While reviewing data I’ve received during participant interviews for my low-morale experience studies and from respondents to my ongoing data collection projects, I’ve noticed recurring acts that interrupt employee success and engagement. As I categorized them in groups, I eventually placed them under the broad concept of what I call GOTCHA Culture: workplace environments characterized by preemptive implicit or explicit behaviors that undermine employees’ daily work or goals, and which place employees in unanticipated lose-lose dilemmas. In Part 1, I shared three of six common elements:
- Gatekeeping
- Overwork
- Triangulation
In this second part, I share the other three elements.
Confusion (also consider, Chaos) –
“[After starting a search to fill a faculty position], the Dean disappeared. She called in sick for a week, and then she stopped calling. And then no one heard from her. We sent emails, and then her assistant quit, so no one knew how to get a hold of her; no one knew what she was doing – it was radio silence for about a month and a half. So our search fell through because we couldn’t go forward since [we needed] the Dean’s signature.” – Participant, Racial and Ethnic Academic Librarian Low-Morale Experience Study
Confusion (Chaos) shows up when there are chronic miscommunication gaps within the organization or between units, when strategic decisions aren’t aligned with the organization’s mission, or if there are persistent recruitment and retention problems. Confusion may also happen at the worker level when job duties are unclear and if formal policies aren’t followed or don’t match daily practices.
The catch: Abandoned employees may begin to engage in practices that increase organizational liability or reduce organizational effectiveness, and core organizational functions may be significantly compromised. Even as impacted employees attempt to create ways to increase stability while mired in the absence of information and guidance, their feelings of uncertainty and mistrust expand.
Haste (also remember, Harm)
“[After I submitted my resignation] my supervisor suddenly became “nice” because [they were] so happy to see me leave and no longer call out [their] bullshit. [My] supervisor was crafting the narrative that I got a great new job and there was NO other reason that I would have ever left, because everything in that department was great!” – Respondent, Leaving The Low-Morale Experience: Treatment During Resignation Periods Ongoing Data Collection Project
Organizations that tolerate workplace harm move quickly to suppress evidence or diminutize the impacts of harm on the impacted employee. Employees who report bullying and mobbing to their workplaces (e.g., HR) are often expected to bear the onus of proof and repair with their abuser(s), and they report that they are directly or indirectly encouraged to remain quiet about what has happened to them. Haste also may become evident if most organizational activities are driven by a sense of urgency.
The catch: Workplace conduct and harassment policies encourage reporting harm, but when they are applied, affected employees are subject to gaslighting, stalling, and retaliation as the organization creates narratives that keep abusers free from responsibility and the organization free from accountability (See Also, Organizational Narcissism). Organizational adherence to a sense of urgency villainizes even small mistakes – reducing reflection and psychological safety while still expecting employees to engage in innovation and creativity.
Apathy
“It got to the point where I just didn’t even speak at meetings anymore. Because, you know, nothing I was saying mattered anyway. And so even if I did feel like I disagreed with something, I just would not say anything. I would just go with the flow and not care.” – Participant, Leaving the Low-Morale Experience Study
Employee disconnection increases when organizations don’t provide resources and opportunities that help their employees do their work, persistently show disdain for employee expertise, ignore feedback that signals needed systems/policy updates, don’t offer protection from workplace harm, or withhold meaningful recognition for excellent performance.
The catch: Employees who joined the organization and initially exhibited high levels of connection may begin to view repeated acts of disregard and advocacy gaps as exploitative and misleading. They may begin decentering work via procrastination and absenteeism or working to rule. Employees’ feelings of disrespect, disassociation, and disconnection grow as organizations don’t respond – or respond with narratives or rules that ignore employee concerns and double down on system harm, disparage employee resistance to overwork, and suppress worker solidarity.
GOTCHA Culture highlights the ways organizations decrease employee success and engagement, and as well as surfaces how harm can begin before people officially join a workplace. Considerations that may mitigate GOTCHA Culture will depend on the unique mix of characteristics; however, some places to begin are interview and onboarding processes, as well as implementation of humane and accountability-based reporting procedures when harm is reported.
As workers seek employment or recovery from workplace harm, the ability to recognize or identify GOTCHA Culture will help people make better decisions about their career, and invoke faster and more consistent Self-Preservation practices throughout the full trajectory of job-seeking, onboarding, and advancement.
Have you experienced GOTCHA Culture? How did you side-step the set up?
Are seeking support as you recalibrate your career or recover from harm? Let’s set up a Connection Call to explore Renewals’ Career and Coaching Services!
