How to Change Toxic Work Culture with Inclusive Hiring

A toxic work culture creates a vicious cycle that saps organizational productivity. Companies affected by a toxic environment lack a safe space for team members to express themselves and do their best work. Word travels fast in the digital age, and toxic workplaces and negative industry reputations could significantly harm shareholder trust.

From an operational point of view, workplace toxicity reduces employee engagement and performance and can cause high turnover. The Job Seeker Nation report revealed that more than 30% of workers left their jobs within 90 days due to the failed expectations of company culture. While toxic culture is a worrying problem, inclusive hiring could remedy the situation.

Our article dives into the common signs of a toxic work culture and how inclusive hiring can prevent these crises at any stage of the organizational journey.

What is a Toxic Work Culture?

A toxic work culture typically involves what some may consider “politics” at work. These disagreements arise when team members have issues communicating their roles and streamlining work decisions. Factors like inherent biases in recruitment, inefficient team structures, and vague company values could lead to a toxic work culture.

Toxic workplaces compromise an organization’s morals, missions, and ethos (i.e., core values). The negative work environment creates challenging relationships with stakeholders, employees, partners, and customers. A toxic work culture could ultimately impede an enterprise’s success, progress, and scalability.

Recognizing The Common Signs of a Toxic Work Culture

In many instances, the signs of a toxic work environment may not appear immediately obvious. For that reason, it is common for employers to overlook them until they start reducing the company’s productivity.

The tricky thing about work culture is that it is a sum of its parts. No one person is responsible for the success or inefficiency of organizational culture. Although employees and stakeholders may point at senior leadership regarding responsibility, culture is ultimately a collective effort.

In the simplest terms, a toxic work culture exists when individual team members and departments fail to agree on project plans and execution. The earliest signs of toxic work culture could involve individuals prioritizing their own KPIs and targets above group or organizational needs.

The following signs could suggest a toxic work environment that requires a reevaluation of talent management and acquisition.

Inefficient Leadership

A toxic workplace lacks a supportive environment where leaders and supervisors dominate decision-making without consulting the rest of the team. These disengagements could result in employees experiencing job dissatisfaction and a lack of trust. Instances of ineffective leadership may include micromanagement and an uneven distribution of responsibilities.

As employees tend to turn to leaders during crises, it is vital to maintain open communication and a trusting relationship to navigate uncertainties successfully. Decision-makers should also recognize that ineffectual leadership leads to poor succession planning. A lack of succession compromises skill transfers, leads to costly training, and causes a loss of business continuity.

Workplace Silos

A toxic work culture creates interpersonal barriers that obstruct teams from working toward a unified goal. Team members’ personalities and workplace differences could lead to arguments, conflicts, and unhealthy competition. For example, employees may focus on outdoing team members rather than innovating and comparing solutions to advance shared objectives.

An exclusionary culture could result in individuals working in silos (or cliques) from a lack of communication, which bottlenecks workflows. Silos remain a widespread talent management concern, with studies revealing that 83% of respondents experience these solitary practices in their companies.

Silos lead to the hoarding of knowledge and a clash of goals and priorities among team members. These differences could result in conflicting work responsibilities, tactics, and even arguments over project budgets.

An inclusive hiring process can help mitigate the issue by building interdependent and mutually respectful work environments where employees can prioritize effective collaborations.

High Absenteeism

Toxic workplaces risk high levels of absenteeism resulting from employee disengagement. Unplanned absenteeism remains a critical productivity issue in multiple industries. The cost of these unexpected absences amounts to over $600 billion in losses across companies. Specifically, toxic environments at work lead to heightened stress, mental health issues, and quiet quitting.

Quiet quitting occurs when employees do the minimum at their jobs as they gradually disengage from their roles. These disgruntled employees would become passive job seekers in other companies, which reduces their teamwork dynamics and work quality. According to Gallup studies, the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is now 1.8 to 1.

Employee disengagement that drives high absenteeism could lead to workplace practices like “ Bare Minimal Mondays,” where employees complete the fewest required tasks on the first work day of the week.

Restrictive Hiring and Recruitment

Inclusive recruitment enables companies to broaden their talent pool by hiring individuals based on their contributions. By doing so, HR teams can optimize the quality of their hires, meet D&I standards, and increase talent performance.

