- A HUGE 75% of the UK’s employees say they have experienced a “toxic workplace culture.” That’s according to statistics from a 2023 study by Oak Engage.
Let’s have a look at the summary of the numbers:
- Of the three quarters of UK employees who’ve experienced a toxic workplace culture, 87% say it affected their mental health
- 33% of those who’ve experienced a toxic workplace culture say it was caused by middle managers
- 28% say it was caused by other employees
- 27% say it was cause by leaders (C Suite)
- A significant 61% of employees say they’ve resigned from a job as the result of workplace culture issues
- Notably, 73% of employees who’ve experienced burnout, say a toxic workplace culture has contributed to it
- Feeling belittled in front of other employees (56%)
- Bullying (42%)
- Being forced to work long hours (32%)
- Harassment (26%)
What makes a positive workplace culture?
Of the minority who said they have never experienced a toxic workplace culture, here are some of the positive things they said:
- 73% feel a sense of belonging to their organisation
- 67% say their leaders and managers are transparent
- 71% say they feel appreciated for their work
- Importantly, 78% said they plan to stay in their job for the foreseeable future
So what’s what employees consider important to not experiencing a toxic workplace culture. But what about business leaders?
We spoke to several business leaders in the UK to get their take on what a toxic workplace culture actually is and how they avoid it in their own businesses.
Simon Stirling, Direct2Florist
Simon Stirling is the Managing Director of Direct2Florist. He told us:
“Everyone will define a toxic workplace culture differently. But in my view, it’s a workplace that stifles creativity, makes people feel unmotivated or undervalued, rewards the wrong behaviours and where there’s a lack of trust between senior management and more junior members of the team.
Kevin Crouthers, Stone Synergy
Kevin Crouthers is the Director of Stone Synergy. Like Simon Stirling, he feels transparency and communication are key to maintaining a positive workplace culture. He told us:
“Personally I think a toxic workplace is just anywhere that people are treated badly, where they’re not trusted and where there may even be bullying or poor HR practices in place.
- Being open and transparent as a business – our team can talk to us about anything
- Hiring people we genuinely feel will be a good fit – so people who want to work hard and contribute and who want to see their colleagues succeed
- Adopting a mentality of treating our staff the way we would to be treated in a workplace
Lotty Lo, Dancewear Central
Lotty Lo, of Dancewear Central, believes the focus should be on fostering a positive workplace culture as opposed to focussing on the toxic. She told us:
“We focus less on avoiding a toxic workplace and more on breeding a positive one. And for us, a positive workplace is one where everyone feels valued, fairly compensated, feels like they’re contributing and feels as though others around them are also contributing.
We think the most important thing to remember is that senior leaders in a business are not the ones who ultimately get to simply dictate what the culture of a workplace is. This will come down to everyone in the organisation to some degree. But how the most senior people in the business behave will influence it heavily, I think.
So we make an effort to ensure senior business leaders are visible, are working in close quarters to other members of the team and are acknowledging the efforts of the whole organisation. We also really like to think that people will come and talk to us about anything.
Our staff retention is excellent but we’re always striving to improve.”
Measuring Your Culture
I suppose it’s a tricky thing to measure toxicity in your culture.
But based on the Oak Engage survey, there are indicators that your culture is not toxic. Things like high staff retention and so forth.
So perhaps the best way to avoid toxic workplace cultures is to focus on improving things like staff retention and consistently seeking to make people want to stay.
