12+ Signs Of Corruption In The Workplace
By Lynsey
10 months ago
Poor work/life balance
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One of the first signs of a corrupted work place is the work/ life balance. A corrupted workplace won't value the separation needed between home-life and life at work, causing employees to struggle to differentiate the two. After a while, they will feel burnt out as if they are burning the candle at both ends.High employee turnover
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A workplace that doesn't value its employees and their need for some down time will most certainly have a high employee turnover rate. When employees feel undervalued and overworked, they will question the benefits of working for said company. A corrupted workplace won't necessarily disclose this when hiring new staff, so when scoping out a new job to try and get a feel for the morale of staff before making up your mind.High sickness rate
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High stress and a lack of support breeds regular sickness amongst staff, leading to a workplace filled with sick notes and absents. A corrupted workplace won't see the need to support its staff and return them to work promptly. Neither will it seek to find out the underlying cause of the sickness as it won't want to be outed at the source.Pressure to perform
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In a corrupted workplace, employees will feel the constant need to perform to the standards of those above them. These standards may well be unachievable but employees will feel they need to work themselves in to the ground to attempt to hit the unrealistic targets - or they risk losing their jobs!High expectations - to take work home and on weekends
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A poor work/life balance will mean working evenings, weekends and holidays for some companies. Working during these 'down time' moments can be an employees choice if they wish it to be, however a corrupted workplace will have the expectation that that is the norm, whether employees want to or not.Poor leadership
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Working for a corrupted workplace will mean working for an employer that displays poor leadership among those who are in charge. Employees may well find themselves working for someone that either doesn't display any leadership qualities, or someone who displays poor leadership qualities: not listening to employees, poor instructions, unachievable expectations etc.Lack of communication
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An element of poor leadership surrounds a lack of communication or simply poor communication from employers to employees. This lack of communication can present itself in the form of no communication and the expectation everyone just knows what they are meant to be doing or unclear communications causing tasks to completed poorly.Gossip
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A toxic workplace environment is one that thrives off of gossip. Standing in the staff room, discussing every employees personal lives is seen the thing to do in a corrupted place of work - especially if the employees want an in with the management to potentially gain some benefits.Cliques
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There's nothing worse than starting a new job and realising that all is not quite what it seemed, and in fact, the staff are not as friendly as they made out to you on first impression. Cliques are exclusive groups of people, usually with something in common. A corrupted workplace will find itself to have a clique that employees are either a part of, or are excluded from.Exclusions
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To be excluded in the workplace means to be ostracized: a pattern of being ignored and disregarded from social or professional interactions. This can have a mental and emotional impact on employees, as well as profoundly damaging their career goals and aspiration goals.Passive aggressiveness
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Passive aggressive behaviour can materialise through backhanded compliments, refusal to communicate or procrastination. Often it can hard to highlight a passive aggressive team member as they often make employees feel as if it's imagined or that it's so subtle that others may not see it and they won't be believed.Micro aggressions
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A corrupted workplace will be filled with micro aggressions. Micro aggressions are subtle, derogatory, verbal, or no-verbal behaviours directed at individuals. It can often be an offhand comment or painful joke and most likely unintentional, yet incredibly harmful to the person receiving it.Mansplaining
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Many female employees have experienced mansplaining in the workplace at some point during their career. Annoying, right! It is the act of talking down to an employee in a condescending manner, usually in the form of a male employer talking down to a female employee.Gaslighting
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Gaslighting in the workplace is a behaviour that some employers display to psychologically manipulate their employees. It can feel like sabotage or bullying and leave employees feeling paranoid, over sensitive or doubting their performance, ability and judgements.Unmotivated coworkers
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A lack of motivation in employees leads to a lack of morale amongst staff. As a manger, being flexible with working hours, offering personal development opportunities and reducing the conflict in the workplace can boost moral and therefore improve staff motivation.Stifled growth
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Stifled growth in the workplace is a direct result of micromanaging staff members. A corrupted workplace will micromanage its employees resulting in the autonomy and creativity of staff being killed. Leaders need to identify the core areas for development and work towards a more supportive working environment to combat this.Something feels off
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Nothing is more accurate that a gut feeling about a person or a place. Employees who feel as if something is off and their gut is telling them something is wrong, usually are right in their judgement. However sometimes, gut instinct can be overshadowed by the pressure to do well or to impress employers.High competition
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A corrupted place of work will be one driven by high competition. Management will push high competition between staff members either openly to ensure everyone is aware of who is succeeding and who is not, or subtly to employees personally to give the illusion of competition, when the reality is, they just want you to work harder for them.Bullying
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Bullying or harassment in the workplace is behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated. It can be in the form of unfair treatment, spreading rumours, denying personal development opportunities or picking on someone repeatedly. Although it is not illegal to bully someone in many states, it is illegal to harass someone from a protected group.Negative place to be
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Corruption in the workplace can affect the entire working environment. It can often leave employees feeling despondent and feeling a sense of overall daily negativity. If this continues on a long term basis, it can lead to employees feeling depressed and some having to take leave from work due to sickness.Damage to self esteem
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Confidence in the workplace breeds employees who are driven to succeed and who push themselves to be better daily. If the workplace is showing signs of corruption, it is often the case that employees are feeling self-conscious, have a low self-esteem and are not motivated to do their best.Disruption to your life
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A corrupted workplace will affect an employees home life as well as their work life. It can end up dominating the conversations between family and friends as employees find themselves consumed by the stress of it and anxious for upcoming days at work.Causes insomnia
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When an employee is consumed by the stresses of their working environment, they can be said to struggle to switch off at night, leading to them experiencing insomnia. Insomnia is a sleep disorder that can have huge negative impacts on daily activities and will cause employees to underperform due to extreme tiredness.Breeding stress and anxiety
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Stress and anxiety are common issues raised amongst staff in workplaces that are deemed corrupted. These conditions are a result of overworked staff who are under appreciated and it can lead to large amounts of staff sickness - not to mention some law suits, if the company doesn't take action!Lack of clarity over tasks and job to be completed
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A lack of clarity in the workplace environment will lead to tasks being incorrectly completed or not completed at all. This in turn will negatively affect the companies targets and lead staff feeling despondent, like they are underperforming even when they are working tirelessly day by day.Feeling like no-one is listening
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Employees who seek to be heard, yet feel like no-one is listening will feel like they are working in a corrupted environment. If they are raising concerns or questions and feeling like they are getting nowhere, they will feel frustrated and this will lead them to eventually giving up on rising future issues as they deem it pointless.Senior staff doing junior work
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When you have senior staff members being tasked with menial jobs that junior staff members would normally complete, it is a sign of corruption. This tells employees that the managers are not delegating jobs based on experience but rather on favouritism and who they prefer the most amongst the team.Missing paperwork
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Missing paperwork trails or documentation that is incorrect or partially filled in should raise alarm bells that the place of work is acting in a corrupted manner. This usually means that someone somewhere in the company is trying to hide something and is never a good sign!Questionable invoices
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If an employee is working for a company and they identify tax and travel expenses that simply don't add up, that can be a sign that the workplace is corrupted. Managers may try to cover up expenses where they have spent company money in an inappropriate manner and often they will want it to be on a need to know basis.Accepting poor quality
