The Big Read: Toxic workplaces more common than we think but when do we say enough is enough?
SINGAPORE: John, a 26-twelvemonth-old educator with a well-known enrichment centre here, works for a boss who is highly educated and well regarded by his peers and clients alike for his expertise.
Just within the visitor, the boss - a high achiever by whatsoever standards with a glittering resume nearly can only dream of - is one who believes in rule by terror.
Before anyone could get a grip of what is going on, the boss would from time to fourth dimension bombard staff with up to over a hundred text letters at one go in the visitor's WhatsApp chat group, unremarkably targeted at one employee.
Derogatory, curse-laden messages, typed entirely in caps - which John showed to us - are often sent belatedly into the night or during repast times, in rants that would, at times, exceed an hr. They included phrases such every bit "human trash", "your female parent should have had an abortion" and "you deserve to die".
Although John (not his real name) has and then far non been the target of the dominate' rage, he said witnessing these frequent and intense tirades are enough to fill him with dread whenever the notification chime of new messages go off on his mobile phone.
"My work solar day could be going well, but all information technology takes is 1 message to evoke fear and cause a total mood swing, and many of my colleagues experience this way as well," he said.
In response, employees at the receiving stop can merely apologise and hope that a task being requested will be done immediately. John had not seen anyone challenge the boss over the months that he had been included in the chat grouping.
The company's civilization is besides such that people are constantly asked to piece of work after function hours or answer to messages late at night. If they exercise not do then, they will be termed as disrespectful and threatened with termination messages, even legal action.
While the job pays well, John said the harsh working environment has seen at least 25 full-time employees, interns or temporary staff leave the small firm over his period of employment. He is already planning an exit strategy for himself.
While toxic workplaces - which encompass a whole range of harmful behaviours displayed past bosses and managers - have existed all over the world for time immemorial, the issue is in the spotlight after several well-known companies in Singapore were in recent years accused of having such a work environment.
In 2019, Mr Tan Min-Liang, the co-founder and CEO of gaming hardware maker Razer, was accused of, among other things, being verbally abusive and sacking workers for pocket-sized transgressions. In response, he said he was a "very intense" person when it came to his staff'south quality of piece of work, and certain statements were made "in jest".
In July, current and former employees of video game developer Ubisoft Singapore alleged that sexual harassment and racial discrimination had occurred in the company, which is headquartered in Paris. Singapore employment watchdog Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) is investigating the allegations.
In tardily September, the co-founder of contained bookstore BooksActually, Kenny Leck, 43, was declared to have non paid salaries and made inappropriate romantic advances to his younger female employees at the bookstore. Mr Leck later said he would relinquish ownership of the store and also apologised to all those he had caused pain.
In the latest case, production firm Dark Owl Cine (NOC) saw a spate of bearding and unverified allegations posted on social media, purportedly showing its co-founder and main executive officeholder (CEO) Sylvia Chan being verbally abusive towards one of the firm's on-screen talents.
While NOC on October 10 issued a statement calling the online allegations a "massive crusade against the public image and reputation" of the company, Ms Chan followed upwardly with a argument on Wed, apologising and admitting to accept used strong language towards the employee, Ms Samantha Tan, 27.
Ms Chan, 33, said: "I e'er idea that a leader should be tough and I at present realise that I may take come on too strong, and people have now perceived me to be unkind and rude."
THE WILD, WILD WEST
In recent years, accounts of toxic offices are coming to the fore among the proliferation of social media as well every bit online platforms - such every bit Glassdoor and Tellonym - which allow unhappy employees to air their grievances anonymously.
In interviews conducted this week, more than 10 individuals spoke almost how their mental health suffered due to highly toxic work environments, and besides their disappointing experiences in seeking redress and accountability from people at the elevation.
They included employees of public sector organisations, start-ups and multinational corporations (MNCs). Some of these workplaces have highly developed human resource (Hr) structures to handle such complaints, yet the rank-and-file do not take plenty trust in these as the best avenues to seek assistance.
In the minds of some disheartened employees, their workplaces take become something of a "Wild Wild Westward", where bullies and harassers roam freely and their victims are unable to tear downward the power structures that foster a toxic working environment in the first identify.
Contributing to their sense of helplessness is the fear of reprisal against victims who speak up, or even whistleblowers who are not the victims.
As a event, nigh cases go unreported as victims simply resign quietly from their jobs.
Ms Joanna Ong-Ash, 52, a former caput of marketing and brand direction at a local bank, is one of those who decided to practise just that.
She had a boss who made her life "living hell" with incessant bullying and exact abuse. He in one case even insulted her publicly using a Hokkien sexual slur.
When she finally plucked up the courage to study her problem to the bank's HR department, she got brushed off with the remark: "He is only like that la, Jo, what tin nosotros do?"
