In our article last week on whether a full return to office is ideal for the post-pandemic office,it seems that some employers are still wondering why their best talents are leaving in high numbers amidst the pandemic. Perhaps now is a good time to self-reflect and consider whether your organisation showcases any of the below practices that may deem your work culture dysfunctional and toxic:

1) Professional Hazing

This refers to having the newcomers or the junior workers pay their dues as a “cost of entry”. In other words, younger staff are often given the full load of grunt work as some twisted kind of co-opt tax to pass down the tradition by the same employees who were hazed when they first entered the company. This is especially prominent in Asian work cultures where there is severe deference to authority and hierarchy e.g. Korean workers being compelled to attend drinking sessions with their bosses after work and the youngest Japanese workers being the first to arrive and last to leave the workplace. Singapore is no exception to this. In fact, an Inclusion Index released in 2019 by Kantar reported that Singapore ranked second-highest between Brazil and Mexico for workplace bullying amongst a survey of 14 countries across 24 industries. Such hazing is toxic as there is no clear system to track workload amongst the employees and some may be overburdened disproportionately as compared to others, leading to burnout. Managers may also tend to rely on vague passive-aggressive communication or criticism to keep their subordinates in line and discredit high performers by nitpicking on small issues to diminish their credibility.

2) The Family myth

In addition to the above deference to authority work culture, the seemingly innocuous “family-like” work culture also suggests that there is a lack of professional boundaries. When disagreements arise,rank-pulling and bootlicking practices take precedence over making objective decisions for the benefit of the organisation. Guilt-tripping, emotional manipulation, and sexism ranked high on the list of problems generated by a toxic “family-like” patriarchal work culture. Furthermore, there could even be rampant gaslighting and having double standards by the management itself.

3) Leaders are told what they want to hear and see what they want to see

Some leaders embrace the hustle culture without a clear purpose on the big picture and reject any suggestion of impaired judgment. These leaders themselves may be perpetuating the dysfunctionality in their own workplace but remain blissfully unaware.

As evident in a report by Today, when any of these signs are present, toxic and dysfunctional work culture is salient:

• Favoritism: Certain employees receive special treatment and are not held to rules that apply to everyone else, and given opportunities not because of their abilities.

• Fear and harassment: Bullying behaviour and harassment in various forms are tolerated. Employees constantly fear being rebuked or fired. Communication is one-way and top-down and there is no healthy debate.

• Bad behaviour: Employees compete rather than collaborate and engage in cutthroat behaviour to get ahead. There is no courtesy and respect but malice and negativity.

• Lack of development: Management does not see the value of training and developing employees.

• Working in silos: There is no information sharing to help employees do their jobs. The organisation is very compartmentalised and one department does not know what the others are doing.

• Lack of accountability: When there are transgressions, they are ignored. There are no consequences for rule-breaking and in fact, rule breakers may be rewarded

What do you think of such common toxic and dysfunctional practices in the workplace? What can you do to make your workplace a more conducive environment to support and nurture your talents?