Taste of Work — Part 6: Why Good Companies Become Toxic

Most people don't join a company thinking:

“I hope this place becomes toxic.”

Companies don't usually wake up one morning and decide to make their employees miserable.

In fact, many toxic workplaces probably started with good intentions.

A founder wanted to build something great.

A management team wanted the company to grow.

Employees wanted to do a good job.

Everyone was trying to make things work.

So how does a good company become a toxic one?

Usually, it happens slowly.

It starts with small changes

Maybe the company is growing quickly.

Suddenly, targets become more important.

Then the targets get harder.

Managers are put under pressure to deliver.

They pass some of that pressure down to their teams.

A few employees work longer hours to keep up.

Others see what is happening and start doing the same.

Soon, working late becomes normal.

Nobody officially asked everyone to work longer.

But everyone knows what happens if you don't.

That's how culture changes.

Not always through a policy.

Sometimes through what people believe they have to do to survive.

When pressure becomes the culture

Pressure isn't automatically bad.

Sometimes you need pressure.

Deadlines matter.

Customers matter.

Businesses need to make money.

People need to perform.

The problem starts when pressure becomes constant.

When there is always another target.

Another deadline.

Another crisis.

Another reason why this month is different.

People can cope with a lot when they believe things will eventually calm down.

But if the pressure never stops, something changes.

You stop working towards something.

You start working away from something.

Away from failure.

Away from criticism.

Away from getting noticed for the wrong reason.

Away from being blamed.

And that brings us back to something we talked about earlier:

fear.

Fear changes behaviour

A fearful employee doesn't necessarily become a bad employee.

They often become a very careful one.

They stop taking risks.

They stop challenging ideas.

They stop asking questions.

They stop admitting mistakes.

They stop volunteering.

They start keeping their head down.

From the outside, they may still look productive.

But something important has disappeared.

Initiative.

The person is no longer thinking:

“How can I make this better?”

They're thinking:

“How do I make sure I don't get into trouble?”

That's a huge difference.

Targets can create strange behaviour

Every company needs measurements.

But what you measure affects what people do.

If you reward people only for hitting a number, eventually people will focus on the number.

Even when doing so isn't necessarily good for the customer.

Or the team.

Or the company in the long term.

A manager might push their team harder because their own performance depends on hitting the target.

The team then pushes harder.

Eventually, everyone is optimising for the metric.

And nobody is asking whether the metric is still encouraging the right behaviour.

This isn't always because people are selfish.

Sometimes the system is simply teaching them what matters.

People respond to incentives.

That's true whether the incentive is money, recognition, promotion, job security or simply avoiding criticism.

Good people can create bad cultures

This is one of the uncomfortable things about toxic workplaces.

You don't need lots of bad people.

You can have good people operating inside a bad system.

A manager might genuinely care about their team.

But they're under enormous pressure from their manager.

So they pass the pressure down.

Their team then passes it to someone else.

Nobody wants to be unreasonable.

But everyone is trying to protect themselves.

Eventually, the pressure travels through the organisation.

And somewhere along the way, someone becomes the person everyone thinks is toxic.

Sometimes they are.

Sometimes they're simply the latest link in the chain.

When managers start managing through fear

This is where things can become much worse.

A manager discovers that fear works.

Push people harder.

Make them uncomfortable.

Point out mistakes publicly.

Threaten consequences.

Remind everyone how replaceable they are.

And perhaps, for a while, performance improves.

That's the trap.

Fear can produce results.

But it comes with a cost.

People become less honest.

They hide problems.

They stop speaking up.

They protect themselves.

Good employees leave.

And the people who remain may become very good at surviving the environment rather than improving it.

Eventually, the company has created a workforce that does exactly what it trained them to do.

Comply. Don't challenge. Don't make mistakes. Don't stand out.

That's not high performance.

That's self-preservation.

Silence is a warning sign

One of the biggest warning signs of a toxic culture isn't people complaining.

It's people stopping complaining.

When employees believe speaking up won't change anything, they stop.

