Can Workplace Culture Shape How You Feel at Work?

When we think of our jobs, we tend to think of the same things: the meetings, the tasks, the never-ending deadlines… Yet behind those routines, each workplace tells a completely different story. You might realize this when you sit and chat with a group of friends. As everyone starts sharing workplace stories, you’ll see that their work environments feel like different worlds, even though they’re in the same industry. One friend describes a workplace where ideas are welcomed and mistakes are seen as part of learning. Another talks about a place where people walk on eggshells, where silence feels safer than honesty. Someone else works in an environment that celebrates collaboration, while another says success only matters if you stand out alone. These differences may not show up in job titles or office layouts, but in the invisible tone of daily life. Workplaces vary in terms of their cultures, and each one has its own unique culture, an invisible language, and an atmosphere that influences the relationships within it. In short, workplace culture reflects not only an organization’s ”way of doing business“ but also its ”way of being together.” In this therapy sketch, we will explore the concept of workplace culture and its impact on a person’s well-being.

What is workplace culture?

Written policies, job descriptions, or organizational charts show how an organization is structured, but not how it truly functions. What reveals that are the daily interactions, the tone of communication, and the way decisions are made. This invisible yet tangible system is defined as workplace culture, which refers to the way things operate within an organization (Drennan, 1992). More broadly, it is a term that describes how the values, beliefs, and behaviors of an organization are reflected in its daily practices. We can say that workplace culture is a fundamental dynamic because it influences all aspects of work, including all departments and employees. It is reflected in how safe people feel, whether they can express their opinions, how mistakes are handled, and how change is welcomed. In some workplaces, culture encourages learning and participation; in others, it becomes a structure that fosters silence, fear, and burnout. At this point, we can see workplace culture at two extremes: effective and toxic cultures.

Effective workplaces

An effective workplace culture is not merely a well-intentioned atmosphere, but a structure that supports learning, participation, and development. According to Manley and colleagues, such cultures are environments where employees translate values into daily behaviors, decision-making processes become transparent, and change is embraced as a natural part of the process. Here are the values of effective workplace culture:

Translating Values into Action: In an effective culture, values are not merely stated in corporate documents; they are reflected in everyday behavior. For example, if transparency and openness are valued in a workplace, then managers and supervisors not only share decisions with employees but also take the time to explain the reasoning behind them.
Opennes to change: In such cultures, change is seen not as a threat but as a natural part of development. For example, AI has recently begun to be integrated into systems to enhance work processes. Rather than sticking to outdated systems that may slow down processing, optimizing systems with AI can speed up processes and help alleviate the workload.
Effective leadership: In effective cultures, leadership is a facilitating role rather than just a controlling one. For example, leaders who support an effective workplace culture and have a trauma-informed approach encourage teams to learn from mistakes and create space for growth and new solutions. To learn more about trauma-informed leadership, you can check out our “trauma-informed leadership” article.
Systems that Support Learning and Participation: According to Manley’s framework, an effective workplace culture has formal systems that support learning, such as regular supervision, mentoring, and team feedback sessions. These systems facilitate not only individual development but also shared learning within the team.
Shared Vision and Purpose: In effective cultures, team members don’t just share the same office; they share the same purpose. This vision and purpose also guide daily decisions. For example, if you work in a workplace that requires you to be creative for your tasks, the shared purpose might be to bring new ideas to life in a way that connects with people. Whether you’re designing, writing, or planning a strategy, everyone’s work moves toward that same goal.
Human-Centered Approach: Manley and his colleagues define the most tangible outcome of an effective workplace culture as “human flourishing.” In other words, employees strengthen not only their performance but also their professional identity. To learn more about workplace identity, you can check out our “Is my job part of who I am?” article.

But not every workplace operates this way. Some places make you want to show up, contribute, and grow. Others slowly drain you. You might feel like you are not part of the culture, and moreover, you might not feel like the culture is supporting your growth and development. These kinds of environments are known as toxic workplace cultures.

Toxic Workplace Cultures

Toxic workplace culture may appear to be merely a difficult working environment when viewed from the outside, but it is actually much deeper than that. Academically, toxic culture refers to environments where behaviors such as bullying, exclusion, harassment, injustice, or insecurity become systematic. The problem, therefore, stems not from the negative behavior of a single person, but from a structure in which such behavior is normalized and ignored. There are five components defined in the literature of the toxic workplace culture:

Lack of trust: In toxic environments, people hesitate to express their opinions. Mistakes are not shared because every disclosure carries a risk. Psychological safety is replaced by silence. For example, over time, you might focus on “not saying the wrong thing” rather than “saying the right thing.”
Overcontrolling and micromanagement: In toxic cultures, leadership styles are characterized by excessive control and a focus on punishment. For example, even though you have a better idea of how to complete the project, you might not take the initiative and wait for instructions. That can hurt feelings of self-sufficiency.
Lack of Communication and Transparency: In toxic environments, information often streams from leadership downward, but it’s seldom shared upwards. This can lead to uncertainty and mistrust.
Competitive and Exclusionary Social Dynamics: In toxic environments, personal achievement is valued more than team success. In these environments, people may focus more on protecting their own positions than supporting each other. This can make the workplace feel less like a team, causing employees to see each other more as rivals than colleagues.
Emotional Exhaustion and Losing Meaning at Work: Over time, these dynamics can exhaust internal resources. People in toxic work environments might start to find it challenging to find meaning in their work. Work might become a place that requires them to survive.

