52% of tech employees say their workplace is toxic, study shows

Dive Brief:

When Blind, an anonymous work talk app, asked 9,000 tech workers if their work environment is healthy, 52% said it is not. The survey found that a toxic culture, along with poor management and work overload, were the top three reasons for employee burnout.
Breaking down responses by company, survey results showed Intel in the lead for having the most toxic work environment, according to 48.5% of its employees, followed by Amazon (46.5%) and eBay (44.5%). Employers with the least toxic environments, according to employees, were LinkedIn (17.3%), Google (23.7%) and Uber (29.7%).
Blind said that with most adults spending the majority of their time in the workplace, an unhealthy work environment can leave them with poor health and damage their personal relationships outside of the office.

Dive Insight:

A toxic work environment can include a number of bad situations, including a micromanaging boss, sexual misconduct and blatant discrimination — and tech companies have seen the brunt of such callouts as of late. Intel, which saw the most employees calling out its toxic work environment, recently claimed it reached "full representation" with its diversity targets two years ahead of schedule. But as with any diversity movement, setting and reaching hiring goals is meaningless if the workers targeted — often women, African Americas and Hispanics — feel disrespected, overlooked and isolated.

Workplaces considered toxic may need to change their policies or undergo a culture overhaul. For example, Google, which scored low on the toxic-environment scale, recently responded to a walkout staged by its employees in protest of the company's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against senior officers. Its employees also challenged the company's policies on disability accommodations and mandatory arbitration agreements. Google responded by adjusting its policies.

Following a highly publicized sexual harassment scandal, Uber underwent a culture overhaul to try to end the alleged misconduct that created a toxic environment for workers and plagued the company for months. In addition, Uber workers created a website to promote positivity called "Good People + Good Things."

When the majority of employees, not just one or two disgruntled workers, thinks their workplaces are toxic, employers may want to take time to listen before issues get out of hand.