Workplace Trends

Moving Away from the 

Toxic Work Culture

By Mike Moen
Producer, PNS

 

    North Dakota - (PNS) - 5/17/2022 - North Dakota has seen recent examples of staffing shake-ups among certain employers where a toxic environment was cited. It coincides with rhetoric about the need for companies and agencies to offer a more compassionate work setting.

    Earlier this year, Fargo Police leaders publicly responded to reports of low morale among officers. Similar issues prompted an internal investigation within Cass County Human Services.

    Dr. Hope Umansky, a psychological consultant for Innovations Advocacy Group, said those in management need to pay closer attention to how the workforce has responded to the pandemic.

    "I don't think people, with the shift in the last two years, are going to put up with just neglecting their families, their homes, their kids anymore," Umansky contended. "A good thing has been a reset toward, 'We don't need to be so busy all the time.' You know, like it's not healthy for anybody."

    She emphasized the mindset includes no longer feeling a sense of loyalty to a job if the person doesn't think they are valued by management.

    A recent report from MIT Sloan Management looked at turnover data during the "Great Resignation." Researchers found a toxic culture was the leading predictor of attrition.

    Umansky pointed out employers who do not look inward and improve leadership will face more instability, which could threaten the company's future.

    "If your [organizational] structure, your staff, your people aren't healthy psychologically and happy and thriving, the business isn't going to grow," Umansky stressed.

    She added while it's not an issue of ageism, younger generations have different expectations of a work-life balance. She suggests because it has been harder for them to obtain financial security, they have a different set of priorities as it relates to work.

References:
Police video City of Fargo 01/14/2022
Great resignation study MIT 01/11/2022 

Hate Group Listing Riles Family Reseach Council

For further reading:

Conservatives Stand Together for Anti-Gay Bigotry (RD Mag)

Conservative Organizations Slam Center for Labeling Them 'Hate' Groups (Fox)
Family Research Council claims they are not a 'hate group' (Daily Kos)
Posted 12/25/2010

Voters Back Workplace Flexibility, Job Quality

   WASHINGTON - (BUSINESS WIRE) - 10/31/10 -- New data collected for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research by Precision Opinion finds widespread support across party lines, gender, race and ethnicity for policies that will assist working families and protect workers’ rights, especially for low income workers. The majority of registered voters favor political candidates who will promote policies that increase workplace protections from unfair treatment, and provide paid leave and flexibility to meet family care giving demands—and women consistently show greater support than men.
   “To excite voters, and especially women voters, political parties can address the pressing need for policies to improve work-life flexibility and balance, as well as to provide basic protections, such as paid sick days, to help workers care for their families,” IWPR Executive Director Barbara Gault said.
   For example, likely voters overwhelmingly support paid leave for family care and child birth, quality and affordable child care, paid sick days, a right to request a flexible schedule, a right to refuse overtime, and a higher minimum wage. Across the board, women support such work-life policies more than men, as do parents with children under the age of 18 value such work-life policies more than those without children under the age of 18.
   Three out of four (76 percent) endorse laws to provide paid leave for family care and childbirth—81 percent of women and 71 percent of men. Racial/ethnic minority voters support these policies (92 percent of African Americans and 86 percent of Hispanics) more than White voters (72 percent). Democrats promote these policies (88 percent) more than either Republicans (68 percent) or Independents (70 percent).
    Similar patterns are seen in support for laws to improve the quality and affordability of child care and after-school care. Three-quarters of voters agree with these policies— 79 percent of women and 75 percent of men. African Americans (88 percent) and Hispanics (84 percent) are more likely than Whites (73 percent) to factor child care arrangements into their electoral choices. Eighty-nine percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Republicans, and 71 percent of Independent voters see a role for government in promoting high quality, affordable child care.
    Paid sick days legislation, which would require businesses to provide leave when workers or their children are ill, has been introduced each year since 2005 in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. More than two-thirds of registered voters (69 percent) endorse laws to provide paid sick days; 74 percent of women and 63 percent of men. A majority of both Republicans (57 percent) and Independents (59 percent) favor such laws, but even more Democrats (84 percent) support paid sick days laws.
Eighty-two percent of registered voters support legislators who will work for stronger laws to challenge discrimination and unfair treatment on the job—with support at 90 percent among respondents aged 18-39.    
   More women favor such policies (86 percent) than men (77 percent).
    For more information, please see the full press release with graph on IWPR’s website.
   Results shown are for registered voters drawn from a nationally representative sample of 2,080 adults surveyed by Precision Opinion using telephone interviews and random digital dialing in September and October 2010. The results shown are preliminary with a margin of sampling error for the survey of ±2.2 percentage points. Funding for this Institute for Women’s Policy Research survey was provided by the Rockefeller Foundation.
   News Release Source: BUSINESS WIRE