Two-thirds say leaders either know and do nothing or take part directly, while nearly nine in 10 workers remain severely affected by a toxic workplace more than two years after leaving, according to new research.
Toxic workplace cultures are rarely a leadership blind spot, according to new research suggesting that senior leaders usually know when something is wrong. and often fail to act. The Toxic Workplace Report 2026 from Capdeca Solutions, based on 8,478 toxic work experiences, finds that just 4% of workers in toxic workplaces believe leadership is genuinely unaware of the problem. In the remaining 96%, workers say leaders know what is happening.
More strikingly, 67% say leaders either do nothing about the toxicity or participate in it directly – 27% say leaders know and fail to act, while 39% say they are directly involved. At the most severe, or “Critical”, level of toxicity, the report says 92.5% of leaders are complicit, while 71% are actively participating in the toxic behaviour.
The findings raise uncomfortable questions about leadership accountability, psychological safety and whether employees can realistically rely on internal reporting systems when the people responsible for acting may themselves be part of the problem.
TOXIC CULTURE CREATED AND ENABLED AT THE TOP
“Toxic work culture is created and enabled at the top. In criminology, the people with the authority to stop harm are called capable guardians,” said Jennifer Brick, Corporate Criminologist and Founder of Capdeca Solutions. “Leaders are in that position, but the data shows they’re either ineffective, unwilling, or complicit.”
Her conclusion echoes a growing body of workplace research. Just days ago, Fair Play Talks reported that one in three CEOs now describe their own workplace culture as toxic, while 40% of employees say the same. That research also found that executives in toxic workplaces were more likely to report strong financial growth, raising the possibility that short-term performance can coexist with – and potentially obscure – serious cultural problems.
Separate research found that nearly seven in 10 US workers had experienced a toxic workplace during their careers, with 79.1% blaming unethical, unaccountable or unsupportive leadership and 72.1% citing poor communication from leaders and managers. Taken together, the findings suggest workplace toxicity is often less about isolated “bad apples” and more about what leadership permits, normalises or fails to challenge.
REPORTING CAN MAKE THINGS WORSE
One of the most concerning findings relates to speaking up. Only one in 10 workers who formally reported toxic behaviour said the issue was handled appropriately. The majority described the process as unhelpful, dismissive or actively harmful.
Where leadership was complicit, reporting was almost three times as likely to make the situation significantly worse – 33%, compared with 12% when leadership was not complicit. Nearly a third, 32.5%, considered reporting but did not feel safe enough to do so, while 44% never formally reported the toxicity at all.
That finding closely mirrors wider concerns around workplace speak-up cultures. Fair Play Talks reported earlier this year that one-third of employees feared retaliation for reporting misconduct. In that study, 22% had witnessed unethical or illegal conduct at work, yet fear of negative consequences prevented many from speaking up. The new Capdeca findings suggest that where leaders themselves are implicated, formal reporting may carry even greater perceived risk.
WHEN SPEAKING UP DOESN’T FEEL SAFE
That has important implications for employers. A grievance procedure or whistleblowing line may exist on paper, but employees may still stay silent if they believe:
- leaders will protect one another;
- complaints will be minimised;
- retaliation is likely;
- confidentiality will not be respected;
- nothing meaningful will change; or
- the person receiving the complaint is connected to the problem.
Fair Play Talks has previously argued that trust is built through what organisations do after employees speak up, not simply by encouraging people to use listening channels. The Capdeca findings reinforce that point. A speak-up system is only as credible as the response that follows.
HOW TOXIC ENVIRONMENTS CAN CAUSE PHYSICAL STRESS
The report also suggests toxic work environments can have a substantial physical effect. Across the measures examined, the strongest predictor of whether somebody labelled their workplace toxic was their physical stress response, with a correlation of r = 0.515.
Symptoms included headaches, anxiety, persistent fatigue, disrupted sleep and a sense of dread. Overall, 97% of respondents in a toxic workplace reported some physical health effect, while 59% reported significant physical harm. Only 2.8% reported no physical effect at all.
