Its a feeling, like a pit in your stomach, like you've ingested something that is ... toxic. All of this happens when you get up to go to work every morning, or in your free time (if you have some), or whenever you are doing something besides working, or meeting the BOSS or whatever else is the source of this toxicity.

Workplace toxicity cannot be precisely defined but can be categorized mainly into two columns. One is where you are working at a place where the workload is high (everyone has their own definition of high workload); it disrupts your work-life balance. However, nobody says anything bad to you, which causes mental harassment.

The second is where you are working at a place where people say bad things and harass you, but the workload is not that much. Because of the harassment and bad words, it mentally puts you in a place where, even if you work, you get exhausted.

Additionally, multiple combination of these two types can occur. For example, a workplace might both overload you with work and subject you to harassment, or it might harass you only by constantly assigning work without saying bad to you but you are specifically target with all the work.

At the end of the day, it comes down to the capacity of the individual. For example, in a lenient scenario, if your boss loudly says in front of people, "Why are you one minute late in submitting the file?" one person might think, "This is okay; I can’t do anything about it, and it doesn’t affect me mentally." However, another person might feel very upset and be mentally annoyed by this.

So, your mental capacity define if the place is toxic for you or not.

However, scolding or an increased workload can be part of the job, and I have mentioned that it depends on mental capacity but One clear indicator of toxicity is when scolding and an increased workload occur regularly every day, even if your work is correct, and it is taking a mental toll on you regularly and If this pattern is consistent, then it is definitely toxic.

A toxic workplace is a combination of the following:-

1. An insecure intermediate boss, who doesn't let his/her subordinates shine, for fear of being outshone, and who takes out his/her frustrations on subordinates by bullying/shaming/abuse.2. An unresponsive and opaque system which doesn't offer adequate remedy/response for people who are stuck with bad bosses/superiors, leaving people who take out their frustrations on their peers/subordinates, or become apathetic.

3. One or two oldtimers who are apathetic and cynical.

4. Lastly, a compensation/appraisal system that is broken.

overworking-underpaying, rejecting your draft without reading it, unnecessarily aggressive, not-accommodating, fixed work hours even if there's not much work, snarky comments, lack of boundaries, overfriendly/informal-sick "jokes", etc. I work with you I'm not your friend please behave.