People Share Stories About Workplaces So Toxic That The Entire Staff Quit At Once, Here Are The 35 Wildest Ones

While these may seem extreme, many companies are actually facing mass voluntary turnover, as workers choose to find other opportunities. Many have learned to not take themselves for granted and will leave bad jobs quickly. In 2021 alone, 45% of resignations were from people who had worked at a position for less than a year. The sunk cost fallacy still affects us, however, so this number drops to 8% after at least three years in a position.

Now, maybe that’s too harsh, if you are fine with your workplace, you’ll probably stay more than a year, if you can. Certain industries do suffer more turnover than others. Annual turnover in the US is around 18%, but it goes up to 30% for retail and commerce. These positions, particularly in service roles, have the misfortune of having to deal with potentially terrible managers and the general public. On the other hand, the energy industry experiences only around 15% turnover, as power infrastructure might kill you, but won’t yell at you for doing your job. 

Despite the general chaos in the world economy since COVID, there is a growing sense of confidence among workers. Many of the stories here may have appeared risky, as quitting on the spot can be terrifying. You don’t know how long it will take to find a new job, how quickly you will have income again, and other concerns. But 36% of workers stated that they were ready to quit without having another job lined up for them. 22% were confident that they could find employment fairly quickly. So managers beware, more than half your workforce is ready to walk at almost a moment's notice. 

Either directly or indirectly, managers are responsible for over half (60%) of the voluntary and, obviously, involuntary turnover at a company. Of the 60% of US workers who chose to leave their jobs, managers were cited as a common factor for quitting, alongside a “less-than-ideal work environment,” which is a wonderfully vague way to describe a horrible workplace. Since managers can and do have so much control over the day to day of operations, it is safe enough to blame them for a workplace is, well, “less-than-ideal.”

In the US, for not entirely clear reasons, the West Coast appears to have the worst managers. In an America-wide survey of workers, people in California, Washington State, and Oregon complained the most about bad bosses and were the most likely in the US to quit over terrible managers. The bottom line, at least for US employers, is that statistics show that three out of four resignations could have been prevented.