35 Massive Workplace Red Flags, According To Employees

It’s hard to know what the culture of an organisation is like the moment you join a place. But people have learned to identify subtle signs which accurately indicate whether a particular workplace has a toxic environment. 

#1

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Paychecks delayed.

#2

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I just started a new job a month ago, so I can def chime in….My new boss works 7 days a week and expects her direct reports to do the same. Holding 4 hour long meetings on Sunday. Randomly calling you via google chat.

#3

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My dad once told me, “Never work for someone who cheats on his wife. If he’s willing to do that to the one relationship that should be the most important and sacred in his life, what is he going to do to you?”

Thirty years in business. I found out, Dad was right.

#4

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Monitoring/micromanaging bathroom breaks. I was written up once for a 6 minute bathroom break and I was incredibly sick that whole week. And the restrooms were located in another department.

#5

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Two that come to mind from previous work environments that I ignored for way too long:

—People gossiping about others coworkers or former coworkers behind their backs excessively. I worked one place where some of my colleagues would not stop harping about a dude who’d worked there years ago (like he left 2 years before I even started.) Move on, for Christ sake.

—Favoritism from the boss. When he/she is chummy and friendly with his/her favorites/friends on the team, but kinda chilly with you. Nope.

#6

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“We don’t do sick days here. I come in sick and so can everyone else”. That’s not a FLEX. It can be quite dangerous. Thanks though.

#7

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High turnover. When the majority of employees quit in a year or less, there’s a reason why. Usually it is terrible management.

#8

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Poor guidance followed by punishing you for not meeting goals that were never made clear in the first place.

No support. Treated with impunity if you need support.

#9

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When the thought of going into work on Monday spoils your mood on a Sunday.

#10

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Paying min wage even though they want a college diploma.

#11

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We are family here!

Yes, toxic, crazy family that normal people would go NC with.

#12

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Nobody in the company has gotten a raise in 10 years because the owner says “we are doing bad” yet somehow can still hire more people.

#13

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“We are family”

I find this generally means they think they are more important than your family.

#14

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There are a lot of signs, but some general ones: more of the work goes out to vendors rather than staying in-house, your company doesn’t backfill managerial positions, they start to change the review process, the company “culture” shifts i.e you could have sworn it felt a lot friendlier, but a lot of the people that made it that way are gone.

#15

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I didn’t work at this company but during an interview with the CFO, he told me that I was too good to work there. I took that as a red flag.

#16

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Coworkers trying to take credit for your accomplishments. Had one of those that always tried to pass off my work as their own (luckily boss knew she was pathological liar).

#17

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Someone eats your lunch.

#18

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How people respond when someone can’t work due to an emergency.

Heard my *new coworkers get off the phone and nobody not one had a normal, decent thing to say.

“so and so called and said they got in a car accident” “Uuggh!” “Like.. that’s wierd” “So ur in a car accident and you call here?” She can’t get a ride?”

…. I am staring at these girls like huh? Anybody even ask if she’s okay??? wtf is wrong with ppl smh.

I don’t like or trust all my coworkers in life, sure, but… I’m gonna ask if they are okay, Im gonna be concerned a little.

#19

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I hate when personal boundaries are violated and personal moments of employees are discussed.

#20

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Screaming at each other, sarcasm. Raising voice and then smirking. Gaslighting.

#21

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If they are not understanding about things that happen in your personal life, like a sick child or parent, school closures, your own illness, etc, and you don’t just miss a ton of work without good reason, then it’s time to move on.

I’m not having a workplace make me feel guilty for being a decent father or son.

I understand that there are people who miss a lot of work and then have something major happen. That’s a different situation, you shouldn’t just miss days constantly because you may HAVE to miss work for something. I have worked jobs where I’ve never missed a day, though, and then been made to feel like i shouldn’t have taken time off to be with my sick family. You can kiss my a*s at that point. That time I earned exists for this reason. You’re letting me use it.

#22

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Too many temps means the company doesn’t value it’s workers enough to create full time positions.

#23

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When the assistant manager tells you that a dude touches all the female employees so don’t feel special when it happens to you.

#24

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Lots of fluffy “perks” like team-building exercises, wellness initiatives, and playing games with your Myers Briggs results instead of good pay, career progression, solid benefits, and job security. Feeling good about yourself has a long pathway to follow before it even starts to pay the bills.

#25

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Not giving important information or being vague in a job interview.

#26

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Micromanagement

Immature management

Promises.

#27

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Zero training materials with nitwits as trainers.

#28

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I don’t even know what you’d call this other than outright toxic. I had a boss who just NEEDED a man. Like incredibly smart woman, but all she could think about was landing a husband. She was seeing a guy, he broke up with her via text during working hours, she left work, drove an hour plus to his house and broke into his apartment to confront him. All while facetiming us. That was just one instance of her going crazy. If a single woman applied to our department forget it, that’s competition for the men and she’s not getting hired. She was a terrifying woman.

The job I had after that: I got food poisoning. Never had food poisoning in my life. I thought I was dying and was on the verge of going to the ER. When I went back to work after calling out SHE CALLED ME OUT IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE TEAM for calling off sick. I had never called out before and it turned out it wasn’t food poisoning; my direct supervisor had the stomach flu and gotten me sick. I was already thinking of looking for a new job at that point, but getting yelled at for using my own sick time had me sending the resumes like my life depended on it.

#29

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Consistently promising you a promotion or a raise if you do xyz/extra work and always delaying the said promotion.

#30

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When the entire company strategy is focused on securing the next round of funding and not on long term growth/profitability. Any company that recently did mass layoffs.

#31

x

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Micromanagement

Immature management

Promises.

#32

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If they are using your coworkers as spies to report on you, it’s time to leave.

#33

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“We’re like a family here.” Yeah nah. In my experience, that usually means problems get swept under the rug, drama, excuses for unprofessional behaviour, etc.

#34

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My last job, a co-worker (web developer) lied to our boss about my work (SQL DBA). Nothing said at the time to me. 6 months later, it showed up in my review. Not only that, but the same co-worker wrote sloppy code that allowed a hacker to get in and flood us with email spam and delete some data. She got praised for blocking the spam, but nobody thanked me for identifying the actual data hack, finding her bad code, or checking the logs of what they did.

I got a pay cut. I think they were looking for excuses to save $. Started job hunt immediately. I have a much better job now.

The company owner didn’t know about the hack until I told him during the exit interview.

#35

Turnover and undervaluing their employees’ happiness. Also – if they make excuses for the turnover without being accountable. They kept telling us that turnover was natural during growth. I recently left a job that I was at for six years and it was only until I found happiness at my new company that I realize I was gaslighted and manipulated for six years.

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