Toxic workplaces can ruin your organization – here’s how to combat the issue
Toxic employees can cost your organizations dearly – in terms of money, productivity and brand. A study from HBS found that workers subjected to a toxic environment suffered a 38% decrease in the quality of their work, with 12% of staff opting to walk rather than be victimized by malicious management.
But what exactly constitutes toxic behaviour? And what can you do to stop in its ugly tracks? We spoke to Sarah Jenner, executive director at Mindful Employer, and speaker at our upcoming webinar – Dealing with Difficult Staff.
“Toxic behaviour can be many things,” she told HRD Canada. “There’s obvious behaviour, such as remarks or demeaning innuendoes, which can make colleagues feel uncomfortable or attacked. Then there’s issues such as circulating offensive pictures, making intimidating phone calls, sending bullying emails and, finally, workplace sexual abuse.”
Each of the incidents above are grounds for a harassment claim in Ontario. However, apart from these obvious ones, there are a few external behaviours that could be considered toxic if they impact upon productivity and employees’ work.
Sarah regaled us with her own personal story of a toxic workplace, revealing how a manager once rebuked her in an unprofessional way.
“The person in question would tell myself, and my other co-workers, that we were incompetent and easily replaceable in front of other managers and even clients. Now, what my boss was saying may well have been true – but there’s a time and a place for such criticism.
“The way it was conducted, in such a public setting, and the language that was used had a negative impact upon my work. I would consider that to be toxic behaviour but not really grounds for a harassment complaint. There’s a continuum of toxic behaviour where some are very clearly worthy of a harassment claim, whilst others are issues that need to be addressed internally.”
Seventy-eight per cent of workers claimed their commitment to a company diminished after facing toxic behaviour, with 63% saying they’ve missed out on worktime by simply trying to avoid the menacing colleague. But what are the warning signs that a bad apple is hiding in your staff base?
“Watch your workers,” added Sarah. “Look to see how they interact with the ‘toxic’ individual. Do they avoid them? Do they physically shrink around them? Do they avoid eye contact? If an employee actually approaches you and discloses an instance when they’ve been the subject of toxicity in the office, take action.”
So, what should you do address these toxic behaviours? And what tricky legal issues can arise from interpersonal conflict?
