A belief that your workplace has become intolerable does not
make it so
Workplaces are often defined differently by
different employees. Positive work environments are commonly
labelled as welcoming, collaborative, empowering, inclusive, and so
on. Toxic workplaces, on the other hand, are usually deemed as
unsupportive, tense, or hostile.
We are encountering a growing number of employees and employers
concerned that their workplace has become toxic, and the
descriptions, explanations and justifications for the unease are
almost never the same. And while the term "toxic
workplace" is fashionable nowadays, there is no concrete legal
test to determine its existence.
However, this doesn't mean the risks of a toxic workplace
aren't real. For starters, health and safety laws across the
country generally require that employees be provided with a healthy
and safe workplace. Failure to do so can attract complaints,
workplace investigations, audits led by government