They nod in meetings.

They say everything is fine.

They agree with decisions they don't believe in.

Then they complain privately to colleagues.

Or they simply start looking for another job.

Silence can look like agreement.

It isn't always agreement.

Sometimes it's resignation.

HR can't fix everything

HR can help.

Policies matter.

Employee support matters.

Fair processes matter.

But HR cannot fix a culture on its own.

You can't write a policy that makes people trust their manager.

You can't create psychological safety with a training course.

You can't put “respect” on a poster and expect people to feel respected.

Culture comes from what actually happens.

Especially when things go wrong.

How does a manager react to a mistake?

What happens when someone disagrees with a senior person?

What happens when an employee says they're struggling?

What happens when a target becomes unrealistic?

What happens when someone raises a genuine concern?

That's your culture.

Not the words on the wall.

The founder isn't always the problem

When a company becomes toxic, people often look for someone to blame.

The CEO.

The founder.

The HR department.

The managers.

Sometimes they deserve the criticism.

But sometimes the problem is more complicated.

The company has grown beyond the way it used to operate.

The people who built the company may no longer understand every part of it.

New managers bring different styles.

New investors bring different expectations.

New targets change behaviour.

New layers create distance.

And suddenly the culture is being shaped by hundreds of small decisions.

No single person caused it.

But everyone is contributing to it.

The most dangerous phrase might be:

“That's just how things are here.”

Once people stop questioning unhealthy behaviour, it becomes normal.

Working until midnight?

“That's just how things are here.”

Being shouted at?

“That's just how they manage.”

Never disagreeing with the boss?

“That's just how things are here.”

Being afraid to take holiday?

“That's just how things are here.”

Constantly feeling anxious about work?

“Everyone feels like that.”

No.

Not everything that becomes normal is healthy.

Sometimes you don't realise something is wrong because you've been inside it for too long.

How do you actually recognise a toxic workplace?

This can be difficult because a bad week isn't the same as a bad culture.

Every company has stressful periods.

Every manager has bad days.

Every project can go wrong.

So don't judge a workplace by one difficult meeting or one terrible week.

Look for patterns.

Here are some questions worth asking yourself.

1. Do you feel safe speaking honestly?

Can you disagree with your manager?

Can you say you don't understand something?

Can you admit you've made a mistake?

Can you raise a concern without worrying about what will happen afterwards?

If the answer is consistently no, pay attention.

2. Are mistakes treated as lessons or weapons?

Everyone makes mistakes.

In a healthy workplace, the question is usually:

“What happened and how do we fix it?”

In a toxic one, the question can become:

“Whose fault is this?”

If mistakes are repeatedly used to embarrass, threaten or punish people, that's a warning sign.

3. Are people afraid of certain individuals?

Listen to how colleagues talk.

Do people become nervous when a particular manager joins a meeting?

Do people carefully rehearse what they're going to say?

Do people avoid speaking directly to certain people?

Fear has a way of showing itself.

4. Do people behave differently when senior management appears?

This is a particularly revealing one.

Does everyone suddenly become quiet?

Does everyone agree with everything?

Do people hide problems?

Does the atmosphere change when a particular person walks into the room?

A healthy culture shouldn't require people to perform a different version of themselves around senior people.

5. Is pressure temporary or permanent?

A difficult quarter isn't necessarily toxic.

A busy launch isn't necessarily toxic.

Ask yourself:

Does the pressure ever stop?

If every month is described as an emergency, eventually the emergency has become the culture.

6. Are good people leaving?

One person leaving doesn't tell you much.

But patterns can.

If experienced, capable people keep leaving while nobody seems willing to ask why, that's worth noticing.

Especially if replacements don't stay very long either.

7. Are people becoming quieter?

Think about yourself too.

Were you once full of ideas?

Did you used to volunteer?

Did you ask questions?

Did you enjoy solving problems?

And now you mostly keep your head down?

That change matters.

Sometimes the first sign of a toxic environment isn't what happens around you.

