When you apply for a job, you want your resume and interviews to showcase your experience in the best possible light. The companies you’re applying to are no different. From intro calls with hiring managers to the interview with your potential future boss, everyone you talk to wants you to see the best parts of working there — and maybe wants to gloss over the not-so-great parts.
Every job is going to have positive and negative aspects to it, but a toxic work environment could have serious ramifications on your mental and physical health.
In a July article in Harvard Business Review, Manuela Priesemuth, a professor of management at Villanova University who studies workplaces, wrote: “My own research has shown that abusive behavior, especially when displayed by leaders, can spread throughout the organization, creating entire climates of abuse. Because employees look to and learn from managers, they come to understand that this type of interpersonal mistreatment is acceptable behavior in the company. In essence, employees start to think that ‘this is how it’s done around here,’ and this belief manifests itself in a toxic environment that tolerates abusive acts.”