Would You Recognise a Toxic Workplace If It Happened to You?

By Carmen Neagu, 3 March 2026

I have seen toxic workplaces more than I would like to admit, and what still surprises me is how rarely they begin in an obvious way. When you hear the word “toxic”, it’s easy to picture the extreme examples: bullying you can point to, shouting you can quote, micromanagement so intense it feels like surveillance. Sometimes that is exactly what’s happening, and when bullying is present, it is serious and it needs addressing, because it damages people and it corrodes trust.

What I have learned, though, is that the most common version doesn’t arrive with a bang. It arrives quietly, dressed up as opportunity. It can start as your dream job, the role that feels like a step up, the one with the salary that finally gives you breathing room, the flexibility you’ve been craving, the title that looks like progress. You take it seriously, you want to prove yourself, you show gratitude through effort, and before you know it you’re giving 110% so often that you forget what “normal” effort even feels like.

When you’re in the eye of the storm, you rarely see it for what it is. You tell yourself this is what success requires, that it’s just a busy period, that things will settle once the team is fully staffed, once the project is delivered, once the next quarter is over. It’s only when you break the cycle, step away for a moment, and let your nervous system reset, that you notice how far your baseline has shifted. That’s often when people say to me, almost with shock, “I didn’t realise how anxious I’d become until I stopped.”

The signs are usually subtle at first, then they become routine. You start checking emails late at night and first thing in the morning, not because anyone explicitly tells you to, but because you feel like you have to stay on top of things or you’ll fall behind. You say yes to “just one more thing” and then another, and then those tasks are simply yours. You become the person everyone relies on, which feels flattering until it becomes frightening, because you realise you’re also the single point of failure. You cannot take a day off because nobody else knows how to run payroll, or manage the rota, or handle the client escalation, or send the report the board is expecting. You go on holiday and take a laptop “just in case”, and if you’re honest, that laptop is not a precaution, it’s a symbol of how little safety the system has built around you.

This is where the wellbeing conversation can become particularly hollow. Many organisations now talk about employee support, EAPs, mental health awareness, and wellbeing initiatives, and I do not dismiss those things because they can genuinely help people. The problem is what happens when someone finally says, “I’m overwhelmed.” In too many places, the response is sympathy without substance. A kind tone, a quick acknowledgement, and then the work stays exactly the same.

I also want to say this plainly, because it matters: toxic workplaces do real harm, and the data reflects that, but the data never captures the full picture. The CIPD’s Good Work Index 2025 found that around a quarter of UK workers say their work has a negative effect on their mental health. Those numbers are significant, but they still don’t include everyone who is quietly sliding into burnout while continuing to show up, continuing to perform, continuing to look “fine” on paper. Many of the people who are closest to the edge do not take sick days, do not raise grievances, do not appear in absence reports, and don’t even label themselves as struggling until their body forces the conversation.

There’s another layer to this in 2026 that I don’t think we can ignore, because it shapes behaviour on both sides of the employment relationship. The labour market has cooled, and competition for roles has increased, which shifts the power dynamic. The ONS reported that there were 2.6 unemployed people per vacancy in October to December 2025, which is a clear signal that the market is less tight than it has been in recent years. When more people are competing for fewer opportunities, it becomes easier for employers to feel they hold the cards, and it becomes easier for employees to tolerate things they shouldn’t because they fear the alternative.

This is also when budgets tighten, and pressure gets transferred. Training gets deprioritised because it looks like a cost, even though it is one of the strongest long-term investments a business can make. Roles become overloaded because it feels cheaper to stretch a high performer than to hire, and the organisation quietly starts relying on goodwill as an operating model. This is a risky approach both ethically and operationally. If your performance depends on unpaid overtime, you are not running a “high performance culture”, you are running a fragile system that will eventually break.

That said, and this is important, I have also seen workplaces turn toxic because of the people within them, not only because of the people leading them. Leadership sets the tone and holds the greater responsibility, but culture is built in the everyday choices people make when nobody is watching. I have watched teams become heavier and harsher because too many individuals adopt a “not my job” attitude, because people stop taking ownership of shared standards, because gossip becomes entertainment, because someone is being undermined and everyone pretends not to notice. Bullying, exclusion and intimidation thrive in silence, and none of us are neutral if we are watching harm happen and deciding it’s easier not to get involved, because if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem!

I remember quite early on in my career, I was promoted in an established team, and I was very grateful to have the opportunity. I was working hard, I was extending myself to any new project, covering for my colleagues when needed, trying to learn as much as possible and fit in. I was so naïve, I didn’t notice the bullying. I didn’t notice most of the jokes were at my expense, I didn’t know about the gossip happening behind my back, I only found out about it when I was brought into a meeting and told how this would all be addressed because one of my colleagues couldn’t stay silent and let it happen, so they stepped in and my line manager put a stop to it.

