Ask HR: I love my job but the office culture is just too toxic...

I work for a popular company, but the culture is just toxic. Although we are paid well and the tasks are challenging, many good employees do not stay long. I am completing my second year and I am seriously looking for another job. I have seen many new employees join with ambition, only for their hopes to be dashed within three months. Will I be right to dissuade job seekers from joining our company?

It is quite conceited of any recruiter to withhold information about the workplace culture because this may prevent new employees from thriving. Sadly, many of us are often too excited after securing a job that we hardly ask the pertinent questions besides compensation and reporting date.

While a good culture is a key factor in enhancing retention, it is always disheartening to see leaders disregard this enabler or to fail to lead by example. Any organisation that sees itself as a market leader but has no strategy for its employees’ wellbeing will struggle to find and retain talent.
You could opt to become a catalyst for change and together with other likeminded employees, look for various ways to change things. Speak up against the behaviours that drive toxicity and model the right values among yourselves. 

You could create some behavioral standards in your department, which may soon be adopted by others and create a wave of positive change. Instead of leaving a job that pays well and challenges your abilities, how about trying to be the change you want to see? You could also anonymously demand for more accountability to shake your leaders up from their slumber.

On whether to tell or not, my view is that if a potential candidate approaches you seeking information about the culture of your workplace, you could share openly and without bias the good and the ugly, and then let them decide. 

Reflect for a minute. If anyone had spoken to you before joining this company, would you have listened? Two years down the line, your CV is richer and you have established new networks. Would you be at peace if you denied someone a similar opportunity? Does changing things from the inside seem like a better solution?

Millennial HR
www.millenialhr.com