Workplace toxicity is a widespread issue that can wreak havoc on employee morale and team dynamics. It is highly likely that you have come face-to-face with toxic behaviours firsthand over the course of your career, whether it affected you or those around you. Workplace toxicity is defined as conduct and communication that transforms your workplace into a hostile and harmful environment.

Before we delve into what workplace toxicity can look like, its impact on teams, and the cost attached to it, let's focus on why professional individuals abandon respectful principles and become “toxic" in the workplace.

It might be surprising that those who exhibit toxic behaviour in the workplace aren’t always bad people. Workplace toxicity often stems from various factors, and getting to the root of these issues is instrumental in addressing and preventing toxicity. Some common triggers for toxic behaviour include personal troubles, job dissatisfaction, insecurity, emotional...