How a toxic work culture can affect your company

In the work life, company culture can be one of the push and pull factors in the decision making process for an employee to stay or to leave, affect morale, and in turn, performance.

But, what exactly is culture? It refers to the values and behaviours that make an organisation unique, and affect the working environment for the employees.

To avoid manifesting a toxic company culture, leaders can put in place positive values, policies, and practices and incorporate a zero-tolerance towards bad bahaviours. If not, the company might encounter the following situations.

Minimal work is done

When a company has a toxic culture, employees may not be driven to work hard and achieve business goals.

Employees come in, do the least, and are not concerned if targets are not met. They may avoid helping colleagues and push away extra work that is beyond their job scope even if it can help the team.

Little trust within teams

Poor company culture can also grow a negative working environment where employees distrust their colleagues and are afraid to ask for help.

In other forms, employees can also hide information and avoid lending their support in projects and assignments.

When there is distrust within the company, the staff do not feel their workplace is a safe place to be, and it can affect their morale and mental health.

Lack of communication

With low positive employee engagement, it can often lead to a lack of communication as the employees did not have the chance to build a bond and trust with each other.

With poor communication, the different teams are unable to leverage each other's' strengths and resources to get the job done.

Other adverse outcomes of poor communication are unsolved work conflicts, unfounded rumours surrounding employees, and office politics that can lead to tension and the formation of unhealthy cliques and groups in the office.

Bad bosses

There is a fine line between a bad boss and a tough one. When the company culture endorses bad boss behaviour, it can lead to a toxic management style and a stressful working environment.

These actions can include shouting at employees, shaming and naming mistakes in front of the team, or even open confrontational acts.

When a manager or leader does not display behaviours that are aligned with a positive company culture, it can cause employees to leave or grow resentment and perpetuate a toxic environment.