Toxic work culture in the tech industry: Disconnected leadership fuels toxicity—and employees suffer in silence

The tech industry appears to be going through a shift, from scrambling to retain employees to shedding staff. And the ripple effects are already starting to show. Recent layoffs have intensified a climate of toxicity in tech companies according to 45% of employees, a new research report by TalentLMS and Culture Amp reveals.

The survey of 1,000 employees who work in U.S. tech companies with toxic work culture unveils the main drivers of toxicity in the software industry, the staggering toll it takes on its employees, and unpacks ways to combat and reverse it. 

To define toxic culture, and differentiate it from a frustrating or tedious work environment, we used The Toxic Five framework developed by MIT Sloan. This framework groups the elements of toxic work culture in broader topics, and identifies five specific attributes: disrespectful, non inclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive.