Toxic work environment here

Eight warning signs of a toxic work environment, from my experience, EM has hit them all due to a significant lack of competent leadership that has permeated virtually every pore of the company. Here’s my rundown and scoring:

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ high turn over - so many disappear without ever knowing what happened to them. If not for LinkedIn, you might not even realize they’d left. It certainly isn’t something that is shared or communicated amongst the group. More like hushed fodder about those who had the courage to jump and get away. Or, were quietly kicked off the island. Amazingly, they all manage to survive?!

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ lack of transparency for a significant portion of staff. Most frequent realization of just how unaware you are comes when after decades of being well ranked - you are suddenly placed in an NSI with zero forewarning. Maybe it’s your age? Or, that time you provided feedback to your manager? Or, maybe the sticky snack someone saw you sneak at your We3 desk? Except for a rare few, you may never fully comprehend just how or why your career launched - sank - or was stuck in neutral regardless of how hard you hit the gas.

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ perhaps not gossip amongst your peers (you never really know who you can trust) but your significant other definitely knows ALL the batshit crazy dynamics of your “team” and grossly incompetent manager. They aren’t always as keen as discussing it ad nauseam like you are, though.

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ finger pointing from top down happens frequently, especially amongst the most incompetent managers that cast / deflect blame if they find themselves in the spotlight discussing a topic of which they have minimal understanding. If they’re a real a$$hat, it can be super fun to watch them squirm, but whatever you do - don’t wait too long before you jump in and look rescue them. Amongst peers - finger pointing might not occur until knowledgeable other feedback cycles - and then the gloves really come off. Grudges are seldom forgotten, even beyond rank cycles.

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ passive-aggressive behavior is both expected and delivered when your space at the trough is dictated by how well you navigate a landscape peppered with Type A personalities. Not everyone can be a winner.

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ nothing demotivates a quality employee faster than the cold hard realization that they are not being treated fairly, their hard work bears no reward (or is attributed to others) and unless a miracle occurs, they’re perpetually stuck in career quicksand. Short term memory loss / amnesia is especially helpful if you are not tapped as a Hi-Po and want to survive a career at EM.

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ low team morale happens when you’re exhausted from fighting the quicksand, not knowing who you can really trust - and are surrounded by people who feel the same way and just don’t care anymore. The young ones are Tiggers, but soon morph to Eeyores: negativity personified. It is quite depressing to witness just how rarely the good, competent people come out on top.

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ covert hostilities may exist and surface with anyone who may be ranked against you, regardless of division. You may not even realize why someone is such a jerk until you understand they are simply trying to preserve their career. Undermining, back stabbing are all par for the course in a forced rank environment. Re: hostilities across divisions - EM is so siloed, the left hand seldom has any clue what the right hand is doing. Every gerbil furiously running on their own wheel, in their own isolated universe.

What we say our core values are, and what we actually value are subject to interpretation. Stocks are up, so clearly toxic environments = green. 💰

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