The report argues that chronic workplace stress is therefore not simply an unpleasant emotional experience. For many respondents, it was also physiological. That aligns with wider Fair Play Talks coverage showing that workplace culture and mental health are closely linked. Recent World Mental Health Day coverage highlighted mounting workplace mental-health pressures and the role managers play in determining whether employees feel psychologically safe and supported.
GASLIGHTING CAN MAKE PEOPLE LESS LIKELY TO NAME THE PROBLEM
One of the report’s more unusual findings concerns gaslighting and reality distortion. Capdeca examined six vectors of workplace toxicity and found that five generally rose together as severity increased. Gaslighting behaved differently.
When the researchers controlled for the other toxicity measures, greater gaslighting and reality distortion were associated with workers being less likely to label their workplace toxic. The report argues that people who are repeatedly encouraged to second-guess their own perceptions may become less able to identify what is happening around them.
That makes the issue particularly difficult to address. An employee may be experiencing severe dysfunction while simultaneously wondering whether they are overreacting or are somehow responsible.
ISOLATION MAKES SELF-DOUBT WORSE
The research also identifies workplace isolation as a significant risk factor. More than half of workers in toxic jobs, 57%, said they had no safe network at work. Nearly one in five described themselves as completely isolated, while only 17% had a genuinely trusted circle.
Having even one trusted person appeared to matter. Workers with somebody they could turn to for a reality check reported around 20% less self-doubt and were more able to identify the situation as toxic rather than blaming themselves.
That finding highlights why psychologically safe relationships at work matter. Employee networks, trusted managers, peers, mentors and independent reporting routes can all provide a counterweight when someone begins to question their own experience.
TOXIC MANAGEMENT IS NOT A NEW PROBLEM
Leadership behaviour has repeatedly emerged as a major driver of toxic workplaces. Back in 2024, Fair Play Talks reported that one-third of UK employees had worked under a toxic manager during the previous five years.
More than four in 10 had left a job because they were dissatisfied with management, while nearly seven in 10 HR leaders acknowledged that bad managers were a problem inside their organisations. The same research found only 54% of HR professionals believed their leaders had the skills needed to build effective high-performing teams.
That capability gap remains relevant. More recent research found that only four in 10 managers feel adequately prepared for difficult workplace conversations. Poor management does not automatically create a toxic culture, but weak accountability, poor conflict management and inadequate leadership capability can allow problems to escalate.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WORKERS LEAVE TOXIC ENVIRONMENT
Perhaps the most striking part of the Capdeca research concerns what happens after someone leaves. The report says symptom severity showed no meaningful improvement two years after leaving a toxic workplace.
Among workers who had been out of a toxic job for more than two years, 88% still reported severe symptoms, according to the press release. Some symptoms changed over time.
Anxiety and distrust tended to ease, but more future-focused effects – including hypervigilance, fear of entering another toxic workplace and the belief that all workplaces may be toxic – increased. The report also found 76% of workers said they cared less about their careers after a toxic job.
That suggests workplace toxicity can affect not only wellbeing but also future engagement, confidence and career decision-making. Capdeca uses the term Post-Toxic Job Syndrome to describe these after-effects. Importantly, the report explicitly states that this is a descriptive framework, not a recognised clinical diagnosis, and advises people concerned about their mental or physical health to seek qualified professional support.
TOXIC WORK EXPERIENCES CAN REPEAT
Leaving one harmful workplace does not necessarily prevent another. The study found 57% of respondents had previously experienced at least one other toxic job, while more than one in four were in their third or subsequent toxic workplace.
The report found no evidence that repeated exposure made people more resilient. Workers encountering toxicity for the first time reported experiences just as severe as those who had encountered it before.
That raises a broader question about what workers are able to identify when assessing future employers – and whether unhealthy organisational norms can be difficult to detect until after joining.
