"Everywhere I turn - podcasts, research calls, dinner conversations - people are talking about "toxic workplaces." The phrase has become ubiquitous; almost unavoidable. So I did what most researchers do when they're curious (or procrastinating): I Googled it. That led me to a chart showing the term's meteoric rise beginning in the early 2010s. The curve shoots upward like a fever."
"Now, a few caveats before I get carried away. Google's Ngram Viewer isn't a perfect mirror of reality. It measures the frequency of words in books - not the lived experience of people hunched under fluorescent lights in glass conference rooms. Still, it tracks, at least anecdotally, with what I've seen across nearly two decades of reporting and conversation. The phrase "toxic workplace" barely existed before 2010. Today, it's everywhere - startups and conglomerates, tech firms and law firms, boardrooms and Slack channels alike."
The phrase 'toxic workplace' rose sharply beginning in the early 2010s and is now ubiquitous across industries and communication channels. Google's Ngram Viewer shows an exponential increase in the term's appearance in books, though such measures reflect published language rather than individual workplace experiences. Naming workplace dysfunction represents partial progress, making visible burnout, manipulation, gaslighting, and territorial internal politics that earlier generations may have endured silently. The label encompasses a wide ecosystem of behaviors—from abusive bosses to protective fiefdoms—and the rising usage suggests changes in how people perceive, name, and respond to unhealthy workplace dynamics.
Read at Big Think
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