INTHEBLACK August 2025 - Magazine - Page 51
adjunct senior lecturer in management
at the University of Tasmania.
“Prolonged periods of stress without sufficient
recovery can lead to burnout, which can then
put the physical system into dysregulation.
The impacts on mental and emotional health
can include, but are not limited to, developing
clinical experiences of depression, anxiety,
and even trauma and PTSD.”
TOXICITY INDICATORS
Signs of a toxic workplace can include
bullying and harassment, poor communication
and a lack of trust. These workplaces are often
characterised by cultures that value
employees only for the work they do, not as
whole people, resulting in problems such
as overwork and a lack of boundaries between
work and life.
“When a culture prioritises completing work
over all else, it translates to people working long
hours — including in the evening and over the
weekends,” Woods says.
“Then not only are we asking them to
contribute a large proportion of their energy
and resources to work, but we’re also taking
away opportunities for them to engage in
activities outside work.”
A variety of social and emotional factors
can contribute to workplace toxicity, says
Dr Michelle McQuaid, a workplace wellbeing
consultant.
“These can range from poor supervisor
support to poor workplace relationships,”
she says. “As a result, we feel like we’re
not being treated with respect and we’re not
getting the support we need to do our jobs
consistently. We feel like we’re being set up
to fail.”
Problems with work design such as high
job demands, understaffing, unfair
remuneration, a lack of recognition and reward,
or mishandled change management can also
create a toxic culture.
“One of the challenges we’re increasingly
seeing in workplaces is that it can feel like
change is being done ‘to us’, not ‘with us’,
and that’s creating a lot of anxiety about job
insecurity,” McQuaid says.
Another factor is poor organisational justice,
which can manifest as favouritism and failing
to accommodate workers’ needs. McQuaid says
questions to ask include: “Do we feel like things
are fair in our workplace? Are some people
receiving opportunities over others? Is there
a bias inherent in our policies, which means
some people get a lot of support and other
groups feel like they’re not being seen and
valued in the ways they deserve?”
TIPS FOR LEADERS
Identifying toxic behaviour in others is more
straightforward than recognising it in oneself.
“It’s easy to point the finger at other people,
and sometimes harder to recognise the fingers
that are pointing back at us,” McQuaid says.
“The simplest way [to find out if individual
behaviour is contributing to toxicity] is to ask
for feedback.”
That feedback can come in the form
of anonymous surveys, pulse checks or regular
engagement assessments.
In instances when employees may be unwilling
to voice their concerns, other signs to look for
are high turnover, absenteeism, disengagement
and an increase in the number of people taking
stress leave.
“These are clues that you need to think about
what you might be contributing to a situation
that is making work harder than it needs to be,”
McQuaid says. “Ask: ‘Does there appear to
be a consistent pattern in which I am the
common factor?’”
If the answer is yes, McQuaid recommends
seeking out coaching or employee assistant
program support to initiate the process of
changing harmful behaviour patterns.
“Even if senior leaders aren’t contributing
to the toxic environment directly, the fact that
they are in some ways making it permissible
by not setting clear boundaries or requiring
accountability means they could benefit from
developing their self-awareness.”
WORKPLACE DETOX
When fixing a dysfunctional team, McQuaid says
it is important to begin by focusing on the
positive before identifying areas of weakness.
“It’s important in a toxic culture to figure out
where the strengths are — not least because
that will help people feel a little safer in that
environment — but also because those strengths
are likely to represent the best return on our effort.”
Implementing social support, encouraging
recovery time after busy periods and initiating
conversations about wellbeing are simple
strategies that managers can adopt to get
the ball rolling.
“Avoid playing a blame-and-shame game
unless it is clearly an instance of something
like bullying or harassment, when appropriate
action should be taken.”
Most people who engage in toxic behaviour
do not do so deliberately, McQuaid says.
“Most of us come to work each day trying
to do good work with good people so we can
go home and feel that that was a day well lived.
Most toxic workplace behaviours arise from
a lack of skills, support or self-awareness.” ■
LISTEN
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an article on how to
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