I think we all have to be honest with ourselves here. Change does not only start with “the business” as a faceless entity. It starts with individuals making different decisions: refusing to participate in gossip, challenging bullying when it appears, backing up colleagues when they are being treated unfairly, and keeping our own behaviour in check when we’re stressed and tempted to take it out on others. It also starts with being the person who brings solutions, because problems without proposed options often get parked. If your workplace isn’t giving you enough training, it is worth remembering that the internet is vast and full of high-quality resources across almost every area of work. Upskilling yourself should not be used by employers as a substitute for support, but it can be a way for you to regain agency, build confidence, and bring practical improvements to the table in a way that translates positively to the business.

That links to something else I have noticed in my work. I have spoken to many candidates who described a “toxic” environment, only to realise later, sometimes painfully, that they were contributing to it. That doesn’t mean their workplace was perfect, and it absolutely doesn’t mean that toxicity is purely subjective, but I do think it’s true that perception matters, and that self-awareness is often missing from the conversation. Sometimes toxicity is in the eye of the beholder, and sometimes the person who is most vocal about “everyone else being the problem” is actually struggling with accountability, communication, boundaries, or emotional regulation. The uncomfortable truth is that the people who slip into toxic territory themselves rarely show up in the statistics, and they rarely see it in the moment, especially if they are still getting results and being praised for performance.

If you’re reading this and recognising parts of your own experience, I want to bring it back to the pattern that drives so much of this: unmanaged workload and constant pressure. The CIPD Good Work Index 2025 makes the link strikingly clear, reporting that 69% of workers who say their workload is far too much also say work negatively impacts their mental health, compared with 14% of those who feel their workload is about right. That isn’t a small difference, and it matches what I’ve seen repeatedly in real workplaces: once “too much” becomes normal, people stop coping gradually, and then they stop coping suddenly.

On a national scale, the impact is huge, and not just emotionally. The HSE reports that 22.1 million working days were lost in the UK in 2024/25 due to stress, depression or anxiety. Those are lost days, but they are also lost energy, lost creativity, lost confidence, lost patience, and lost capacity that businesses often try to replace through recruitment rather than through prevention.

When I speak about prevention, I am not only talking about doing what’s legally required, although the legal position is clear. ACAS sets out that employers have duties under health and safety law, including carrying out suitable risk assessments and taking steps to prevent or reduce work-related stress. Ethical leadership goes further than this, because it treats people as people, not as output units, and it recognises that a business can hit targets while still slowly harming its workforce, which is a short-term “win” that creates long-term costs.

If there is one personal marker I return to when people ask me how to know whether it has become toxic, it’s this: the moment you realise you are no longer excited to start work, you are anxious. Too much pressure can become stress and affect quality of life, leaving people feeling physically and mentally unwell, and that framing matters because it reminds us that stress is not a personality flaw, it’s often a mismatch between demands and support. When work becomes a source of dread rather than purpose, it is worth listening to that signal rather than dismissing it as weakness.

Personal advice

If you’re an employee

If your organisation has an EAP, it’s often the quickest first step because it gives you a confidential place to talk things through and work out what support you need next, particularly if you’re feeling stuck or afraid of consequences. If bullying is part of what you are experiencing, ACAS sets out practical steps you can take, including who to speak to, how to raise concerns, and routes for further support.

If you are struggling with stress, anxiety, sleep, or persistent overwhelm, I would also take it seriously enough to speak to your GP, because you deserve proper medical support when things are impacting your health. For many people, NHS Talking Therapies are also an option, and in England you can use the NHS service to find local talking therapies and self-refer. Mind also has practical guidance on stress at work, including the reminder that ongoing stress can increase the risk of developing mental health problems such as anxiety or depression, and it offers steps that are grounded and realistic rather than fluffy.

If you are in immediate distress or you feel you might not be safe, Samaritans is available 24/7, and the 116 123 number is free to call from UK landlines and mobiles.

Alongside support, I would focus on regaining agency in small but meaningful ways. If training is missing, start building your own knowledge so you’re not trapped by the organisation’s gaps, and then bring solutions forward in language the business understands: risk reduction, continuity, quality, compliance, customer outcomes, fewer errors, stronger delivery. Being honest and direct about what support would help you is important, and in many workplaces it lands better when you can also show how that support will improve outcomes for the business rather than simply making the pressure feel lighter.

If you’re an employer

If you want to prevent toxicity rather than respond to it once someone breaks, start by treating stress as a health and safety issue, not a resilience issue. ACAS is explicit about the legal duty of care and the requirement to assess and reduce stress risks, and it explains what employers must do in practice, not just in theory. The HSE guidance is equally practical, and its management standards approach is useful because it pushes you to look at work design, not only individual coping.

If you are thinking about culture and behaviour, the CIPD has a dedicated hub on bullying and harassment with guidance and resources that can help you move from “we don’t tolerate it” statements to workable prevention and response.

I also think it helps to remember something simple that gets lost in times of pressure: people are not a line item, even when budgets are tight and targets are non-negotiable. A workforce that is treated with respect, developed properly, and protected from chronic overload will be more stable, more productive, and more likely to stay, and those are commercial advantages as much as they are ethical choices. When you put people first consistently, profit becomes a consequence of good work.