Can any company afford to have a toxic culture?

An article published on the 11th May 2022 in Inside Housing focused on the concern that half of social housing employees plan to move jobs in next 12 months. A worrying figure indeed. With the sector facing such a drought in staff can a housing associations such as GreenSquareAccord afford to have a ‘toxic culture’?

Do we know GreenSquareAccord has a ‘Toxic Culture’?

By looking at some of the known and proven behaviours we can ascertain if GreenSquareAccord does have a ‘Toxic Culture’.

Blame

A blame culture is more than often a direct result from overbearing leadership, a precedence that mistakes put staff members at risk of being reprimanded, losing their job, or looking bad. In this environment an attitude prevails, “that’s not my responsibility!”

Not only does this harm a workplace and damage morale but it also prevents people committing to deadlines, thus enabling them to avoid blame and worse, shift accountability.

Has GreenSquareAccord adopted a blame culture?

Certainly.

Internal emails show various departments blaming one another. I’ve shared numerous examples on this website. There is a constant frustration at trying to have GreenSquareAccord commit to a timeframe, and when able to secure a timeframe they have nearly always been missed. How many times have we seen GreenSquareAccord fail to apologise? If everyone avoids taking the hit there is nobody left to apologise, with the exception of the new ‘guy’ who’ve just been handed the phone and told to take make the difficult call.

Blame Culture - check.

Fear

A fear-based culture links to the ‘blame culture’; there is seldom one without the other, they co-exists with one feeding into the other. A culture of fear creates a toxic working environment, employees will do everything they can to avoid punishment.

Here fear trumps trust, employees’ anxiety is heightened due to concerns about the consequences they may face.

Has GreenSquareAccord adopted a culture of fear?

Since I have never worked for GreenSquareAccord, apart from a short time volunteering on their customer panel, it is impossible for me to state this as a fact. However with the two cultures so closely linked it is highly likely.

Fear Culture - Highly likely

Clique Culture

Does your face fit? Anyone who fails to adopt the company zeitgeist or anyone who fails to operate with the same mindset risks being excluded, ignored, and can be subjected to bullying. These employees are left feeling isolated which undermines them as individuals and shatters team morale, preventing team building and collaboration.

Does GreenSquareAccord have a ‘Clique Culture’?

For this one we need to look at comments posted online, don’t worry I’ve linked them here so you don’t have to trawl the internet.

Clique Culture - Looks like it

Feeling ‘ineffective’

More of a result of a toxic culture than a cause, however the results are the same. Employees feel ineffective when failing to create a positive change. This is caused by being unable to support their customers and worse yet, being unable to keep their word due to the failings of the larger organisation. It’s the feeling of just treading water in a daily grind of attempting to solve ongoing and repetitive issues, of having to use the same tired old excuses over and over again.

Are GreenSquareAccord employees feeling ‘ineffective’?

They must be. A look at the latest results from their customer survey proves that a majority of their customers are repeatably having to report issues. If you can not make an impact you’ll soon be feeling burnout and looking for an exit.

Here is a video posted in 2019 celebrating ‘National Customer Service Week’, it is great to see team members talking about the importance of providing great customer service.

Alas 40% of this team (at least) have since left the business, perhaps due to being unable to provide the much needed, much hyped, and often promised great level of customer service.

In conclusion

We should expect to see a massive recruitment push for a company on a path to becoming simply brilliant, this should be seen as reassuring to us residents. However with a toxic culture still festering beneath the surface as soon as one gap is plugged another will need plugging. Great news for any recruiter with a long list of seasoned housing associations staff, bad news for residents hoping for long term support from engaged, enthusiastic, customer focused team players able to ‘do the job’.