Are you currently in a toxic work environment in higher education? What are the telltale signs?
Sometimes, you may not want to pay attention to certain red flags, even if you know deep down inside, things seem “off” in your department or institution.
Why might toxicity in higher education be harder to admit to or to say out loud? Would this be the same if you were in a different field, like corporate law?
If you pursued an academic career after your PhD and have not had work experiences outside of academia, then you only really know the landscape of higher ed.
And if you landed a tenure track position in a precarious job market as a WOC faculty, you’ve probably been told that you are one of the lucky ones. You should feel grateful to be gainfully employed.
It can be a bitter pill to swallow, then, to acknowledge that you are actually in a toxic workplace. After all, those tenure track positions are highly coveted and getting scarcer every year.
So it may just be easier to ignore certain harmful situations or hostile behavior.
But at some point, it will start to gnaw at you.
In this episode, I will be addressing the topic of toxic work environments in higher education. I’ll be presenting a series of prompts that will help you to clarify whether you are in a truly unhealthy work environment.
Academics and the “Great Resignation”
Since the pandemic began, the “Great Resignation” has notably reached the hallowed halls of academia. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and even Nature have recently published articles on the topic of academics leaving their careers for other industries.
The people who are calling it quits come from all ranks and disciplines: newly minted PhDs, adjunct faculty, tenure track, and tenured faculty.
Did you know that there’s even a genre of writing called “quit lit,” where academics will announce their departures along with citing their reasons for leaving on social media platforms. By the way, I think that is so on point for academics to provide these citations from their repository of discontent.
Just do a search for hashtag #leavingacademia on social media.
I guess that I unwittingly contributed to this genre of writing, when I announced my own resignation from a tenured faculty position on LinkedIn in August of this year.
I stated that I was choosing to walk away from a toxic and dysfunctional work environment where I was unable to thrive and that I would be later founding my own coaching and consulting business for WOC faculty in higher ed, which has since become Rise with Clarity.
Although I had been on LinkedIn since 2011, I had never really used it, let alone posted anything. I felt that I just needed to explain my change in affiliation. So imagine my surprise when I saw that my first post on the platform had yielded over 19,000 impressions, along with several comments and requests to connect.
It made me realize that discontent in higher ed is really palpable these days, and that there are a host of reasons why academics are leaving or are contemplating pivoting out. Reasons cited in “quit lit” include:
- Untenable workloads
- Burnout
- Inadequate compensation
- Job insecurity
- Not feeling valued
- Harassment
- Lack of administrative oversight
- Not having much control over where one lives due to job scarcity
- Toxic and hostile work environments
This last one is one that comes up pretty frequently. Let’s reflect on that for a moment.
An article published by the American Psychological Association defines a toxic workplace as “an abstract term to describe infighting, intimidation, and other affronts that harm productivity.”
Dr. Mindy Shoss, a professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida, further notes that “toxic workplaces drain all the energy and excitement out of employees and replace it with fear.”
How does fear show up for you in your work environment? I’ll let you ponder that one for a little while.
For now, I’d like to present you with a checklist of prompts that come from a book called Rising Above a Toxic Workplace, authored by Gary Chapman, Paul White, and Harold Myra. Since the book is geared more towards the corporate world, I’ve taken the liberty to adapt the checklist to higher ed for our purposes.
In the written transcript of this episode, I have underlined the words that I have added to or replaced from the original text. Feel free to substitute your own terms and phrases, appropriate for your own discipline and work environment.
“Is Your Workplace Toxic?”: A Quick 10-point Checklist
(Adapted from Rising Above a Toxic Workplace, p. 130)
1. Hidden agendas characterize communication and decision-making in your department; issues are not addressed openly.
2. Due to factional divides, faculty seldom work together to reach shared goals.
3. Deans and Chairs have the pattern of saying one thing and doing another, especially when it comes to the deployment of the rosy rhetoric of DEI.
4. During prospective graduate student visits, everyone feels pressured to make things look good despite widespread dysfunction in the department.
5. Senior level administrators view faculty and staff as there solely to get tasks done, with little interest in getting to know them personally.
6. PIs manipulate lab members through embarrassment or anger.
7. Apathy, cynicism, and a lack of hope mark the overall work environment.
8. Rules and procedures are largely ignored. WOC faculty at PWI often experience the shifting of goalposts for promotion and tenure advancements.
9. Tenured faculty sense little accountability for inappropriate or abusive behavior.
10. Adjunct faculty are “used” for the institution’s benefit and discarded when not considered useful.
If none of these points are applicable for you, then this is really great news. And I hope that it stays that way for you. And l’ll also say that I do know that it is possible to be in a healthy and supportive work environment in higher ed, as I experienced this at my first job.
On the other hand, if several of these prompts cut a little too close for home for you, then it may be time to admit that you are indeed in a toxic work environment. Acknowledgment is really the first step in a mindset shift…before even thinking concretely about solutions and exit strategies.
As I mentioned earlier in the podcast, it may be easier to ignore rather than acknowledge toxicity in higher education. If you are particularly vulnerable as an untenured faculty member, you don’t want to call out your senior colleague or your chair who may exhibit hostile behavior for fear of retaliation against you. Your advancement to tenure could be on the line.
Perhaps this is one reason why toxicity is normalized in the hierarchical structure of academia.
But it shouldn’t be this way. And you shouldn’t have to put up with it.
Continue to listen to and consult other resources, like this recent episode on Brown Table Talk, featuring Dee C. Marshall and Mita Mallick where they discuss “How to Spot a Toxic Workplace” for when you are interviewing or trying to decide whether or not to accept an offer.
Also know that while you may feel alone in your department or on your campus, there are certainly others in higher ed who are experiencing similar things. Toxic workplaces are the main reason that women leave academic jobs … and I just read the title for an article that came out in Nature in October 2023.
If you have come to the realization that you are in harmful and soul-crushing work environment with little chance of the culture changing, do reach out for support. It can be through LinkedIn, the Professor is Out Facebook group (which is now at 30,000 members), your own networks, or by consulting with a coach.
There are now several higher ed coaches who are specializing in the topic of “leaving academia.” I’ll go ahead put their names and contact info in the transcript. And feel free to reach out to me through my website if you are interested in working with me in the future. I have supported a number of women faculty on leaving their tenured academic positions by serving as their sounding board and thinking partner– brainstorming their core values and viable career pivots and the next steps that can ultimately lead to a more healthy and balanced life.
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For academics considering leaving academia, here is a list of higher ed and career coaches who may be able to help navigate this challenging transition:
Other resources include:
Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christopher L. Caterine
Anthro to UX Podcast with Matt Artz
The Professor is Out Facebook group (private)
Compassionate Cohort peer-support group (facilitated by Jodie Mader and Katherine Lee)
Recovering Academics peer-support group founded by Gabrielle Filip-Crawford
Michelle D. Wilson, MLS (Coach focusing on workplace bullying)
