Job coach's post on overwork goes viral: 'Managers don't realise people have life outside work'

Toxic work environment can take a significant toll on one's productivity and overall job satisfaction. More often than not, managers play a part in shaping the work environment.

A career coach detailed an incident where he was asked to flag an employee as an "attrition risk" simply because the employee was not responding to work-related messages after office hours got over. 

Attrition risk refers to an employee who is likely to leave the company. It, however, is different from turnover. Turnover refers to all types of employee exits whereas attrition refers to voluntary exits. 

"When an employee started leaving work at 6:30 pm, my managers asked me to flag him as an attrition risk. I thought this surely must be some crazy predictive analysis stuff and asked him about it," the job coach said in a LinkedIn post. 

He added that the manager reportedly told that the employee seemed disengaged and did not respond to messages or calls after work hours. "I was confused as I didn't even understand why that was a red flag. His performance was as good as always. If at all, he was more active at work."

Despite there being no evident red flags, he engaged with the employee in question to understand his concerns.

"He told me that his health was getting affected as he wasn't able to exercise due to working till late. So he comes to work and leaves by 6:30 pm as he has joined a gym nearby and is just trying to manage his schedule," the job coach wrote of the conversation. 

He added that managers need to understand that life is not all about work, while noting that the unrealistic expectation of being available at all times has been deeply ingrained in work cultures. 

"It's high time we stop being apologetic for not being available after work hours and stop glorifying overwork," he said towards the end of his post. 

So, how to identify if you are working in a toxic company? If employees frequently leave especially after a short period, this could be a red flag for dissatisfaction, stress or poor management practices. 

Other red flags include poor communication and lack of transparency from management; regular burnout among employees; mental health struggles among employees; overworking without regard for employee well-being; lack of teamwork and collaboration; micromanagement and lack of autonomy; and unclear or unrealistic expectations.