Organisations claim that they value their people. With the pandemic and its impact on working conditions, mental health challenges at the workplace have moved into a new light.
With buzzwords such as “purpose-driven,” sustainability, social responsibility, mindfulness and other, businesses seek to attract people and demonstrate care. In consequence, eager followers of new work concepts have created flatter hierarchies for more employee involvement, work-life balance programmes, yoga classes for staff, colourful open creativity spaces to encourage casual colleague encounters, team lunches and creative away-days in the name of employee wellbeing. But unfortunately, reality in many organisations still tells a different story.
In fact, in the shadow of the ever so mindful work environment toxic cultures still prosper where poor communication, the inability to solve conflict, unwanted behaviours and managers not “walking the talk,” are the norm.
Especially management styles that involve bullying are still common in organisations where the cultural mandate protects those in power, where money drives ethics, and where accountability does not exist.
Bullying is a sustained form of toxic behaviour and psychological abuse that can take forms such as:
- Unfair treatment.
- Making employees look stupid in public.
- Excessive micromanagement, overbearing supervision or other misuse of power or position.
- Ignoring or excluding employees.
- Giving unachievable tasks or ’setting employees up to fail.
- Spreading malicious rumours or gossip.
- Giving meaningless tasks or unpleasant jobs.
- Making belittling remarks, shaming, and blaming in front of others.
- Undermining the integrity.
- Withholding information deliberately.
- Undervaluing employee´s contribution –not giving credit where it is due.
- Exclusion or victimisation.
- Unwelcome sexual advances – touching, standing too close, display of
offensive materials, asking for sexual favours, making decisions based on sexual advances being accepted or rejected.
Last year the global business consultancy McKinsey[1] published a study which revealed that toxic behaviour is the single largest predictor of negative employee outcomes, including burn-out symptoms apart from depression, loss of appetite, anxiety, and low self-esteem. According to the survey, every fourth person interviewed confessed to be exposed to toxic workplace behaviour. Selected questions from this dimension included agreement with the statements “My manager ridicules me,” “I work with people who belittle my ideas,” and “My manager puts me down in front of others.” Superiors are identified as abusers in 60-80 percent of these cases of bullying. Characteristics such as narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy are traits that commonly help those toxic individuals “flush to the top” with the support of their managerial peers. To protect themselves from toxic superiors, employees will start disengaging. Moreover, when distressed and under fear they will not show up, they won´t contribute and they will stop caring. “Quiet quitting” is a phenomenon which leads to low performance and increasing attrition rates that hamper business profits. According to McKinsey, quiet quitting leads to “unprecedented levels of employee turnover” and costs countries billions. Consequently, businesses have a difficult stand when trying to address rising burn-out and depression among their staff and “yoga” their way out with well-meant wellbeing initiatives. Unless they make systemic changes and address toxic behaviour in their organisation, these interventions are bound to fail. Only when toxic behaviour levels are low, wellbeing initiatives will generate the expected impact on employee motivation and engagement, so McKinsey.
Within in mind, the most powerful way for businesses to promote healthy organisations and committed teams is to address unwanted behaviours at the root and do not let toxic leaders get away with their behaviour. Regular evaluations and actively seeking feedback from employees on leadership effectiveness via surveys help organisations to gain an insight on their organisational culture. Management Boards and company shareholders should regularly assess whether leaders’ model positive behaviour they want to see in their employees. Are always they a good role model? Are they unambiguous in their communication? Have they clarified role and responsibilities with each employee and how they fit into the wider picture of the organisation? Are they giving regular constructive feedback so that employees know exactly what they must do to do better? Do they ensure that unwanted behaviours such as gossip, harassment, humiliation are being discouraged and sanctioned immediately? Do you they praise when praise is due? Do they provide the right working environment, tools, and resources for their employees so that they can perform well? Do they listen closely to their employees? Are they making time and provide space to show respect for their concerns? Do they always act with integrity and confidentiality?
Solid company code of conduct policies and confidential feedback and reporting systems where employees can report toxic behaviour without fear of reprisal support the health of the organisation.
Employees of a toxic owner manager in a small company tend to be more exposed and with little organisational support to hold onto. They will have to assume a positive intent and tap into their own emotional intelligence to raise the issue with their superior and have a clear conversation, objective, calm and with professional demeanour and not fall into toxic behaviour themselves. Important to understand that the management style of their boss is not a reflection of their own behaviour but that of their boss. What seems to be “true” to a toxic boss is not a fact. Often insecurity is at the core of toxic behaviours, employees who recognise that can try to shift perspective and, in a conversation, explain how the actions of a bully impacts on their work performance. Sometimes bullies are not aware how their behaviour impacts on others. Building support networks within the organisations with colleagues who deal with similar situations and seeking HR advice are some of the coping strategies. In extreme cases, employees should seek legal support.
Good leaders know that great performance requires their employees to have the mental energy, concentration and motivation combined with appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience to do well. They know that individual wellbeing is intrinsically linked to organisational outcomes such as productivity, efficiency, financial success, and employee retention. They understand individual wellbeing influences future employee engagement and changes in employee engagement overall as employees are more likely to see their workplace as positive, productive, and engaging.
To assist leaders to foster healthy organisations and combat primary sources of distress, absence and staff turnover, the UK Health and Safety Executive for example has identified standards that need to be addressed[2].
These standards cover six key areas of work design:
- Demands – this includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment.
- Control – how much say the person has in the way they do their work.
- Support – this includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues.
- Relationships – this includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour.
- Role – whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles.
- Change – how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation.
The successful management of these standards supports individual wellbeing of employees and the creation of a healthy organisation longterm.
[1] McKinsey Health Institute Employee Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey 2022, findings available https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/addressing-employee-burnout-are-you-solving-the-right-problem {accessed 30 November 2023}