Shocked, Ms Ong-Ash escalated the matter to her boss' boss, only to hear the latter counter-propose for her to stay on to help him "discover a silver bullet to go rid of" the man who had been terrorising her.
Initially pleased with the response, Ms Ong-Ash recalled her husband alert her afterwards that she was venturing into a "danger zone" and would exist fabricated use of as a scapegoat.
Feeling utterly hopeless, she found herself contemplating taking her ain life earlier she managed to snap out of it when she thought about her family.
Her experience with office toxicity happened several years ago, but when Ms Ong-Ash — who is now the director of her own firm Bravery Communications — shared her struggles on LinkedIn before this week, she received a number of directly messages from current employees of the same bank who said zippo much had changed.
For a thirty-year-old Hr manager, who wanted to be known but equally Sarah, her former boss at a public sector arrangement constantly undermined her abilities, once openly criticising her as an "incompetent" worker before other directors at a meeting.
When the then-communications executive tried to find out how she could lodge a formal complaint against the superior, a Hr manager told her over the phone that "employee grievance" could simply exist fabricated out if there was physical violence involved.
"(The HR manager'southward) attitude towards this is similar, 'Don't brand HR life difficult. If you can, only endeavour to tolerate it'. It is similar telling you …if you are not happy, discover some other task," Sarah said.
When she left the organisation, her exit interview took just five minutes as she sensed that the HR director was not truly interested in acting upon what she would have to say.
Over at an international public relations firm, where Anna (not her real name), 31, used to work at, the office was so small that everyone would know if anyone yelled or cried. Notwithstanding, such scenes occurred about daily.
According to Anna, the toxic culture in that location started from the elevation – the country head in the parent agency tolerated the antics of a managing managing director who was known for her F-bombs every bit much as her charisma, every bit she had brought in a lot of business organisation for the firm.
Reporting to the managing director was a senior manager who also made life difficult for juniors. The senior managing director would, for example, call out Anna's mistakes in front of everybody and invite everyone else simply her out for squad lunch.
As the bullying became obvious, the managing director fifty-fifty asked Anna how she was dealing with the senior director. But the director clearly indicated that she did not plan to take whatsoever action even though she was aware of the issue, said Anna.
To peak it all, employees were expected to tolerate abnormal work hours – usually from 8am to 2am – and showing up for meetings fifty-fifty when sick.
Anna, who said she lost a lot of weight and hair while working at that place, added: "As an underling, you simply suffer because you have no value to them."
So, there is Ms Chua, 28, an assistant manager in the customs services sector. Starting out past working for a not-profit organisation run past a tight-knitted grouping of family unit and friends, the and so fresh graduate felt that she was ofttimes bullied past her bosses.
She would be blamed for being late or taking instructions poorly, even when she was non nowadays at lunches or gatherings where the senior management would spontaneously alter plans without informing her.
The concluding straw for Ms Chua came when one of the bosses remarked, within earshot of several colleagues: "You are and then dumb, don't screw information technology up this time." However, none of those nowadays spoke up for her. She walked back to her tabular array and immediately drafted a resignation letter.
SIGNS OF A TOXIC WORKPLACE
How can an employee tell whether a toxic work culture indeed exists in his or her organisation, equally opposed to acts of a few rogue colleagues?
Professor Mak Yuen Teen, who teaches corporate governance at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, said a toxic work culture exists in an organization when any of these indicators is present:
- Favouritism: Certain employees receive special handling and are non held to rules that utilise to everyone else, and given opportunities not because of their abilities.
- Fear and harassment: Bullying behaviour and harassment in various forms are tolerated. Employees constantly fright being rebuked or fired. Communication is 1-fashion and elevation downward and there is no healthy debate.
- Bad behaviour: Employees compete rather than collaborate and engage in cutthroat behaviour to get ahead. There is no courtesy and respect only malice and negativity.
- Lack of evolution: Direction does non encounter the value of grooming and developing employees.
- Working in silos: There is no information sharing to help employees do their jobs. The organisation is very compartmentalised and i department does non know what the others are doing.
- Lack of accountability: When there are transgressions, they are ignored. In that location are no consequences for rule-breaking and in fact, rule breakers may be rewarded.
Mr Alvin Goh, an executive director at the Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI), noted that a toxic piece of work environment is i "where employees dread going to work as the work-day is plagued by in-fighting amongst different groups of employees due to poor advice and indecision past their leaders".
Toxic behaviours include taking part in "gossipy" engagements with different groups and undermining work, every bit well as micromanaging and fault finding in employees' work, he added.
In some extreme cases, there would be shouting, using vulgar language or signs, and getting physical, including the throwing of items.
In contrast, Dr Donald Ferrin, professor of organisational behaviour and human resources at Singapore Direction University (SMU), said good for you, not-toxic organisations emphasise kindness, respect, due procedure, fairness, trust, compassion and psychological condom.
