As an employer, you have a lot to consider in keeping your workforce content. You need competitive salaries and benefits, open lines of communication, and a company culture that promotes growth and positivity. If your company culture becomes more toxic than productive, nothing else that you offer will make a difference to your unhappy employees.
Recognizing a Toxic Workplace
If you’ve never had a functioning culture, you might find it challenging to see what is actually contributing to the negativity. For those who used to have a thriving culture, the evidence is easier to find.
Instead of a team focus, where everyone is dedicated to the same cause, you might feel a noticeable dip in morale with employees taking on a more selfish mindset. Rumors run rampant as gossip spreads in and out of cubicles, without anyone stopping to consider the implications.
Perhaps it was a change in leadership that brought in a manager with a stricter view of the workforce than their predecessors. Rather than engaging in open dialogue, they prefer to command what will and won’t be done. As a result, employees are taking more days off and, their mental health is suffering.
Another factor could be something completely out of your control. Economic downturns or upswings in business can cause longer hours and increased stress. A once-positive environment can be drained by the pressures to boost performance or meet quotas.
Sometimes, it can even come down to one toxic employee who is like a poison that spreads to everyone in the office.
Fixing Your Workplace ASAP
The key to overcoming a toxic environment is fixing it as soon as you can. The first step is determining the issue behind it – whether it’s an employee, downturns in business, new management, etc. Once you know, develop a solution and share it with your team so they can see your dedication to them.
Possible solutions include getting rid of the employee or manager who’s causing issues for everyone else. Maybe you need to reach out to a staffing agency to assist in extra team members during a particularly busy season. Whatever you decide, talk to your employees and don’t stop the conversations. This open line of communication will help you from falling into a toxic environment again.
Hire the Right Team
Our employment agency delivers the best and most qualified talent in office positions, manufacturing, light industrial operations, and warehouse work. We know you need more than bodies, and we’re here to give you what you need to succeed. Trust Workbox with your staffing needs today.
