Who is responsible for a toxic workplace?

Toxic workplace behavior has been linked to employee burnout, distress, depression, anxiety, and other triggers. In fact, 73% of employees report their intention to leave the job has been fueled by a toxic workplace, and 70% attribute the phenomenon to their burnout.

“Toxic behavior—yelling, manipulating, bullying, undermining others, displaying abusive management style—creates a negatively-charged workplace that triggers reduced efficiency, lack of motivation, desire to leave, or burnout,” Diana Blažaitienė, a remote work expert and founder of Soprana Personnel International, which is a recruitment and personnel rent solutions agency, says. “Such behavior can extend from a real workplace to a virtual one through emails or digital workplace platforms and eventually create an environment that is not conducive to thriving teams.”

How staff contributes to a toxic workplace

Although, in many cases, the toxic behavior starts at the management level, sometimes employees ignite it with certain workplace conduct. The expert says that frequently they do not recognize toxic behavior traits they might be displaying.

“When they feel like their workplace has become toxic and impairs their daily tasks, many employees tend to attribute the issue to their leaders without stopping for a minute to consider whether they might be a part of the problem,” Ms. Blažaitienė maintained. “Every member of a team is responsible for creating an atmosphere that sparks productivity, goal realization, effort, and teamwork.”

The expert pinpoints behavioral patterns on the employee part that might lead to a toxic workplace: feeling victimized but not doing anything about it, refusing to take proactive steps in eliminating toxicity from workplace, passively observing abuse, infusing too much meaning into every feedback or interaction, or creating unnecessary competition with colleagues.

Ms. Blažaitienė, therefore, urges staff to reflect on their workplace behavior and eliminate potential toxic actions. That said, employees shouldn’t attribute all the blame to themselves either.

“As crucial as it is to start the changes within oneself to make the workplace productive rather than demotivating, employees should also be responsible for their mental well-being and identify when the toxic behavior originates from employers so that they could be vocal about it,” she added.