Over time, the impact of such a culture extends beyond performance or teamwork and can reflect on a person’s overall well-being.

How can toxic workplace environments affect well-being?

Workplace culture doesn’t just affect people at work. Even when we shut down our computers and leave the office at the end of the day, the influence of that culture comes home with us. The Conservation of Resources Theory explains the reason for this. According to this theory, people strive to protect and maintain the resources that enable them to cope with life. These resources can be broadly identified as time, energy, self-confidence, support, and a sense of belonging. A healthy workplace culture nurtures these resources; employees feel more empowered through support, recognition, and collaboration. However, in a toxic culture, these resources gradually diminish (Rasool et al., 2021).

Over time, people spend their energy not on work but on protecting themselves. Every meeting, every email, every moment of silence becomes a “risk calculation.” This not only creates fatigue; it also begins to negatively impact individuals’ sense of trust, self-perception, and psychological resilience. Research shows that toxic workplace environments are directly linked to :

High stress levels,
Burnout
Anxiety
Depression (Rasool et al., 2021).

Sometimes, even in a work environment that isn’t as toxic as described above, you might still feel like something isn’t quite right. This situation is referred to as person-organization fit.

Person-organization Fit

Sometimes, workplace culture isn’t overtly toxic; there’s no lack of trust, overcontrolling micromanagement, a lack of communication or transparency, competitive and exclusionary social dynamics, emotional exhaustion, or a loss of meaning at work. But still, something is missing. You might not feel entirely like yourself in that work environment. In this case, the problem is not that the culture is toxic, but the possibility of being a misfit. This misfit situation, known as person-organization fit, refers to the degree of alignment between the individual’s values, needs, and work style and the organization’s values (Kristof, 1996). When the fit is poor, even if the culture is not toxic or harmful, the person struggles to conserve their resources. Internal resources are spent on fitting in rather than on productivity. In this case, although not as quickly as a toxic workplace culture, it can lead to burnout because it may cause an internal conflict (or cognitive dissonance), even if there is no apparent problem. As Monteiro and Joseph (2023) highlight, work and workplace culture influence not only how we behave but also how we find meaning in life. When someone doesn’t share this understanding, work can start to feel like just a routine, losing its deeper significance.

What to do if you are in a toxic workplace or feel like a misfit?

Research shows that strategies are needed at both the organizational and individual levels to maintain well-being in both toxic workplaces and environments where people are experiencing low person-organizational fit.

According to a study by Rasool and colleagues (2021), one of the most important factors reducing the negative relationship between a toxic workplace environment and employee commitment is organizational support. Feeling valued, recognized for their contributions, and supported by the organization increases psychological resilience even under difficult conditions. This support can be provided through elements such as fair policies, transparent communication, appreciative leadership, and access to resources. In addition to these, leadership development programs, flexible working arrangements, mental health support services, and inclusive policies can reduce employee stress and lower the risk of burnout (Monteiro et al., 2023).

In terms of supporting well-being, you can take the following steps to rebalance your internal resources. Here are some things that you can do:

Protecting your boundaries and staying connected to your personal values,
Strengthening social support systems (friends, colleagues, etc.),
Creating areas that nurture a sense of meaning at work or outside of work.
Getting professional help to cope with the emotional impact of the workplace culture

Takeaways:

Workplace culture is a term that describes how the values, beliefs, and behaviors of an organization are reflected in its daily practices.
In some workplaces, eculture encourages learning and participation; in others, it becomes a structure that fosters silence, fear, and burnout.
Effective workplace culture includes translating values into action, openness to change, effective leadership, systems that support learning and participation, shared vision and purpose, and a human-centered approach.
Toxic workplace culture includes a lack of trust, overcontrolling and micromanagement, a lack of communication and transparency, competitive and exclusionary social dynamics, emotional exhaustion, and losing meaning at work.
Sometimes, the issue isn’t a toxic workplace but being a misfit in that work culture. This concept, known as person-organization fit, measures how well an individual’s values, needs, and work style align with those of the organization.
Research indicates that effective strategies are necessary at both the organizational and individual levels to maintain well-being in both toxic workplaces and environments characterized by low person-organizational fit.

References:

Drennan, D. (1992). Transforming company culture: Getting your company from where you are now to where you want to be. McGraw-Hill.
Kristof, A. L. (1996). Person–organization fit: An integrative review of its conceptualizations, measurement, and implications. Personnel Psychology, 49(1), 1–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1996.tb01790.x
Manley, K., Sanders, K., Cardiff, S., & Webster, J. (2011). Effective workplace culture: The attributes, enabling factors and consequences of a new concept. International Practice Development Journal, 1(2), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.19043/ipdj.12.002
Monteiro, M., & Joseph, A. (2023). A review on the impact of workplace culture on employee mental health and well-being. International Practice Development Journal, 13(1), 1–12.
Rasool, S. F., Wang, M., Tang, M., Saeed, A., & Iqbal, J. (2021). How toxic workplace environment effects the employee engagement: The mediating role of organizational support and employee well-being. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5), 2294. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052294

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