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Working in a toxic environment can be a drain on your mental and physical health.

Why it matters: A toxic work environment affects your overall health, leading to stress, anxiety, and even physical issues.

It diminishes job satisfaction and can harm your performance, limiting your career progression. Over time, it can lead to burnout, damaging your motivation and well-being. The negativity may also spill over into your personal life, impacting relationships and quality of life.

But here’s the thing: it’s all relative.

What you consider toxic may be considered normal for somebody else.

For Example:

Let’s say you’re a SWE at a Fortune 100 company. Things are stale/boring, you’re looking for something new and exciting. You decide to apply to a startup & get the job.

You quickly find out you’re working more than 40hrs a week. Chances are you’re going onsite more days than not. You can’t “hide” because everything is so visible. There’s more pressure to deliver as well.

You decide this environment is too toxic for you so you end up leaving.

But if you were to ask someone else who’s well versed in the startup world, then they just think this is all business as usual.

The same goes on for roles in the banking sector. You can be a SWE with a great background, but it’s a different beast being a SWE on Wall Street or a company like Netflix.

But if you talk to folks that are usued to working there, again, business as usual.

So what may be toxic for you, may be “normal” for someone else. Only you can decide.

That being said, here are some ways to determine if you’re in a toxic work environment 👇:

1. Poor Communication

• You don’t have access to as much information as you’d want. There’s also a “top down” approach where leadership may not consider employees’ voices.

• A lot of contradictory. One manager or leader says this, another says that. None of them are on the same page about a lot of instances.

2. High Turnover

• If it’s a revolving door, that’s a sign you’re not the problem.

• If upper management & executive leadership starts resigning, that’s how you know something’s up.

3. Negative Leadership

• Your manager is controlling everything you do and has a huge emphasis on KPIs/metrics regardless of your production.

• Favoritism, double standards, or ignoring certain employees’ concerns are common.

• No one is accountable. When something goes wrong, they point the finger at someone else.

4. Lack of Support for Employee Well-being

• High stress levels, unreasonable workloads, and lack of work-life balance are common.

• Lack of opportunities for advancement into management or as an IC.

5. Toxic Behavior from Colleagues

• Your coworkers/managers gossip and undermine you any chance they get.

• Just like in high school there are cliques that take over the workplace.

6. Unrealistic Expectations

• You’re working long hours without recognition or compensation.

7. Lack of Appreciation

• You’re working hard, you’re being productive, but there is little-to-no recognition for you (or others!)

• You’re are not encouraged to innovate, you gotta do things their way or the highway

8. Fear-based Culture

• People are scared to raise their voices about any concerns in fear of retaliation or being black balled

9. Poor Work-Life Balance

• You’re doing the job of multiple people for the price of one

• You’re expected or required

10. Physical Symptoms of Stress

• You’re always tired or out of energy

• Anxiety, headaches, etc.

Bottom Line:

If you’re in a toxic work environment, get the hell out of there.

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If you’re looking for some job search / career advice, you can click below:

I also put together a quick guide that you can read at your pace below: