When you look at any healthy work environment, all of them have a few significant things in common: The entire team is happy, supportive and producing the best work possible. Another thing you’ll find is that morale is exceptionally high. But the exact opposite is true of a toxic work environment. The morale is much lower, and no one wants to be there. So productivity, the team and your business suffer drastically.

A toxic work culture can ruin a business. It suffocates creativity, stifles growth and is downright miserable to be in. While creating this environment is much easier than fixing it, the first major hurdle leaders need to take is identifying the source of the toxicity. No matter who or what causes it, not correcting it comes with consequences. Often, it can even cost you some of your most valuable team members. That’s why fixing a toxic work culture is imperative.

What Causes A Toxic Work Environment

A number of things can turn a workplace toxic, such as an intense workload, a bad atmosphere, individual team members, poor leadership or unrealistic expectations.

Incentivizing productivity can be a good thing when done right. But when done incorrectly, the effect can be negative. Because sometimes even competition in the office can create a toxic atmosphere. When the competition gets a little too fierce, it can turn into team conflict.

Regardless of what causes this toxic atmosphere, it will always come with consequences. Most often, those consequences directly affect the team more than leadership but manifest in morale and production, so they’re always felt in the bottom line.

The Effects Of A Toxic Environment

All workplaces create some level of stress. But when normal stress turns into negative feelings, that’s not a good sign. As a business owner, it’s part of your job to identify the problems that your team faces. Understanding the signs and issues of a toxic work environment is imperative. That includes problems from internal and external influences.

Consistently unhappy team members is a big, giant red flag. Sure, not everyone is jumping out of their shoes to come to work, but no one should spend all day every day wishing they weren’t there. Another common effect is extreme stress or anxiety. It’s not abnormal under most circumstances to experience either of these, especially when working overtime, on big projects or under a looming deadline. But if these issues go unaddressed for too long, it can quickly turn into depression and panic disorders. Worse yet, over time, it may lead to physical symptoms in team members, such as poor sleep habits, chronic stress and abandoning self-care.

In turn, these effects can directly hinder productivity, which can hurt your business and create an atmosphere that starts to repel key members of the team.

What You Can Do

The very first step in solving the problem is identifying it. The source can be hard to find at first, but there are some things you can do to bring the toxicity to light.

To start, I recommend regular check-ins with your crew. Talk to them, ask questions that will identify how they feel individually. Once you’ve done this with everyone, you may have all the information you need to know.

If there are team members leaving your company, conduct an exit interview. While it may seem unpleasant, it is possibly the place where you'll get the most honest feedback.

Consider rewarding team members who suggest solutions. Just be careful to ensure the focus is not on ratting others out to impress the boss, as that in itself breeds more toxicity.

Every situation will be different but after you've identified the problem, you can start to take action against it.

In conclusion, no one should have to feel unsafe or uneasy at work. As the leader, people will be looking to you to fix this situation. So familiarizing yourself with the physical manifestations of toxicity is imperative. Then, you can take action to alleviate the problem for your team. And why would you do that? Because it leads to bottom-line success. Better still, it can lead to your Champagne Moment.

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Signs Your Company Culture Has Turned Toxic (And How To Start Cleaning It Up)