Toxic workplace cultures are rife with hostility， cliques， gossip， mistrust， and selfishness. They’re a breeding ground for dysfunction due to poor communication， power struggles， negativity， and abusive leadership. Due to this， collaboration， productivity， and innovation falter while fear， manipulation， and blame grow. All of which reduces employee loyalty and leaves them feeling emotionally drained.

在有毒的职场文化中，敌对情绪、派系分化、遥言传播、信任缺失及自私自利普遍存在。由于沟通障碍、权力斗争、消极情绪和滥权管理，有毒的职场文化导致企业无法有效运作。正因如此，协作、工效和创新难有发展，与此同时，恐惧、操控和指责不断增长。所有这一切都会降低员工的忠诚度，令他们心力交瘁。

Now， more than ever， unhappy employees are quitting without another job lined up. To them， the risk of staying in a toxic workplace weighs more on their mental health than being unemployed. According to SHRM， 58% of employees quit a job due to a toxic workplace culture and the annual cost of culture-related turnover is $223 billion.

如今，因不满现状而选择“祼辞”的员工比以往任何时候都多。在他们看来，相较于失业，有毒职场环境带来的风险对心理健康影响更大。美国人力资源管理协会的数据显示，58%的员工因职场文化有毒而选择离职，与此相关的人员流失每年造成的损失高达2230亿美元。

While there are various different types of toxic workplace cultures， here are five toxic cultures that are quite common.

有毒的职场文化形式多样，以下列举的是较为常见的五种类型：

Hustle culture

内卷文化

Hustle culture is one of the most normalized cultures in the workplace and oftentimes， micromanagement1 is at its core. This profit-driven culture is known to exploit workers by having them work longer hours with little in return. Being a workaholic has been glamorized， making employees believe that the more hours they put in the more productive they are. As such， they sacrifice their mental health， personal life， forgo breaks， and resist taking PTO. Consequently， this results in employees being stretched thin， which causes them to eventually burn out.

内卷文化在职场中司空见惯，其核心往往是微观管理。这种逐利文化以剥削员工闻名，员工被迫加班却几无回报。工作狂得到美化，让员工相信，工时越长成效越大。就这样，他们牺牲了心理健康和私人生活，放弃休息时间，甚至拒绝带薪休假。结果，导致员工不堪重负，最终累垮。

Hayley Albright， senior brand and customer experience manager at Xena Workwear， said， “employees often feel the need to put in long hours due to tight deadlines and work that’s piling up due to the labor shortage and excessive online meetings. They’ll start by answering emails at late hours and move on to work outside of normal office hours and through holidays. Eventually， this schedule takes a mental toll. Businesses need to set work boundaries and help employees not feel guilty for unplugging.”

“泽纳工装”的品牌与客户体验高级经理海莉·奥尔布赖特指出：“员工常常感觉有必要加班，要么因为赶工期，要么因为人手短缺及线上会议过多导致工作堆积如山。他们一开始是深夜回复邮件，慢慢发展到非办公时间和假期也在工作。最终，这种工作日程会对员工心理造成极大压力。企业需要设定工作边界，帮助员工避免因‘断联’而心怀愧疚。”

Blame and “every worker for themselves” culture

甩锅和“人人为己”文化

A blame culture stops at the top. When leadership refuses to take accountability by placing blame， it establishes a precedence that mistakes are bad and unwelcome. Thus， nobody accepts responsibility for fear of being reprimanded， losing their job， or looking bad. In a blame culture， “that’s not my responsibility” is a common attitude. Not only does this harm a workplace environment， but people prevent committing to deadlines or expectations so they can easily place blame or shift accountability.