That said, the signal at which an organisation "crosses the line" to be considered toxic is "really in the eyes of the employees themselves", he said.
"Some may be very sensitive whereas others may be less so. And it could be a unmarried employee who concludes the organisation is toxic, or a group of employees deciding together," he added.
OVERNIGHT SUCCESS, START-UP MODEL MAY Brood TOXIC BEHAVIOUR
Prof Mak pointed out that such toxic culture is allowed to fester more than than ever today due to the maddening pace at which the first-upwardly model is being used to conduct business.
It used to be the case that companies sought to cultivate and retain good and loyal employees over time, as businesses were predominantly "built over a long time and entrepreneurs rarely got rich overnight", he noted.
Just the rail between starting a business and monetising information technology through someone buying the business or proceeding to the initial public offering stage is much shorter these days.
"Unfortunately, those who invest in start-ups at early on stages often don't take a long-term view. Private disinterestedness and venture capital investors are just looking at maximising valuations in preparation for their exit. So they may not be concerned about how employees are treated," he said.
Prof Mak added that these entrepreneur types tend to exist "more than narcissistic personalities who may be clever or creative but lack EQ (emotional caliber) and people skills".
He pointed out that founding teams are commonly compensated through options or stock, which can but become valuable if the company is successfully listed or bought out at a good price. Hence, employees may tolerate unacceptable behaviours longer than they normally would.
For 29-year-one-time Olivia (not her real name), who joined a retail kickoff-up in her early 20s, she had to grapple with quirks such as a requirement for all newcomers to work for free for the first month and being paid through an ambiguous "profit-sharing model" in subsequent months.
She was eventually paid merely S$800 to S$ane,300 a month, a far cry from what she had expected for a total-time position.
The fine print was that company profits would exist shared based on each person's perceived "performance" on a calendar month-to-month basis, and it was non transparent how workers could become more than.
It did non help that the company's leadership was extremely "cliquish", she said, noting the presence of a private Telegram chat group where only favoured employees would be added.
Olivia was left to wonder what sort of values the leadership was trying to promote. Simply anybody would simply become forth with the menstruum, conscious nigh the need to avoid condign a target, she said.
Prof Mak stressed that toxic work cultures always start from the top – oft because of someone who has power only little accountability, such every bit the founder in a start-upward, and is seen every bit an "untouchable" figure.
Board members and senior direction must besides play their office to phone call out bullying behaviours, so that such behave doesn't cascade down the organization. "If it is okay for the chairman to bully the CEO, and so information technology is okay for the CEO to corking others," he said.
Professor Lawrence Loh, who is the director of the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the NUS Business School, said toxicity occurs in every social grouping, but it is extremely sensitive in the workplace due to an asymmetry of ability.
"One person has the power to hire and fire ... This is where nosotros have to accept the problem by the horns and effort to accost it," he said.
WHAT FIRMS NEED TO DO
Simply this power remainder in the workplace is also shifting, with a growing number of employees seeking redress by going straight to social media.
Prof Loh also pointed to a new trend of firms going beyond financial reporting to cover "culture reporting".
He said: "Companies had been managing external stakeholders. Now information technology is time to 'come back home' and examine what is on the within."
Agreeing, Prof Mak said that it is fourth dimension to put more than emphasis on HR functions in all organisations, non just in start-ups. "Sadly, many organisations, including public companies don't pay enough attending to their human capital or people," he said.
The lack of attending can be seen from the fact that the Hour profession in Singapore is not as developed as it is in more than advanced economies, said Prof Mak.
Boards also rarely appoint directors with man capital experience, he noted. "They think someone who has been a CEO would know HR and this is often not the case," he added.
Dr Michael Ramsay Bashshur, an acquaintance professor of organisational behaviour and human resources at SMU, said people management is the hard part as it is never "plug and play", or equally simple every bit talking well-nigh "transparency" and "openness".
He said: "It'south very easy to scare people into doing something, or pay them a ton of coin ... Just (such workers) don't really care virtually what they're doing ,.. The infinitesimal you turn your back, the minute they stop working and doing what you want."
He pointed out that on the other hand, workers would be self-driven and crave a lot less supervision to perform well if leaders make the endeavour to inspire and motivate them through shared beliefs and goals and shared delivery to the values.
Dr Tan Hwee Hoon, also an associate professor in the same field at SMU, noted that in the area of fairness, firms often emphasise outcome fairness (pay and bonuses) only overlook procedural fairness (having avenues for redress and ensuring that the criteria for decision are made clear) and interpersonal fairness (treating folks with nobility).
Lecturer Paul Lim, too from SMU, identified insecurity to be at the root of toxicity in the workplace, cartoon parallels to dominant work cultures here, such as the "Singapore FaceTime" – or the practice of not leaving before the dominate does – and managers' compulsive need to "double confirm" things.
