Toxic workplaces: Psychologist, Sabina Read on how to spot a toxic workplace

From the way feedback is delivered, to how disagreements are resolved, the ‘contagion effect’ of a toxic workplace can creep up on you.

After a 17-year career in the finance and accounting industry, Sofia* realised she had had enough.

Despite her senior position in her field, the Melbourne-woman said she constantly experienced overt toxic behaviour, sexism and racism from her colleagues and bosses who were overwhelmingly male.

“I would say that the financial world can be a fairly toxic place at the best of times,” she told news.com.au. “It’s very competitive and the behaviours that go with that are often quite toxic, there’s definitely a hard partying and drinking culture.”

“Add to that being a woman and being a woman from a non-mainstream background and I found that I was up against toxic behaviours all the way through my career.”

Describing the “boy’s club” work culture, Sofia said her colleagues would frequently visit strip clubs and socialise by getting drunk while watching the football. However, when Sofia made it clear she wasn’t interested in those activities, her lack of participation “ostracised” her from her colleagues, which she said inadvertently damaged her career.

“The more senior you get, the more harsh and harmful being ostracised is to your career,” she said.

While she didn’t want to participate in her workplace culture, Sofia said the decision definitely didn’t make her any friends. Picture: iStock.

The turning point came when Sofia returned to work after maternity leave.

“I had just had a baby and it completely changed the way they treated me,” she said. “I took about six weeks off and was really enthusiastic about returning to work but they did things to undermine me like booking meetings at 6pm at night and then cancelling them after I had organised care for my child.”

“They did a whole swag of manipulative things and I just snapped. I said it wasn’t respectful and I wasn’t going to do this anymore.”

Those experiences left her “completely and utterly frustrated and fed up,” so Sofia realised it was time to quit.

She took the skills she learnt in finance and began a social enterprise with the aim to empower women. Two-and-a-half years later, her business now donates a significant portion of their profits to supporting women experiencing homelessness and housing stress.

“I wanted to create my own brand that was kinder and made the world a better place for women,” she said. “I wanted to offer women a career path that was meaningful and support women like me, who came from non-mainstream backgrounds where their skills weren’t being used.”

Constant acts of overt sexism were a key reason why Sofia decided to walk about from career in finance. Picture: iStock.

What does a toxic workplace look like?

SEEK’s resident psychologist, Sabina Read said that at its core, a toxic workplace is one where “unpleasant or unhealthy behaviours aren’t addressed”.

Although a toxic culture may be “ingrained” and make it difficult for someone to acknowledge what’s happening, Ms Read said employees will often“feel” that something isn’t right.

“People who are low on empathy, compassion, and understanding, generally contribute to a toxic culture,” said Ms Read.

“There’s a real contagion effect in toxic workplaces, and that’s why we talk about toxic cultures, because it might be only a handful of people that contribute to the toxicity but the ripple effect can be very broad.”

Furthermore she says telltale signs of a problematic workplace could include:

– Unfair and inequitable treatment of people

– No positive feedback

– The feeling you’re always “walking on eggshells”

– Unchallenged discrimination and negative behaviours

“It’s the unchallenged thing that’s key here,” she added.

“Every organisation makes mistakes and has conflict, but when there’s no scope for these issues to be addressed, discussed or challenged, then we know there’s some toxicity at play.”

One of the telltale signs of a toxic workplace is how they address and respond to problematic behaviour. Picture: iStock.

After putting up with 17 years of poor behaviour, Sofia said that looking back, she wished she had quit sooner.

“I wish I’d walked away 10 years earlier,” she said. “I wish I hadn’t thought that you needed to have all this training, mentoring and sponsorship.”

In terms of her advice for people struggling in toxic workplaces, she advised employees to document the poor behaviour they’ve experienced.

“I would keep a lot of notes and be very clear about the things you will and will not tolerate,” she said.

Finding ways to reach out to others will also help you stay connected and potentially feel less isolated, she added.

“I was very lonely at the end because there weren’t many other people in my industry or even around me at a senior level,” she said. “So, I would say make friends with other people in similar positions from different industries and seek that out so you don’t feel lonely.”

*not her real name, however her identity is known to news.com.au

This article was created in sponsorship with SEEK

Originally published as Toxic workplaces: Psychologist, Sabina Read on how to spot a toxic workplace