Unfortunately, a toxic work culture hinders inclusive hiring, such as inherent interview biases that compromise the candidate experience. Ineffective hiring leads to cultural mismatch and the marginalization of underrepresented groups. These lapses could directly violate the latest DEIB policies and repel qualified candidates.

Enterprise decision-makers must consider every step in talent acquisition to ensure fair and cost-effective hiring outcomes. These measures may include:

Vetting through job description (JD) content and standardizing the process.
Structuring fair interviews (e.g., blind interviews) that give every candidate equal opportunities based on their skills and experience.
Checking that hiring practices meet the latest DEIB guidelines and legal compliances.

Recognizing The Link Between Inclusive Hiring And Toxic Work Culture

Inclusive hiring focuses on assembling the right people and team for a specific purpose. Employers can avoid prejudices and miscommunications that lead to workplace conflict by shortlisting hires based on merit and cultural fit.

Organizations can increase their chances of success by implementing inclusive recruitment and accepting individuals with diverse perspectives. Through inclusive hiring, employees can empower each team member with the recognition and equity needed to give them a sense of belonging for a fulfilling career.

Steps For Solving Toxic Work Culture With Inclusive Hiring

A truly inclusive hiring practice complies with the latest labor laws, tailors attractive incentives/perks to each candidate, and promotes lasting employee engagement. These offerings strengthen work culture by creating a safe space that rewards employees for their unique perspectives and contributions.

Talent acquisition leaders can apply the following strategies to cast a wider net on the talent pool.

Invite External Experts on Work Place Biases

HR managers should consider hiring external guest speakers who are well-versed in DEIB and inclusive hiring practices. These certified experts can facilitate insightful exercises (like role-playing case studies) that refine communication skills at work for more open-minded and empathetic discussions.

External speakers may include thought leaders or KOLs with the expertise to fine-tune HR policies and employer branding through detailed educational materials. These materials may include social media content and training manuals for building a positive work culture.

DEIB specialists can shed exclusive insights for corporate culture discussions with proven examples in facilitating effective team building. An expert with an outsider’s perspective can provide an objective view of investigating and improving the existing culture. These informative lessons encourage authentic dialogues, instilling positive and collaborative mindsets that optimize workplace dynamics.

Develop Inclusive Leadership to Fight Toxic Work Culture

Leaders are critical in safeguarding a positive work culture through thoughtful guidance and mentorship that motivates employees. Companies can access inclusive leadership through skills training (e.g., unconscious bias seminars) or recruitment campaigns for individuals with specific traits.

Inclusive leadership traits that guide companies on how to change toxic work culture include:

Humility – Inclusive leaders understand their strengths and weaknesses. As such, they openly accept feedback and suggestions from team members with varied backgrounds. Humility also enables leaders to reward and show appreciation for individual contributions, fine-tuning employee experiences.

Empathy – An inclusive leader is sensitive and perceptive to the experiences, thoughts, and concerns of others. Empathy fuels effective communication, preventing one-dimensional stances that limit creativity and innovation at work.

DEIB Commitment—Genuinely inclusive leaders truly walk the talk when managing DEIB topics. For instance, senior leaders can provide team members with the metrics and actionable steps to realize DEIB targets.

Cultural Intelligence—Inclusive leaders recognize the diversity in talent perspectives and potential. A strong awareness of cultural intelligence enables leaders to align an employee’s personal values with the broader organizational culture for synergistic results.

Self-Awareness – Inclusive decision-makers should lead by example, addressing toxic behavior at work and presenting feasible solutions. For instance, leaders could call out individuals for workplace bullying or harassment. These observations can help boost awareness of toxic culture and normalize healthier communication among team members.

Collaboration—Inclusive leadership teams promote cohesion through diverse strengths, promoting a more resilient and creative workforce.

Consult EEO-1 Guidelines

The EEO-1 is an annual (and mandatory for some companies) report required by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

Companies can refer to EEO-1 as a hiring and talent management discrimination guideline. Specifically, the EEO provides a snapshot of a company’s data on race and gender, spanning two major diversity areas. EEO-1, as a reference, helps hiring parties address and resolve issues like pay equity.

