Prevalence of Toxic Work Environments and Their Impact on Wellbeing: Preliminary Findings among the Millennial Population

Abstract

The entering of new cohorts into the workforce like millennials and gen-Z has sparked many discussions on strategies to sustain them at work. Studies have suggested that each generation is bound to unique qualities which distinguish one group from another. Despite the newer generation starting to occupy the workplace that was once dominated by baby boomers, there is still a lack of understanding towards occupational behaviours of other generations like millennials. Besides popular opinions of tech-savvy and emotionally vulnerable generations (especially in comparison to baby boomers), more comprehensive research is needed to understand the pattern and risk factors for their wellbeing concerns. In this paper, we investigate the prevalence of various aspects of toxic behaviour at work towards millennial employee wellbeing from the perspective of work-family conflict, burnout, and mental health. The objective is to address and identify patterns related to the problematic workplace that can affect millennials wellbeing at work. Results were analysed using SPSS software by using descriptive, correlation, and logistic regression methods with samples of 133 millennial workers. Findings suggest that the millennial experience of toxic behaviour at work were linked to the increased commonness of risk of wellbeing problems in terms of mental health and burnout symptoms. This paper highlights the importance of managing toxic behaviours and events for millennial employees at work. The millennial generation often thrives on the emotional aspect of work while showing an increased risk of wellbeing problems such as burnout, when exposed to a problematic environment. This paper therefore suggests the importance of sustaining and promoting a healthy working environment for the millennial generation to flourish.
 Keywords: toxic work environment, wellbeing, burnout, mental health, work-family conflict