Toxic workplace culture is one of the biggest challenges organizations face today. It leads to disengaged employees, high turnover, lost productivity, and overall low morale. When people talk about toxic culture, the blame often falls on executives, rigid HR policies, or company strategy. But the reality is often much closer and frustratingly simple:
The number one cause of toxic workplace culture is poor soft skills in managers.
What Are Soft Skills and Why Are They Critical for Managers?
Soft skills refer to interpersonal abilities that enable people to communicate effectively, build relationships, and manage emotions. For managers, this means emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, active listening, conflict resolution, and the ability to give and receive constructive feedback.
These skills are not “nice to have” or optional extras. They are fundamental to how managers lead their teams and influence the daily employee experience.
When managers lack these essential skills, their teams suffer. Communication breaks down, misunderstandings pile up, and a culture of mistrust and disengagement quickly takes root.
How Remote and Hybrid Work Makes Monitoring Worse
The rise of remote and hybrid work has created new challenges for organizations trying to maintain productivity. With employees working from home or different locations, some companies have doubled down on monitoring. They want to track hours, activity, and even keystrokes to stay in control.
But remote workers already face unique stressors, including social isolation and difficulty separating work from personal life. Adding heavy surveillance only increases this stress. It can make employees feel like they are being watched 24/7, which reduces trust and raises anxiety.
This “surveillance trap” can lead to burnout. Burnout happens when employees are overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted by their work environment. Monitoring does not address the root causes of burnout such as workload, lack of support, or poor communication. Instead, it often makes those problems worse.
The Impact of Poor Soft Skills on Workplace Culture
Poor soft skills in managers impact workplace culture in many damaging ways:
1. Communication Breakdowns
Employees need to feel heard and understood. Managers without good listening and communication skills create an environment where people are overlooked, misinterpreted, or ignored.
This leads to frustration, rumors, and a lack of transparency.
2. Low Psychological Safety
When employees don’t trust their managers to be empathetic or fair, they won’t feel safe sharing ideas, asking questions, or admitting mistakes. This kills innovation and learning, as fear replaces curiosity.
3. Increased Stress and Burnout
Managers who avoid difficult conversations or fail to provide support create emotional stress. Employees carry unresolved issues that drain their energy and motivation, leading to burnout.
4. High Turnover and Talent Loss
No matter how good the compensation or benefits, employees leave managers — not companies. Poor soft skills push people to seek workplaces where they feel respected and valued.
5. Lower Engagement and Productivity
Disengaged employees give minimal effort, leading to poorer results. The negative ripple effect of bad management skills harms overall team performance and business outcomes.
What Does the Data Say?
Research confirms these insights. According to recent studies, 76% of employees blame their direct manager not HR or senior executives for toxic workplace culture.
This statistic underscores that even with strong policies or leadership, the day-to-day experience with immediate managers shapes how employees feel about their workplace.
Why Are Soft Skills in Managers Still Overlooked?
Given their critical role, it’s surprising that soft skills training for managers is often sidelined. Many organizations prioritize technical skills, sales techniques, or process knowledge but underestimate emotional intelligence.
This gap exists for several reasons:
Hard skills are easier to measure: It’s simpler to test technical knowledge than to evaluate empathy or communication.
Lack of awareness: Some organizations don’t fully understand how soft skills affect culture and performance.
Misplaced priorities: There’s often pressure to hit short-term targets, pushing “people skills” to the back burner.
Cultural stigma: In some industries, emotional intelligence is mistakenly seen as weakness rather than strength.
How to Develop Soft Skills and Improve Culture
Building a positive work culture starts with empowering managers with the soft skills they need. Here are practical steps organizations can take:
1. Integrate Emotional Intelligence Training
Offer regular workshops, coaching, and resources focused on empathy, active listening, and conflict resolution. Make this training ongoing, not just a one-time event.
2. Redefine Leadership Competencies
Make soft skills a core criterion in hiring, evaluating, and promoting managers. Use 360-degree feedback to assess how managers interact with their teams.
3. Create a Feedback Culture
Encourage open, honest communication at all levels. When senior leaders model vulnerability and openness, it empowers managers and employees to do the same.
4. Recognize and Reward Soft Skills
Celebrate managers who demonstrate emotional intelligence and people-first leadership. Recognition motivates behavioral change and reinforces culture.
5. Use Data to Track Progress
Leverage employee surveys, engagement scores, and turnover data to identify areas where management soft skills need improvement. Track changes over time to measure impact.
Moody At Work: A Proven Solution to Improve Soft Skills and Culture
Improving soft skills isn’t just about training it’s about continuous insight and feedback to guide managers and organizations toward healthier cultures. That’s where Moody At Work comes in.
Moody At Work is a patented employee wellbeing and culture tool that measures real-time employee moods, performance, and peer feedback anonymously. It delivers actionable insights to managers and HR teams, helping identify soft skill gaps and culture risks before they escalate.
By focusing on emotions and daily experiences, Moody At Work empowers managers to understand their teams better, improve communication, and lead with empathy. This ongoing feedback loop makes soft skills development measurable and manageable turning soft skills from overlooked to prioritized.
If your organization struggles with toxic culture rooted in managerial challenges, Moody At Work offers a clear, data-driven path to transform your workplace into a supportive, productive environment.
Have you experienced the impact of poor or strong soft skills in your workplace? Share your story in the comments below!