Given the perception that HR departments are powerless to issue change, information technology is not surprising that social media has become the medium of selection for unhappy employees to expose their bosses from hell and unfair work practices, said the experts.
SHRI's Mr Goh urged Hr personnel to be the vocalisation of employees and have "the moral courage to call out unfair workplace practices and abuses".
In progressive organisations, HR should get a "strategic asset that assists business organization leaders to create an environment to bring the best out of its talents", he said.
Apart from developing a whistleblowing policy, Mr Goh said companies can fix an "all ranks" committee that can independently investigate issues on workplace harassment.
WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION LAWS A STEP FORWARD, Just MORE CAN Exist Washed
In August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appear that laws will be enacted to expand the range of actions that regime tin can accept confronting companies that discriminate against employees based on nationality, age, race, gender and disability.
Experts said that this is a pace forrard given that Singapore is a country with some of the weakest protection for employees.
Nevertheless, a lot more tin can be done.
"For one thing, it'south hard for employees to seek redress for unjust dismissals," Prof Mak said. "Even if you sue and win, the legal costs will kill you and you won't get punitive damages. That's mostly not the instance in other developed markets. We should have something similar to a small claims tribunal or other dispute resolution mechanism for employees to go to."
Indeed, Ms Ong-Ash once had a lawyer persuade her to drop her case of unfair dismissal, with the lawyer advising her to "just take the package and be happy".
Still, there are existing laws to protect workers who feel harassed in toxic workplaces.
The Protection from Harassment Human action (POHA), for instance, prohibits intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress through threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or through doxxing, said SMU Assistant Professor of Police Benjamin Joshua Ong.
POHA besides covers "stalking", which takes into account a course of conduct, or a series of acts, that collectively crusade harassment, alarm or distress, even if each private deed may non by itself amount to wrongdoing.
SMU police force lecturer Eugene Tan said a significant bulwark to whatever constabulary being effective in dealing with internal company affairs is the asymmetry of power within near organisations.
Even with POHA, information technology may non be "straightforward" to prove a case of harassment at piece of work, he said.
Equally such, TAFEP cannot remain a "paper tiger" that lacks enforcement teeth, said Assoc Prof Tan.
In response to queries, a TAFEP spokesman said it follows through a example by working with employers to provide proper closure for the afflicted individual, which could involve adjusting work arrangements.
Employers will also be required to follow upwards with implementing proper grievance handling or harassment reporting procedures to forbid future incidents.
"For employers who fail to provide a safe environment or refuse to improve their grievance handling procedure, TAFEP will work with the Ministry of Manpower to have enforcement activeness confronting the visitor, including a review of the firm's work pass privileges," the spokesman said.
Then far, employers engaged by TAFEP have been cooperative and have heeded its advice, the spokesman said. Between 2022 and 2020, TAFEP handled around 80 cases of workplace harassment, with about four in 10 involving harassers who were the victims' supervisors or superiors.
Cocky-CONFESSED TOXIC MANAGERS WHO CHANGED THEIR Means
For people managers themselves, helping to create a less toxic workplace is not always straightforward, with none of the iii interviewed by TODAY getting information technology correct the outset fourth dimension round.
Farah (not her real name), a 39-year-old corporate services manager, said it took some reprimanding from a Hr managing director at her previous company 3 years ago to become her to reflect on her arroyo to people management.
This came after Farah screamed at i of her subordinates: "What the f*** take you done?"
The firm had a cipher-tolerance policy on the use of vulgarities, she afterward learnt. "It made me realise that what I took from my previous companies (including a law firm where cursing and being heavy-handed were very much normalised) were toxic," she said. "If I weren't being called out or reprimanded for information technology, and then I think I'd still keep, thinking it's okay to behave that way."
Mr Lim Hong Zhuang, CEO of blockchain start-up ShuttleOne, recognised that it was his fault for allowing a toxic work civilization to fester at the previous company that he ran - an agronomical firm with about 200 workers - by merely accepting many demands of workers whom he deemed to be good.
He had thought he could "play favourites" with his improve performing employees, and had also formed an "inner circle" with some of them. But he has since realised that information technology is a "terrible fashion" to manage people.
At his new starting time-up, Mr Lim encourages employees to be "cruel" with piece of work quality but he is firm nearly not letting anybody appoint in personal mudslinging.
He has already sacked a worker for launching a character attack on a colleague.
As for employees themselves, they must know when to walk away from toxicity, said Ms Ong-Ash.
She suggested that they ask themselves these questions: Am I empowered enough to add value to the job currently? Am I treated with decent human being respect? Are the company's values authentically aligned with mine and are leaders walking the talk on these values?
If nearly of the answers are "no", then perchance it may be time to seek out greener pastures, or in this case a happier environment, she said.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/toxic-workplaces-abusive-bosses-mental-health-295366
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