Toxic employees and Discrimination and the brain
Exploring some research
Toxic employees
One bad apple (or orange) can ruin the bunch.
Recently, I came across this fun academic article, which studied over 50,000 employees, to better understand toxic behaviour within workplaces. It has some conclusions that we kind-of know to be true, and some that are a bit more surprising.
In the "kind-of know to be true" findings:
Toxic workers make other people around them toxic.
Toxic workers are not less productive than other workers. In fact, they can often be more productive!
A change in someone's responsibility or position can make them become toxic.
In the "somewhat surprising" or interesting findings:
People who answer "sometimes rules need to be broken", are less likely to be toxic.
Avoiding toxic workers is financially better for your organisation than finding superstar performers.
While many factors impact who is or who becomes toxic, this study suggests we should not turn a blind eye to people who engage in behaviour that is harmful to the organisation or other people. Instead, organisations should be actively looking out for toxic traits, and not excusing poor behaviour, even from high performers.
Furthermore, we need to better try to identify toxic traits at the hiring stage, before people are employed.
Discrimination and the brain
Another interesting study I came across recently looked at brain connections, and how they could be influenced by racial discrimination.
While it is only a small study, brain scans suggest that the brain microstructure, including stress-sensitive pathways could be affected by discrimination. Simply put, racial discrimination contributes to stress and its affects go deep in the brain.
It takes me back to research I read that explored the link between migration and poorer mental health outcomes. It found that migrants were more than twice as likely to develop psychotic disorders than the general population and that this risk extended to their children as well. Their children, who are more "integrated" into society, often enter the local job market and workplaces, however, still struggle because of who they are.
These studies show the wide-ranging impacts of discrimination in workplaces and society in general. Even second generation migrants, who seemingly fit in really well into society, are strongly affected, with some studies finding this can extend to third generations as well.
As we spend a lot of time working, these studies also reflect the importance and responsibility of creating supportive and inclusive workplaces. Workplace leaders need to understand that discriminatory practices can be both overt and hard to detect. They need to understand that discrimination affects us to the microstructure of our brain, and lead to real health impacts.
Speaking of brains, check out this interesting article, which reveals how much further we have to go to understand our brains. How much of your brain do you even need?