I’ve been on the receiving end of numerous toxic emails and have witnessed, first hand, the effects of toxic communication – low morale, dysfunctional culture, indifference and low productivity.

In my experience, toxic emails were primarily used to incite some sort of action – a kind of motivational tool that was usually implemented by passive aggressive managers or owners.

I have to (begrudgingly) acknowledge that this form of corporate bullying does work in the short term. Workplace survival instincts will cause employees to react to
this type of motivation, performing to avoid further abuse. The end result is that those toxic emails yield their
intended results – but for how long and at what cost?

Toxic communication signals a fundamental lack of respect for the people working within an organization. This inevitably leads to turnover, or even worse, for those employees
that cannot leave, total apathy towards anything to do with an organization.

Related Resource

Check out Bad Language, a blog by Mathew Stibbe. His Ten Laws for Better Email is a very practical guide to email communication.