BAD BOSSES NOT THE ONLY REASON PEOPLE LEAVE
The research also challenges the assumption that poor treatment alone is what pushes employees out. According to the report, the two strongest predictors of readiness to leave were:
- how workers felt when imagining themselves still in the job a year later; and
- how they felt about their career trajectory.
Both were stronger predictors than how they were being treated day to day. In other words, employees may tolerate difficult conditions for some time. What often changes the calculation is the belief that nothing is going to improve and their future is being closed down.
That finding connects closely with earlier Fair Play Talks research showing that workers value career progression, recognition and supportive leadership alongside day-to-day treatment. The issue is not simply whether a workplace feels unpleasant. It is whether employees can still imagine a viable future there.
WHAT EMPLOYERS AND BOARDS SHOULD DO
The findings point to several practical actions. They include:
1. Treat toxicity as a leadership risk
If leadership involvement is as widespread as the study suggests, toxic culture cannot be treated solely as an HR issue. Boards need independent visibility into complaints, turnover, employee relations, exit data and culture indicators.
2. Create reporting routes that bypass the line of command
Employees need alternative channels where their immediate manager or leadership team may be implicated. That can include independent whistleblowing routes, ombuds functions, board-level escalation or external reporting mechanisms.
3. Measure what happens after someone speaks up
Employers should track:
- whether complaints are investigated;
- how long investigations take;
- whether reporters experience retaliation;
- whether action follows substantiated concerns; and
- whether the same leaders or teams generate repeated complaints.
A high number of reports is not necessarily evidence of a worse culture. It may indicate employees trust the system enough to use it.
4. Build manager capability
Fair Play Talks has repeatedly highlighted the gap between what organisations expect managers to handle and the preparation they receive. Training should cover difficult conversations, conflict, grievances, feedback, psychological safety and escalation.
5. Look for isolation and retaliation
If 57% of respondents had no safe workplace network, employers should examine whether employees raising concerns are being excluded, marginalised or cut off from colleagues.
6. Take physical and mental health signals seriously
Repeated stress-related absence, sleep problems, anxiety or burnout can be signs of deeper organisational problems. Employers should not reduce these issues to individual resilience where workplace conditions are contributing to them.
7. Examine career trajectory
If employees believe their future inside the organisation has disappeared, retention efforts may come too late. Employers should pay attention to blocked progression, lack of development, unfair allocation of opportunities and repeated management failures.
WHAT EMPLOYEES CAN DO
The report also offers several lessons for workers experiencing potentially toxic environments. Employees may want to:
- seek a trusted reality check from someone who is outside the immediate dynamic;
- document incidents and patterns rather than relying solely on memory;
- understand internal grievance, whistleblowing and escalation routes before using them;
- consider whether reporting channels are sufficiently independent;
- pay attention to persistent physical or emotional stress responses;
- seek medical or mental-health support where work is affecting health;
- think about whether the organisation offers a credible route to improvement or progression; and
- seek independent legal or professional advice where serious misconduct, discrimination or retaliation may be involved.
Employees should not be expected to fix systemic workplace dysfunction themselves. And where somebody believes they may be at risk, their health and personal safety should take priority over trying to reform the organisation from within.
TOXIC CULTURE IS A SYSTEM, NOT JUST A BAD MANAGER
The wider message emerging from recent research is increasingly consistent. One in three CEOs now describes their own workplace as toxic. Nearly seven in 10 workers say they have experienced a toxic workplace during their careers. One-third of UK employees have worked under a toxic manager. One-third of employees fear retaliation for reporting misconduct.
And now, among workers experiencing or suspecting toxic workplace conditions, only 4% believe leadership does not know there is a problem. The implication is difficult to ignore.
Toxic workplace culture cannot always be explained away as a rogue manager, an isolated conflict or a leadership blind spot. Sometimes the system itself is enabling the behaviour. And in those cases, the defining question is no longer simply “does leadership know?”, it’s “what does leadership do once it knows?”
Download the full 2026 Toxic Workplace Report 2026 here.
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