HR Managers: How to Detect and Prevent Toxic Management

One in five employees reports experiencing toxic management. A chilling figure.

The problem? While the term is increasingly discussed, it’s not always easy to clearly define what toxic management really is. And yet, it is essential to detect it early to prevent its harmful effects on both people and performance.

So, as an HR leader, how can you recognize toxic management—sometimes blatant, but often insidious? And what are the keys to disrupting or at least minimizing harmful managerial practices?

What Is Toxic Management?

Definition of Toxic Management

We hear the term often—but what does it really mean? Toxic management refers to a style of leadership that creates individual or collective distress at work. It may be intentional, but it can also be unintentional—for instance, when a manager lacks experience or certain skills but does not necessarily intend to cause harm.

Several factors make the definition tricky:

• Duration: like harassment, it is often repetition over time that makes management toxic.
• Subjectivity: a manager seen as toxic by one employee may have a positive relationship with another. This creates ambiguity and sometimes shared responsibility.
• The fine line: between “toxic management” and simply “making mistakes.”

Examples of Toxic Management

Toxic management can take many forms. For instance:

• Managers who feel unfit for their role and transfer that pressure onto their teams. In hybrid or remote cultures that are poorly adapted, this can lead to micromanagement and constant demands. Employees who struggle to set boundaries may experience this as toxic.
• Organizations where pressure never stops. Teams are constantly busy, with no time to pause. Behind friendly team-building events, the implicit message is: “It’s normal—and even good—to devote your life to work.”
• Subtle, repeated harassment: a collaborator who constantly receives negative remarks about their work or even their appearance. Not violent day-to-day, but over time, it erodes self-esteem. One employee reported resorting to “invisibility” as a coping strategy—until she lost herself in the process.

Types of Toxic Management

• Authoritarian management: excessive control, discouraging initiative, imposing decisions without discussion. Consequences: powerlessness, demotivation, and loss of value.
• Manipulative management: using flattery, lies, or emotional blackmail to get results. Employees become trapped in an unhealthy, manipulative relationship.
• Negligent management: total disinterest in employee well-being. Ignoring needs, contributions, and resources leaves employees feeling neglected and undervalued, leading to low motivation and disengagement.

The Consequences of Toxic Management

Toxic leadership doesn’t just affect individuals—it impacts the entire organization.

Poor management practices undermine growth and employee development:

• Lack of trust
• Non-constructive criticism
• Humiliation, devaluation, threats, punishment
• Burnout

These behaviors stifle creativity, courage, motivation, and engagement, holding back both employees’ skills and their careers.

Long-term consequences include:

• Significant drops in employee effectiveness and well-being
• Higher psychosocial risks
• Increased absenteeism and turnover (over 65% of employees say they’ve considered leaving their job for mental health reasons)

This is where HR plays a crucial role: to alert leadership and intervene before reaching a breaking point.

How to Detect Toxic Management

70% of employees exposed to toxic behaviors never report them.

So how can HR detect distress and encourage people to speak up?

• Run surveys and collect data: measure stress levels, sense of purpose, confidence, work-life balance, etc. Analyzing results by team or department highlights problem areas. Tools like QWL barometers or teale’s Mental Health Index help HR monitor well-being and tailor interventions.
• Track company-wide KPIs: absenteeism rates, turnover levels in certain teams, or visits to occupational health services. These are warning signals.
• Maintain regular touchpoints: simple check-ins (“How are you doing? Do you feel good in your role?”) can reveal potential problems early.

How to Prevent Toxic Management

Because toxic relationships can be difficult to define, our co-founder Julia suggests asking instead: what does positive management look like? How can we create conditions where every employee can thrive and organizations can grow healthily?

Apply the Principles of “Radical Candor”

Coined by author Kim Scott, Radical Candor combines two key behaviors:

• Care personally: show genuine, human concern for each individual.
• Challenge directly: be honest, challenge your team and peers, and say what needs to be said.

When leaders adopt this mindset, it often spreads quickly across the team.

Define and Live by Company Values

Values provide a clear reference point for managerial behavior.

At teale, for example:

• Boldness/Courage: “We believe mental health has long been overlooked by innovation. We’re not afraid to lead the way in Europe.” → Externally: challenging the status quo, openly talking about mental health (not just “well-being”). Internally: innovating and doing things differently.
• Humility: “Mental health is serious. We don’t claim to have the only answer, but we strive to build the most impactful solution.” → Externally: working with a Scientific Council to ensure credibility. Internally: practicing transparency, sharing both successes and failures, and continuously learning from feedback.

Lead by Example

Founders, leaders, and managers set the tone. Modeling healthy practices—around working hours, rest, time off, learning from mistakes—encourages others to do the same.

Sharing vulnerabilities (e.g., admitting feeling stressed) also gives employees permission to be open themselves, breaking the silence around mental health.

Provide Training and Tools

At both individual and collective levels:

• Individual: equip employees to set boundaries, manage stress, and assert themselves.
• Collective: train managers in positive management practices, focusing on posture and soft skills.

With teale, each employee receives a personalized program of videos and exercises, while managers are trained to spot weak signals and develop the right reflexes.

Seek External Expertise

HR should not hesitate to involve external psychologists or specialized organizations. Fresh perspectives help break out of the internal bubble and provide valuable distance.

Acting on Harassment and Psychosocial Risks

A key part of prevention is tackling harassment and psychosocial risks head-on. HR must implement:

• Clear policies and procedures to handle harassment cases
• Safe, confidential reporting mechanisms
• Training for employees and managers on prevention and response

HR should also monitor early warning signs: rising absenteeism, stress-related complaints, or negative behavioral changes. Acting early allows organizations to reverse trends and improve well-being.

Finally, HR must work closely with leadership to build a culture of respect, open communication, and mutual support. By promoting empathy, inclusion, and diversity, HR can help create a healthy work environment where everyone feels respected and supported.