It's what happens inside you.

8. Do the rules apply equally?

Healthy workplaces need rules.

But if certain people seem to be protected from consequences while others are punished for the same behaviour, resentment grows quickly.

Double standards are toxic because they destroy trust.

9. Can you switch off?

Do you constantly check messages after work?

Do you worry about what you'll find in your inbox tomorrow?

Do you spend your evenings thinking about work?

Do Sundays feel like the beginning of another working week?

Work can be demanding without occupying your mind every waking hour.

10. Do you feel respected?

This might be the simplest question of all.

Do you feel respected at work?

Not praised every day.

Not agreed with all the time.

Not protected from criticism.

Respected.

You can be challenged and still be respected.

You can be told your work isn't good enough and still be respected.

You can disagree with your manager and still be respected.

If respect has disappeared, something is wrong.

Don't diagnose your workplace after one bad day

This is important.

Sometimes work is just difficult.

Your manager might have had a terrible day.

The business might be going through a crisis.

You might be dealing with a particularly stressful project.

Don't turn every unpleasant experience into a toxic workplace.

Instead, step back and look at the pattern over time.

Ask yourself:

“How do I usually feel here?”

Not:

“How did I feel today?”

And perhaps even more importantly:

“Who am I becoming because I work here?”

If the answer is someone more confident, capable and experienced, that's a good sign.

If you're becoming anxious, withdrawn, fearful and constantly exhausted, don't ignore it.

Toxicity can become self-reinforcing

This is perhaps the saddest part.

A toxic environment can eventually start attracting and retaining the wrong behaviours.

Good people leave because they don't want to work that way.

The people who stay learn how to survive it.

New employees arrive and are told:

“This is just how we do things.”

And the cycle continues.

The culture becomes stronger.

Not because anyone planned it.

But because people adapt to their environment.

So what can a company do?

The answer isn't simply:

“Be nicer.”

Companies still need performance.

Managers still need to hold people accountable.

Difficult conversations still need to happen.

People still make mistakes.

Targets still matter.

The difference is how you do these things.

You can have high standards without humiliation.

You can have accountability without fear.

You can have ambitious targets without treating people like machines.

You can disagree without making someone feel stupid.

You can tell someone their work isn't good enough without telling them they aren't good enough.

High standards and humanity can coexist.

In fact, they probably work better together.

And what about you?

If you're working somewhere that feels toxic, the first thing I'd say is:

Don't immediately blame yourself.

Maybe you're not suddenly lazy.

Maybe you're not losing your ability.

Maybe you're not becoming less motivated.

Maybe the environment has changed.

Before making a big decision, start paying attention.

Notice the patterns.

Write down what is happening.

Separate facts from feelings.

Talk to someone you trust outside the situation.

Look at whether things improve when the pressure comes off.

And ask yourself whether the problem is:

a bad period, a bad manager, or a bad culture.

They're not the same thing.

You don't have to decide today whether to stay or leave.

But you should pay attention.

Because your workplace doesn't just affect your career.

It can affect how you see yourself.

And that's why this subject matters so much.

A job takes up a huge part of our lives.

We shouldn't accept an unhealthy environment simply because we have become used to it.

Sometimes the company can change.

Sometimes the manager can change.

Sometimes you can change your situation.

And sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is recognise that you can't fix the environment around you.

You can only decide what you are willing to accept.

Because the goal isn't to find a workplace where nothing ever goes wrong.

That's impossible.

The goal is to find somewhere that allows you to be challenged without being diminished.

Somewhere you can make mistakes without being terrified.

Somewhere you can disagree without being punished.

Somewhere you can work hard without losing yourself.

And if you ever find yourself thinking:

“Maybe I just need to put up with it.”

Remember this:

You don't have to spend your working life surviving your job.

You can build a life where work is part of it — not the thing that consumes it.

And sometimes, protecting that life means learning how to protect yourself.

That's where we're going next.

Part 7 — The Toxic Manager: How to Survive Someone You Can't Change.