EEO-1 offers practical information that facilitates inclusive hiring by:

Diversifying the candidate pool by reaching out to underrepresented groups via multiple sources (e.g., diversity job boards and community-affiliated organizations like Women in Technology International).
Staying updated with the latest DEIB compliances.
Standardizing HR training and employee onboarding standards.
Improving diversity and inclusion for positive cultural change.

Strengthen DEIB Values

A clear and metric-driven DEIB initiative enables companies to strengthen their branding. It particularly informs candidates about the organization’s commitment to D&I.

Hiring teams can promote the inclusiveness of talent acquisition by managing relevant metrics that account for representation (e.g., the number of female leaders in the tech department and the frequency of promotions among employees from an underrepresented group) and the organizational impact of a diverse workforce.

Companies with an established DEIB reputation can secure top talent by connecting with top-tier candidates looking for companies dedicated to certain social causes.

Transforming DEIB into a pillar for your recruitment strategies requires considering its deep-seated impact on corporate culture. Hiring teams must assess beyond conventional education and training when filling a job vacancy.

Consulting a company’s DEIB initiatives as a talent acquisition compass enables recruiters to identify a candidate’s true inner values. The approach highlights a person’s soft skills, attitude, and communication abilities that fit the organizational landscape.

DEIB-focused Employers can engage diverse individuals by empathizing with their beliefs and backgrounds. By doing so, companies can minimize disagreements and spend less time and effort settling hires in the work environment.

Diversify Interview Panels

The interview process is critical to hiring top talent and establishing a positive work culture. Applying an inclusive hiring process requires companies to eliminate the risks of inherent interview biases, such as stereotyping and the halo effect.

Diversifying the interview panel with representatives from different departments and perspectives can mitigate these risks. It is also essential to mix and match interviewers from diverse backgrounds across gender, age, nationality, and abilities.

Including an interviewer with experience or credentials similar to candidates can help ease them into the company culture. These can lead to thorough candidate assessments that improve hiring outcomes. However, it is important to select interviewers with caution to avoid similarity biases.

Organizations can ensure a consistent interview process by enforcing clear, preset evaluation criteria. A structured approach like the S.T.A.R Method focuses on relevant candidate information for inclusive talent acquisition.

Open-ended interview questions such as, “What do you like and dislike about advertising?” minimize interview biases while providing evidence that checks against a person’s job fit.

Hiring managers and recruiters should also routinely review interview panels and assessment metrics to ensure they align with the latest DEIB trends.

For instance, a growing number of companies have integrated DEIB with employee well-being and experience. Therefore, employers should enable hires to experience DEIB throughout their organizational journey beyond simply implementing a policy.

Offer Fair Compensation

Transparency on fair compensation is important for attracting and retaining employees by assuring equitability for their hard work. For starters, employers should list their salary range on job postings. Doing so informs candidates of expected wages before they apply for a role and plan their career advancements based on industry standards.

Specifically, fair compensation refers to giving candidates suitable pay rates based on their skills, experience, and performance. Employers can achieve this by developing and following a fair compensation plan that complements their inclusive hiring initiatives. An effective fair compensation initiative usually includes direct payment (e.g., hourly pay) and indirect employee benefits (i.e., work-life balance incentives or flexible arrangements).

Before finalizing fair compensation, it is essential to consider a few questions regarding the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of the plan. These would include seeking existing employees’ opinions on the compensation and how they reflect labor laws like the Affordable Care Act.

Hiring parties should also research how their compensations compare against those of industry competitors. Ultimately, talent acquisition involves hiring top-tier talent to deter hostile work environments while staying cost-productive.

Incorporate Feedback

Regular feedback is the heart and soul of a positive work culture since it promotes empathy and accommodation. Gathering opinions from existing team members about the recruitment and hiring process can brainstorm ways to change toxic work culture. Hiring teams can do so by implementing the following feedback loops in the talent acquisition workflow:

Conducting debriefs on applicant tracking systems (ATS) where teams can discuss the effectiveness or areas of improvement for automated processes.

Sharing interview processes and JDs with team members and seeking constructive feedback.

Collaborating with employee resource group (ERG) leaders and learning more about the onboarding/candidate experience of underrepresented parties.

Providing a psychologically safe work environment where employees from diverse backgrounds and experiences can readily share feedback through an open-door policy.

