13 More Warning Signs of a Toxic Work Environment
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Companies and their interviewers send off signals you may be stepping into a toxic environment. Here are 13 more. At the beginning of the video, I mentioned an earlier video I did.
00:00 Introduction
00:46 Constantly reschedule and when they reschedule
01:30 Staff turnover/pace of change
02:16 Who’s dominating the interview?
02:53 Conflicting information
03:45 The disengaged interviewer
04:29 Lack of workplace diversity and limited career path
05:12 Negative or aggressive body language
05:40 Lack of transparency
06:23 Speaking poorly of colleagues and peers
06:43 They’re dismissive of your concerns
07:26 They are stressed or miserable
07:43 They pressure you
08:19 Outro
00:00
Hi. I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, and people hire me for no BS career advice globally. That can involve a job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, help with a workplace issue or a career transition. Really anything that relates to the lifecycle of you and your career. A while back, I did a video about signals or warning signs that you may be stepping into a toxic work environment. And there were things I didn’t cover in that video that I want to do here. I’ll have a link to it in the show notes so you can cover those points. But for today, I’m going to bring up 13 more.
00:46
And the first one is, did they reschedule your interview multiple times and are they doing it at 4am, 1am, 11pm? This is what they’re going to be like once
you’re on board. They’re going to send you messages and expect responses quickly in the middle of the night. And just recognize they’re supposed to be on good behavior! But needing to reschedule multiple times may indicate that they lack resources. They’re overworked and overwhelmed. And they’re communicating when they can which is at ridiculous hours of the day or night. So recognize that is one possibility.
01:30
The second thing is look at turnover or change in their organization. How many people are transitioning out of the organization and how long are they lasting? Remember, LinkedIn is a great tool for that. But I also want you to ask, don’t hesitate to ask what happened to your predecessor. And when they say ‘Oh, they love for a better opportunity, remember one of the things that may have made that a better opportunity was working for this person. Anyone would be better than this working for this person. So ask about the size, the dynamics, what others have said about the role after they leave. Find these people on LinkedIn because you can do that.
02:16
Third thing I’ll bring up is, when you’re having an interview, it tends to be one person who dominates the conversation, particularly about some of the tough questions. Whether you’re on camera, or in person, they seem to be looking to this one person to answer the tough questions. So recognize who’s dominating the room and whether or not people feel inhibited to speak in their presence. Because if that happens, this is the person who may be your biggest headache once you’re on board.
02:53
Next is you’re getting different information from different people about the work environment, your role, and the demands that are gonna be placed upon you. Years ago, when I still did recruiting, I had someone flown in for a senior position with a Midwestern bank. And of the three people he met with, two of them represented different constituencies that he’d be working with that had completely opposite views of what the role would be. And he came back to me and said, ‘I don’t want to work in this environment where they are not on the same page about what they’re going to want to expect from me. And they’re both very clear, you have to serve me. So I can’t take this job.’ And recognize that if that happens to you, they’ve got to sort it out. You can’t fix it for them as an outsider stepping in. This battle has been going on for a long time.
03:45
Next is the disengaged interviewer. They’re on their phone the entire time without explanation. And I say without explanation, because sometimes, if they tell you, ‘we’ve been having technical issues, and I’m just getting texts from people that are giving me status updates that I need to monitor. I apologize.’ And they’re looking at square in the eye as they’re speaking. But at some point, if it happens too frequently, I have the ability to say ‘Would it be better if we picked up at another time or had this conversation on another occasion, because I understand, if I were in your shoes, I’d want to monitor this.’ And if they try and push through, and they’re still on their phone, that’s a signal sometimes.
How To Spot A Toxic Workplace (Part 1)
04:29
Next is the lack of diversity in the environment. So look at the people on your calendar. Are they all of one group, one age, one ethnicity, and recognize that the impact of that can be and this is the next thing, lack of a career path for someone who’s different? You know, and this is not just simply about old white guys like me, but it could be about people of any ethnic group, any gender, any specific organization where one group tends to dominate. Sometimes they look out for their own. And thus you have to go on LinkedIn and take a look at the patterns there and see how it plays out.
05:12
Next is a negative or aggressive body language. Do they do the thing about the crossed arms, do they avoid eye contact, they seem to have a tense posture? And this can all signal a difficult environment to work in, as would making insensitive or inappropriate comments, or being disrespectful of people, or having a dismissive attitude toward people.
05:40
Next is the lack of transparency. If the interviewer is vague or evasive, about policies and culture, let alone about the position, this can be a problem for you later on. Recently, I had someone interview for a C-suite position. And he was in a situation where he was meeting with someone who was screening for the role to whom he might ultimately report. And when he asked about role, responsibilities, and expectations, he was greeted with, ‘we’ll get to that if we’re interested. Excuse me? Like, you want me to be a chief for a role, and you’re not willing to tell me about the job so I could do my homework? Give me a break.
06:23
Another signal is they speak poorly of their colleagues or management. And if they’re constantly complaining about their superiors, it could indicate they have no authority to really affect things; they’re getting dictated to. And that’s going to get passed down to you.
06:41
They’re dismissive about any concerns you have about the corporate culture. And I raised this because there’s so much information available online and sometimes if you ask about, ‘you know, there’s a lot of stuff online talks about such and such as being an issue that drives people out the door,’ and then they flip it to you as ‘well, I don’t see if that way. Is this a problem for you?’ And you need to respond by saying, ‘I don’t know yet. I’m trying to ask you about itx because this is something that it’s an obvious red flag to anyone who has read it. Talk to me about it,’ and they seem to dismiss your concerns. Well, that’s a signal of a problem.
How To Spot A Toxic Workplace (Part 2)
07:26
They seem stressed, miserable. They’re overly critical or negative. Who wants to work for someone like that?
07:33
And the last point I’m going to raise is, they’re pressuring you. You have an offer. They want to have a decision on the spot or within 24 hours. You’re not being allowed to think about it. There’s a message in there. And they can come up with an excuse, like, ‘we’ve got someone else who’s interested, and we don’t want to lose them. So we want to have a decision within 24 hours from you.’ ‘Well, I understand that. And this is a decision that’s gonna affect me and my family for the next three to five years of our lives. So I want to make sure I’m making a good choice and circle back to you with questions I have. Give me a little time.’ If they’re unwilling to do that, recognize that’s a signal for you that there could be a problem in the organization.
08:19
So those are a few things I want to raise with you. I hope you found this helpful. If you did, and you’re watching on YouTube, share it leave a comment, click the like button, do something that lets people know it was worthwhile. Also, I mentioned to you, visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us. There you can schedule time for a paid coaching session with me, if you want to evaluate me further, you can schedule time for a free discovery call because I want to help you.
08:46
There’s also my blog which has thousands of posts there that you can watch, listen to or read that will help you. Also get information about my books and guides. Again, a lot there to help.
08:59
Lastly, connect with me on Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Have a terrific day and most importantly, be great!
Recovering from a Toxic Workplace Environment
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2500 episodes.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
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