How do you define “toxic” company culture in the current American corporate landscape?

11 comments

1. HR and middle management.

   Literally everything HR and a lot of middle management does is a pain in the ass and unnecessary.

2. Just everything that large businesses do.

3. Any place with the “here, we are not coworkers, we’re family” or something along those lines. IN a sense creating a culture where you have to sacrifice, and feel shamed for putting up your boundaries

   ​

   The obsession with “showing impact” is another one. 5 review meetings for a “OK To Exit this phase” gate slide deck that literally eats 15% of someones work week.

4. Mainly trying to get you to do things beyond what you signed up for. Longer than proposed work weeks, corporate cultures that either require you to stay or heavily frown upon not doing it, requiring you to come in on off days frequently.

   On the other side it’s also workplace toxicity among people. Gossipy people, authoritative bosses, stab you in the back co workers, or just good old fashioned “I’m above you and I’ll stay above you so imma lie about everyone under me till I get a promotion”.

   Bad/uncompetitive pay is another one on the list

5. Overworking employees, lack of adequate break time, pressure to grind, dissuasion from union forming, workplace racism or sexism, workplace harassment, suppression of workers rights, lack of adequate paid leave or insurance, gaslighting, creating environments where workers factionize against each other…

6. “There are no central values besides “make more money than we did last quarter”. The employees are disposable. Our actual core competencies, or even what the company is *for* are disposable. Set a river on fire if it makes the shareholders happy (any ecological promises we make exist to be skirted around). Threaten employees’ jobs so they do unpaid hours. Ignore HR issues until there’s an actual lawsuit pending.” Stuff like that.

7. – [Sexual harassment and casting couch culture masquerading as inclusive](https://www.wired.com/story/ellen-pao-the-perverse-incentives-that-help-incels-thrive-in-tech/)

   – Noisy, open workspaces in fields that necessitate prolonged stretches of pure focus

   – PMCs, the email caste

   https://www.reddit.com/r/valve/comments/bwxp6g/i_worked_at_valve_a_few_years_back_and_i_could/

   https://www.reddit.com/r/valve/comments/8zmp07/former_valve_employee_tweets_his_experience_at/

8. One reliable measure for me of a toxic company culture is how they react to downtime caused by third-party elements. Something like waiting for a report from another team, shipment from a supplier, etc. Pretty much things not caused by the team, worker, or the company. A competent manager would either have supplement work, which should not have any hard deadline, to fill that gap or accept it as an unofficial break.

   A management that gives you work for the sake of work or has some hard deadline for supplemental work, is imo a sign of someone who doesn’t know how to manage or understand humans need breaks.

9. Mostly companies doing stupid shit, and allowing a toxic workplace. I quit my last job because they allowed all the other drivers to pick whichever truck they wanted, and then everyone got the attitude of “Leave it for him,” if they start to break down.

   I was late for my pickups **so many times**, because they would break the trucks to the point they had to go the shop, but instead of taking them to the shop, they would just bring them back to the yard, take **all the other trucks** for their runs, and then leave the broken one for me to deal with.

   Eventually they left a truck with a broken 5th wheel, that had been broken for almost a week, because I had taken some time off, and told me to just deal with it, and take it to the shop **after** my run was done.

   I just left.

10. As a set of features found in the workplace. Many are immediately and obviously negative while others fit the phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. This list is far from complete.

    Treating employees as expendable drones rather than people. Not obeying rules and regulations regarding things like breaks and overwork. Intentionally shorting employees on hours to avoid things like benefits. Trying to force employees to quit by cutting their hours to barely anything instead of just actually firing them. Paying employees the bare minimum while the execs all get to LARP as scrooge McDuck each payday. Piling more and more work on the good employees eventually overwhelming them and forcing them to quit while not dealing with the shitty employees. Failing to adequately reward good work. Failing to put a stop to actual cases of sexism, racism, workplace harassment, bullying, and other such things. Gaslighting employees for pretty much any reason. Doublespeak by basically anyone in the management chain, this is especially bad in call centers. D.I.E. and other “woke” culture/ideology being prominent and considered critically important to the company. Lying and taking credit for other people’s work is a viable way to get a raise or promotion even if the company ought to know you’re lying. Encouraging employees to go after each other and tattle tale for even the smallest most insignificant “infractions”. Copious amounts of bad motivational posters basically everywhere. Mandatory daily “pep rallies” or whatever it is where everyone has to be there, do dances, and chant or else. “This place sucks to work at, the pay is lousy, and we regularly make it worse for you? I know what’ll cheer you up! PiZzA pArTy!!!”

11. Depends.

    There’s the kind that is unrealistic expectations, like 10 hour days and regular weekend work, etc

    Or there’s the kind where employees are just unhappy and acting out on it.

    I’ve experienced both, neither is good.