甩锅文化止于高层。当领导层诿过推责时，便树立了这样一种优先认知：出错很糟，不可接受。于是，无人愿意承担责任，因为害怕挨批评、丢饭碗或没面子。在甩锅文化中，“责任不在我”是一种普遍态度。这不仅危害职场环境，还会让员工避免对期限和目标做出承诺，以便在出问题时轻松推卸责任。

Matt Erhard， managing partner at Summit Search Group， explained， “success is viewed as a limited commodity and mistakes are seen as personal failures rather than learning opportunities. For this reason， employees cover mistakes up or deflect blame instead of putting their effort into fixing the problem and preventing it in the future. This creates an ‘every person for themselves’ mentality， with coworkers viewed as competition rather than collaborators， and leads to gossip， backstabbing， undermining， and other toxic behaviors.” He added， “trust bonds are then broken and employees become so desperate for positive attention that they’ll resort to underhanded methods to get it， like taking credit for someone else’s work.”

鼎盛人才集团的管理合伙人马特·艾哈德分析道：“成功被视为稀缺品，错误则被当成个人失败而非成长机会。因此，员工会掩盖错误或推卸责任，而不是积极解决问题、预防问题再次发生。这就会催生‘人人为己’的心理，同事不被视为伙伴而是对手，流言蜚语、背后算计、暗中拆台等伤害行为便接踵而至。”他还补充说：“信任关系就此遭到破坏，有员工会为博得赏识不择手段，比如窃取他人劳动成果。”

Clique culture

小团体文化

A clique culture is the opposite of an inclusive culture as it creates an environment where people aren’t comfortable being their authentic selves. This is due to a lack of protection from management and HR in regards to inappropriate jokes and comments.

小团体文化与包容性文化背道而驰，它所营造的环境使员工难以做真实的自己。这要归因于管理层和人力资源部门对不当笑话和言论缺乏管制。

Anyone who doesn’t operate with the same mindset as the members of the clique are excluded， made to feel invisible， and often targeted by way of bullying. This leads to employees feeling isolated. Cliques undermine the team and prevent connection， unity， and collaboration. Often， high-performers or those in a clique are held to lower standards than everyone else.

与小团体成员理念不同的人都会受排挤，感觉自己成了职场隐形人，还常常遭遇霸凌。这会导致员工感到孤立无援。小团体文化会削弱团队凝聚力，阻碍沟通、团结与合作。绩效优异者或那些小团体成员往往被放宽标准。

Suzanne Wylde， coach and author， explained， “exclusion from an invisible inner circle is a common form of toxicity in groups. It may be that one team member is purposefully left out of certain emails or meetings， not asked for their opinion， or never invited out socially. It may be obvious or very subtle， but it may also be a form of scapegoating—sacrificing the wellbeing of one person to appease the egos of others. This exclusion can be deeply psychologically harmful to people and is a kind of bullying.”

培训师兼作家苏珊娜·怀尔德指出：“将某人排除在无形的小圈子之外是一种常见的职场毒性行为。比如，某个团队成员被刻意排除在某些邮件或会议之外，意见无人征询，也从不被邀请参加社交活动。这种排斥或明显或隐蔽，但也可能是在‘找替罪羊’——牺牲一人的福祉来满足他人的自我。这种排斥可能是一种极具破坏力的心理伤害，是一种职场霸凌。”

Another commonly known type of clique is the “bro culture”， where white male employees are seen as superior to women. As such， non-white men and women are blocked from being involved in decision-making. This “bro culture” exists not only in tech， but in other industries such as politics， banking， and finance. This leads to women fighting to feel valued and accepted， thus putting up with belittling， sexist and misogynistic comments， discriminatory and inappropriate behavior， pay disparity， and being ostracized. All of which leads to a hostile working environment for women.

另一种常见的小团体文化是“兄弟文化”——在这种文化中，白人男性雇员被视为优于女性。由此，非白人男性和女性都被禁止参与决策。“兄弟文化”不仅存在于科技领域，也存在于政界、银行业和金融业等领域。这导致女性必须竭力争取获得重视和接纳——为此不得不忍受贬低、性别歧视和厌女等言论，歧视和不当的行为，薪酬差距，以及职场孤立等。所有这一切都会让女性陷入充满恶意的工作氛围。

Authoritative culture

威权文化

Power and control are at the core of an authoritative culture. As such， bullying and discrimination run rampant. An authoritative culture is filled with favoritism， nepotism， and “yes （wo）men.” Jean Holthaus， LISW2， LMSW3， stated， “in this type of culture， employees are punished for honesty either overtly or covertly.” She explained， “the person who speaks the truth is labeled as the troublemaker， or the employee who dares to question the wisdom of their boss’s new proposal is passed over for a promotion because they’re not a team player.”

