A nationwide survey was conducted asking employees to rate their jobs in the following categories. Barnes & Noble failed miserably in all ten.
• Workplace May Have Poor Communication
• Workplace May Have Cliques, Exclusion + Gossipy Behavior
• Workplace May Have Bad Leadership
• Workplace Likely Has Unmotivated Coworkers
• Workplace May Have Stifled Growth
• Workplace Likely Has Rapid Employee Turnover
• Workplace Often Has No Work-Life Balance
• Workplace Leaves You Battling Burnout
• Workplace Has Little or No Forward Movement
Workplace Triggers a Gut Feeling
If your intuition is telling you that your workplace is bad, it’s probably bad. If your anxiety is through the roof, if you suspect you're experiencing discrimination, if your physical health is suffering—and all of this is happening on a regular basis, there's a big problem. The takeaway? Trust your gut. If you need to get a second opinion from a friend or loved one, do so. But, your gut is a pro.
Listen to it.
If all of the above seems reflective of your workplace, your workplace might be worse than toxic. You might be in a hostile work environment. Hostile work environments are even worse—and it's likely that a lot of the inter-office behavior is actually illegal.
Look for some of these characteristics of an absolutely hostile work environment:
• Se-ual harassment
• Lack of inclusion
• Comments about se-ual orientation, race, creed, or disability
• No human resources (in a company larger than 15 or 20 people this is a problem)
• Bullying
• Groups of people at odds with others