Is Your Toxic Workplace Ruining Your Ability to Hire Top Talent?

Imagine the journey candidates go on before they apply for a job with your company. Do they read the job description in your ad? Absolutely.

But they’re also scanning Glassdoor reviews and social media posts for hints about what it would be like to work for you. They're scouring for any red flags that suggest the opportunity sounds too good to be true.

And for good reason, as over 48,000 TikToks have now been posted under the hashtag #toxicworkplace — a running archive of companies that left a bad taste in someone’s mouth. 

Top candidates make decisions about your employer brand long before they apply for a role. So, if you want to attract better people, it’s not about louder job ads or more polished branding. It’s about fixing what those things can’t cover up: a culture that pushes people out before they’ve even walked in.

What does a toxic workplace look like? 

A toxic workplace is a work environment where damaging behaviour is tolerated or quietly ignored. Some employees may face blatant discrimination or a lack of respect, while others will be expected to work in a culture where negative behaviours like yelling and backstabbing are the norm. 

Nick Rushworth, Director at IRM Group, points out that toxicity at work can sometimes be hard to put your finger on. 

“Toxic workplaces don’t always scream dysfunction. Sometimes, they whisper it — in subtle digs from a manager, in a culture that rewards overwork, or in the way silence fills the air when you ask for help. Over time, this atmosphere chips away at your confidence, creativity, and mental well-being.”

9 signs of a toxic workplace

Pressure, speed, and the drive to achieve results are common components of the business world. So, how do you know if your workplace has gone beyond ambitious and has veered into the “toxic” category? Here are some top signs.

• High turnover and disengaged teams: If there’s an uptick in employees quitting or mentally checking out, it’s rarely about the job alone. Turnover often signals you have a culture that’s worn people down.
• Inconsistent communication or disjointed leadership: When nobody seems to have the full picture — or different managers give different answers to the same question — it’s hard for anyone to feel confident in their role. Mistrust builds quickly in these gaps.
• Blurred roles and unclear expectations: If your employees constantly second-guess what they’re responsible for or pick up work that was never theirs to begin with, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. 
• Candidate ghosting or chaotic hiring processes: When interviews are rescheduled at the last minute, or candidates hear nothing after applying, it points to a culture that doesn’t respect people’s time.
• Poor onboarding or lack of follow-up after hiring: If new starters don’t get the tools, information, or introductions they need in the first few weeks, it’s a sign the business isn’t set up to help people succeed.
• Unhealthy internal competition: If collaboration takes a backseat and people constantly watch their backs, you’ve got a workplace that rewards survival over progress.
• Toxic ‘stars’ get away with bad behaviour: When someone is known for treating people badly, but nothing is done because they hit targets, it suggests that output matters more than integrity. 
• Silence around mental health and wellbeing: If no one talks about stress or struggling is seen as a weakness, people stop asking for help. And when things get serious, they’re left to cope alone. 
• Microaggressions or exclusion going unchecked: It might be a comment that’s brushed off as a joke or a meeting where the same voices are always ignored. Left unchallenged, these moments chip away at people’s sense of belonging.

Why should employers stamp out toxicity at work?

Toxic workplace culture creates hidden costs that build over time. Here are three key reasons employers should address toxicity promptly and focus on attracting and retaining top talent. 

Toxicity is expensive 

Culture-driven attrition is more common than many employers admit. According to Oak Engage’s Toxic Workplace Report, 61% of employees in the UK have resigned from a job due to cultural issues. Each of these exits triggers a recruitment cycle that pulls time, money, and energy away from other priorities.

Data from SHRM places the cost of replacing a single employee at three to four times the role’s salary. That estimate accounts for recruitment spend, onboarding, training, and the drop in productivity while the role sits vacant or ramps up. Multiply that across even a handful of departures, and the financial impact of toxicity becomes significant.

Toxicity impacts performance 

According to the same Oak Engage study, 87% of respondents link their toxic workplace culture to poor mental health. In a separate finding, 73% said it contributed to burnout. When culture becomes a source of stress rather than support, performance declines — sometimes gradually, sometimes overnight.

Toxic environments also lose the best of people who stay in terms of creativity, confidence, and motivation that erodes over time. What’s left is presenteeism: employees are still in the room but no longer engaged. 

Toxicity breaks your hiring process

As much as employers would love to keep their toxic cultures hidden, they become glaringly obvious as you hire. When internal structures are disjointed or toxic dynamics go unchecked, hiring becomes slow, inconsistent, and disorganised. 

A 2024 survey by HiBob reported that 57% of UK jobseekers flagged poor communication during recruitment as the clearest red flag. Even before a contract is signed, candidates form opinions about how much they trust an employer’s brand — and if they don’t like what they see, they’ll move on.

Toxicity undermines your DEI commitments

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts cannot succeed in cultures that tolerate toxic behaviour. A workplace may promote inclusive hiring on paper, but if microaggressions and bias go unaddressed internally, underrepresented talent will not stay — and often won’t apply in the first place.

According to a 2024 report from Mental Health First Aid England, 31% of UK employees have experienced at least one form of microaggression or discriminatory behaviour from their manager in the past six months. That statistic alone should prompt serious reflection about who is being protected or ignored.

How to fix toxic work structures in 5 steps 

Toxicity often flourishes in the absence of process and clarity. If the goal is to retain great people (and attract better,) the environment they walk into must make sense and reward the right behaviours. 