权力与控制是威权文化的核心，霸凌和歧视因此猖獗。威权文化充斥着徇私偏袒、裙带关系和唯命是从。持证独立社工、持证硕士社工琼·霍尔特豪斯表示：“在这种文化中，员工会因诚实而遭到明里暗里的惩戒。说真话者会被贴上‘麻烦制造者’的标签，敢于质疑老板新提议不够明智的员工会因没有团队精神而失去晋升机会。”

In order to maintain control， leadership asserts its hierarchical power. Hilda Wong， founder of Content Dog， said， “in authoritative cultures， leaders don’t respect the opinions and ideas of employees， making them feel less valued and dejected in the organization.” They keep employees out of the loop because they feel those in non-management positions are inferior with nothing of value to offer. It’s not until changes have already taken effect， or through the rumor mill that employees learn about what changes are coming.

为了维持控制，领导层会强调其等级权力。“内容犬”公司创始人希尔达·黄曾说：“在威权文化中，领导不尊重员工的意见和想法，这让员工感觉在组织中被轻视并为此沮丧。”那些领导会对员工屏蔽信息，他们认为非管理层的员工毫无价值，因此低人一等。往往等到变动生效或通过小道消息，员工们才知道会发生什么。

Fear-based culture

恐惧驱动型文化

In healthy workplace cultures， employees are encouraged to respectfully challenge processes， procedures， and anything that isn’t working. In a fear-based culture， employees are silenced by intimidation， abuse， gaslighting4， and domination. Logan Mallory， VP at Motivosity， said， “a fear-based culture is one of the most toxic workplace cultures because it creates a harsh working environment. Employees will do everything they can to avoid punishment， including not taking risks or cutting corners.”

健康的职场文化中，员工受到鼓励对流程、制度等任何无效的事物提出合理质疑。在恐惧驱动型文化中，员工则因受到威吓、虐待、心理操控和强权压制而噤声。摩提云聚公司副总裁洛根·马洛里表示：“恐惧驱动型文化是最具毒性的职场文化之一，它会制造出高度压抑的工作氛围。员工会竭尽所能避免惩罚，比如不冒风险或敷衍了事。”

In a workplace where fear overpowers trust， employees’ anxiety is heightened due to frequently worrying about consequences they may face or potentially losing their job. This leads to

在一个恐惧压倒信任的工作环境中，员工的焦虑会日益加剧，因为常常担忧自己可能要承担责任甚或失去工作。这会导致：

● Employees afraid to tell the truth or report bullying， harassment or misconduct

· 员工不敢说出实情或举报欺凌、骚扰与不当行为

● Being too focused on their daily goals rather than the bigger picture

· 过于关注眼前小目标而忽视大局

● Doing whatever it takes to appease their boss and avoid blame

· 费尽心力讨好老板以避免挨骂

● A rampant rumor mill that appears to be more credible than what’s conveyed from management and leadership

· 谣言盛行，似比管理层和领导层传达的信息更可信

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1 micromanagement（企业管理中的）微观管理，是管理者密切观察或控制员工工作的一种管理方式，通常有负面含义。

2 LISW = Licensed Independent Social Worker持证独立社会工作者，通常属于临床社会工作者的高级执照，允许持证人独立执业并提供心理治疗、诊断和干预。  3 LMSW = Licensed Master Social Worker持证硕士社会工作者，属于基础性执照，通常需在督导下工作，侧重非临床或宏观社会工作，提供社区资源对接、个案管理、政策倡导等服务。

4 ‌gaslighting煤气灯效应，一种心理操控手段，通过歪曲事实、否认受害者的感知或记忆，使其逐渐怀疑自我认知、判断力甚至精神状态，最终达到操控者支配受害者的目的。这一概念源自1944年的美国惊悚片《煤气灯下》（Gaslight），影片中，男主角通过调暗煤气灯并坚称灯光未变让妻子怀疑自己“疯了”。