before her death. I'm better now. I depend on ME & Spirit to get me by.
I don't like the idea of blaming employees for upholding a toxic culture. So many people do not have the privilege to leave a job. Let's keep the onus on leadership for doing something about a toxic culture.
So true. But a bit oversimplified. Not everyone can just up and leave a job just because the job is hurting them. It’s almost like telling an abused spouse to just leave. If it were that simple, they would’ve already done it. And on top of that, some people are just tone deaf to feedback and others have a blindspot when it comes to themselves and their own behavior. I once watched a manager go through six executive assistants in 18 months. If that wasn’t feedback, I don’t know what would be. I was an EA for another manager at the time. My manager and the dysfunctional manager shared the same boss. That boss would come to me periodically asking what I thought the problem was. I told him in no uncertain terms it was the dysfunctional managers’s fault. I even gave him several specific examples. And nothing was done. I left after about two years. And I’m told that about two years after that, the dysfunctional manager was exited out of the building. His undoing? Embezzlement. The organization had no problem with him treating employees poorly. They literally did not care what he did. Until he stole money.
I love how everyone is coming out and expressing how well meaning this is, it’s just not that simple. These situations are very much gray. It’s about survival. Fight, flight and freeze. Those who stay are often in that freeze stage, they can’t quite figure out what to do. And then if you add in factors like others have pointed out like race, gender, sexuality etc. it becomes even more complicated. Unfortunately we have yet to reach a utopia where we do not have to put up with toxic workplaces or we can just get up and leave. We need institutions that can help individuals find income or means of survival, while they seek another job. We need laws surrounding workplace bullying and toxicity. We need protection. Because right now as it stands we are asked to CHOOSE between our mental health and our survival.
It would be nice if everyone who was in a toxic workplace could just leave, but that’s like saying that every woman in an abusive relationship should just leave. There are so many reasons why a lot of them can’t. What if you can’t get even an interview anywhere else? What if you’re barely scraping by and can’t accept a job that pays less? There are so many reasons why people can’t just leave.
I get what you are trying to cover here and just want to suggest that there is some need for reflection based on the comments below that already cover some of what I wanted to raise when I saw this. In a simple summary, many do not get free choice to leave their jobs through a variety of harm exposure, life pressures, bills, etc. I would happily have a wider conversation with you about this, my inbox is open.
I wish it were so easy for everyone to make this decision. Given racism, antiLGBT bias, & age discrimination, many employees face significant hurdles getting a new job and do not have the resources necessary to be without a paycheck.
Unfortunately, I have to disagree as an organizational Ombuds. Sharing your employee experience by reporting negative behaviors to HR helps the employee process and may lead to resources but it won’t necessarily lead to changes in the organization. Employees tell me their needs and issues, which I share with senior leadership through anonymized trend reporting. Leadership decides what to do next and often the answer is do nothing or study the issue (same outcome). I work with women leaders who face bullying and incivility to speak up and move on successfully. It’s about sharing your experiences strategically so HR can hear & potentially help so you can create and execute your escape plan that makes the emotional, financial and career transitions easier.
Experienced Business English Coach & Certified PSYCH-K® Facilitator | Empowering Professionals for Personal and Professional Growth
2moWell said, Stefanie.