Optimize JDs with AI

Recruiters and hiring managers in an enterprise setting often encounter problems rolling out inclusive JDs for large-scale hiring campaigns. Relying on manual JD vetting at scale could result in biased content being overlooked due to human error.

Studies have shown that exclusionary JD content could deter qualified individuals due to their background. A homogeneous organization would create a less accepting (and, hence, more prejudiced and toxic) work culture.

Ongig’s Text Analyzer reviews JDs with advanced AI algorithms that identify and replace biased words with neutral alternatives. These include gender-coded terms, along with subtle signs of ageism, ableism, and other prejudices. The Text Analyzer also integrates with your ATS to boost the publication and management of job postings.

Talent acquisition experts can use the Text Analyzer to fine-tune JD readability and exclusivity. The specialized software enables hiring and recruiting experts to standardize their JD library, boost content, and increase application rates. Since the Text Analyzer follows the latest DEIB guidelines, organizations can attract diverse talent with diverse language while maintaining compliance.

The Role of Human Resources in Changing Toxic Work Culture

HR’s Responsibility in Monitoring and Addressing Toxic Behaviors

Human Resources plays a crucial role in shaping a company’s culture. One of HR’s primary responsibilities is monitoring and addressing toxic behaviors. When the leadership team notices high employee turnover or hears about a hostile work environment, it’s a red flag that something is wrong. So, HR must step in to identify the root causes, whether it’s poor leadership, poor communication, or the presence of toxic people.

A healthy culture begins with recognizing and addressing negative behaviors before they escalate. Therefore, by setting clear expectations and addressing issues like office gossip and unethical behavior, HR can create a more positive workplace culture. So, it’s a good thing when employees feel comfortable reporting problems, knowing they will be taken seriously.

Developing and Enforcing Anti-Harassment and Anti-Discrimination Policies

Another critical responsibility of HR is developing and enforcing anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies. So, these policies are essential for maintaining a healthy workplace culture where everyone feels safe. Thus, HR must ensure that all employees, from top leaders to new hires, understand these policies and the negative consequences of violating them.

In addition, sexual harassment, abusive managers, and a lack of transparency are some of the cultural issues that can severely impact a company’s core values. So, to combat this, HR should provide regular training and set up clear channels for reporting incidents. When business leaders take these policies seriously, it also sends a message that the company is committed to doing the right thing.

Conducting Regular Culture Assessments and Surveys

Conducting regular culture assessments and anonymous surveys is another great way HR can keep a pulse on the company’s culture. These tools allow HR to gather honest feedback from employees about their experience and feelings towards the workplace. Focus groups and work groups can also be used to dive deeper into specific issues.

A recent Sloan Management Review study highlighted that many companies are now more focused on creating a positive behavior culture, especially in the wake of the great resignation. Understanding the employee experience through these assessments helps business owners and middle managers identify areas that need improvement. So, whether it’s addressing a rumor mill, improving psychological safety, or supporting team effectiveness, these assessments guide HR in making necessary culture changes.

HR helps foster a positive workplace culture, making it a place where human beings feel valued and respected by taking these steps. So, this not only improves job satisfaction. It also aligns with the company’s organizational values, which is ultimately beneficial for the bottom line.

Closing Thoughts – Inclusive Hiring For Cultural Diversity

Inclusive hiring is the first step in preventing or reversing a toxic company culture. However, maintaining that positive change requires a holistic approach.

HR managers can achieve this by enforcing talent management beyond hiring, including implementing the SCARF model in reviewing employee performance. The NeuroLeadership Institute identifies five domains (status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness) that inspire employees and let them feel genuinely valued for their contributions.

A positive culture thrives on communication and empathy. Regardless of experience or background, every team member should be able to present their perspectives, receive recognition, and deliver quality results within the organization. Ultimately, the golden answer to how to change toxic work culture begins with inclusive and consistent hiring campaigns.

Why I Wrote This?

Ongig dedicates its data-driven Text Analyzer platform to standardizing and scaling inclusive JDs. The system’s advanced algorithm tracks and replaces dull, biased content to engage the most suitable hires. Request a demo with Text Analyzer today to discover how your hiring team can establish a healthy work culture with the most suitable talent.

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August 27, 2024 by Laurenzo Overee in Diversity and Inclusion