1. Collect feedback and act on it 

Surveys, exit interviews, and 1:1 meetings are all excellent mechanisms to collect valuable insights from your employees. To use feedback as a cultural repair tool, focus on a few core principles:

• Protect anonymity: Don’t ask people to be honest if they fear the consequences. Use platforms that genuinely anonymise input, and be transparent about how you’ll handle their data.
• Close the loop: Let employees know what you’ll do as a direct result of their input. This is what builds the habit and the expectation that speaking up leads to change.
• Prioritise action over performance: Set clear actions, assign ownership, and communicate progress.
  

2. Clarify roles and progression opportunities 

In toxic environments, structure is often missing. Employees don’t have a clear grasp of the scope of their current role or how progression opportunities work within their organisation. If career pathways don’t exist and promotions are only available to those who go for happy hour drinks with the boss, then understandably, employees will leave. At the same time, candidates will detect a lack of space to grow, reducing their excitement about applying for a role.  

Several people we spoke to as part of Hiring Hub’s research described how this role scope and potential are key to the employee experience. One employee shared, “My key goal has always been to improve and learn, but unfortunately my previous role didn’t have the space for me to grow within my abilities.”

Another pointed to their former employer not investing adequately in their development, “I want to ensure I am the best at what I do. My previous company didn’t allow that, unfortunately.”

To create a working environment where roles are clear, and growth is possible, employers need to invest in the right systems, not just slogans. Start with the basics:

• Write accurate job descriptions: Outline responsibilities, scope, and decision-making authority. Revisit these regularly to reflect the role as it actually operates.
• Publish internal job levels: Define the different levels within each function. For example, what separates a mid-level role from a senior one? 
• Map reporting lines: Use org charts to show team structure and accountability. Include project-based dotted lines if relevant, but avoid making hierarchy a guessing game.
• Introduce a development framework: Create a clear, accessible resource that outlines what’s needed to progress in terms of behaviours, skills, and contribution. 
• Audit progression outcomes: Keep track of who is promoted and when. If patterns suggest inconsistency or bias, address it transparently.

3. Train your managers (and hold them accountable) 

More than four in ten employees have left a role due to dissatisfaction with their manager. In toxic workplaces, this often stems from poor communication, avoidant leadership, or inconsistent treatment of employees. And because these behaviours are often seen as an individual style rather than structural failure, they rarely get addressed.

“If leaders manage by fear, not vision, and pride themselves on being unapproachable — then your workplace is toxic,” says a conference speaker on LinkedIn. The same goes for “If you’re watched more than you’re mentored, or trust is replaced by control.” 

The solution is to equip your managers with the tools to lead teams well and then hold them to account when they don’t. Here’s where to focus:

• Make management training non-negotiable: Leadership development shouldn’t be optional or reactive. Both new and experienced managers should be trained in communication, inclusive leadership, conflict handling, and performance management.
• Build leadership behaviours into reviews: Don’t just assess managers based on targets or team output. Include feedback from direct reports and evaluate how they lead. 
• Set clear expectations for the role: Many managers fail because they don’t understand what’s required of them. Document the core responsibilities and standards expected of anyone managing people.
• Create support channels: Coaching, peer forums, and mentoring schemes help managers build capability and confidence. 
• Act on poor leadership: If a manager repeatedly receives negative feedback and nothing changes, the problem is accountability rather than awareness. 

4. Take decisive action 

Training alone won’t fix culture if damaging behaviour goes unchallenged. When toxic individuals are allowed to stay, especially those in influential or high-performing roles, it signals that the rules don’t apply equally.

“Allowing toxic staff to remain is organisational poison. A technical specialist with a terrible attitude or an arrogant officer can drive away your best people and create widespread dysfunction.

When leaders tolerate toxic behaviour, they send dangerous messages: inappropriate behaviour is acceptable, leadership is weak, cultural expectations are confusing, and toxicity can spread unchecked,” says Andrew Olsen, Executive Vice President of Fundraising Solutions. 

Feedback without consequence is just noise. If someone continues to create harm after being given support and clarity, the next step should be clear and actioned without delay.

5. Align recruitment practices with your culture 

Whether recruiting to replace a toxic employee or hiring to strengthen your team, your recruitment process should do two things: give a realistic view of your current culture and show how you're working to improve it. If there’s a gap between where the organisation is and where you want it to be, don’t gloss over it — name it.

Candidates are increasingly alert to vague answers and polished language. If you describe your company as inclusive but can’t give an example of what that looks like in practice, they’ll notice. If you claim to value autonomy but run an interview that’s rigid and one-sided, that contrast will do more harm than a candid admission ever could.

Mark Rothwell, CEO of Hiring Hub, urges candidates to ask the right questions:

“To avoid entering a workplace that might also have a toxic environment, make sure you ask your interviewer some key questions so you can gauge what their values are — e.g. ‘How would you describe your management style? It would be even better if another member of their team were present during the interview process so you can see if their work ethic is similar to yours.”

Create a hiring process that reflects the culture you’re building  

A toxic culture is hard to hide and harder still to hire through. When the internal process is chaotic, unclear, or led by disengaged managers, it shows. Candidates pick up on it early and opt out quietly. Meanwhile, the right hires never quite materialise, and existing teams feel the strain.

Hiring Hub fixes the structural issues that sit beneath many of these problems. As a recruitment management platform, it gives employers complete control over their agency hiring from briefing to candidate selection to final placement.

Instead of chasing CVs over email, you brief once and manage responses from every agency in one place. For growing teams, it offers something many systems miss: consistency. The same process, the same visibility, every time, no matter who’s hiring.

If you’re working to rebuild trust in your culture, start with how you hire. Take a free employer trial today.