Let’s End Toxic Productivity and Improve Workplace Culture  ​

Key Takeaways

• Toxic productivity is a business threat that drives burnout, lowers quality, and makes top talent leave
• As CEO, your personal actions and boundaries set the standard for your entire company
• Real change means redesigning work systems to focus on results over hours worked
• Target five key areas: leadership behavior, psychological safety, work design, clear accountability, and aligned goals
• Ending toxic productivity gives you an edge through better retention, innovation, and long-term results

Toxic productivity is the harmful belief that you must always be doing more. The endless chase for output comes at the cost of well-being, quality, and work-life balance. Unlike healthy drive, it creates constant guilt about rest and fear of not being busy enough. For a business, this shows up as widespread burnout, disengagement, and workers who care more about looking productive than getting real results.

Understanding the roots of toxic productivity

To solve this problem, leaders must first understand where it comes from. This mindset is driven by both internal and external pressures that create an unsustainable work environment.

The foundation of toxic productivity lies in our mental tendency toward “action bias”—the belief that being busy is always better than doing nothing, even when that busyness produces no real results. This creates a culture where employees feel they must appear constantly occupied, regardless of whether their activities actually help the business.

External pressures make this internal drive worse. Social media platforms show highlight reels of entrepreneurs working extreme hours, while well-known business leaders openly promote unsustainable work schedules. When influential figures treat 80-hour work weeks as normal for success, it creates unrealistic and dangerous standards throughout the business world.

The shift to hybrid and remote work has further blurred the lines between work and personal time. Employees struggle to disconnect when their workspace is steps away from their bedroom. This leads to a constant feeling that they should always be available and productive, transforming homes into 24/7 offices and driving workers to overcompensate through excessive hours. Gen Z is burning out fast under these pressures, with younger workers particularly vulnerable to this always-on mentality.

A strategic framework to end toxic productivity

Fixing a toxic culture requires more than surface-level perks or wellness programs. It demands a systematic approach led from the top, focusing on the root causes of workplace stress and inefficiency. Research consistently shows that leadership behavior, social norms, and work design are the three most powerful drivers of toxic workplace culture.

1. Lead from the front

Your actions as a leader set the standard for the entire organization. Your team will follow what you do, not just what you say. This makes your personal behavior the most critical tool for cultural change.

Model healthy boundaries by visibly taking your vacation time and disconnecting after hours. When employees see their CEO prioritizing rest and family time, it gives the entire organization permission to do the same. This isn’t about appearing weak—it shows the confidence and strategic thinking needed to build lasting performance.

Hold all leaders accountable for how they achieve their results. Address managers who hit financial targets but create toxic, burnt-out teams. Make emotional intelligence and the ability to foster healthy work environments core requirements for promotion and retention. When you consistently prioritize both results and methods, you send a clear message about what leadership excellence looks like at your company. Understanding what employees hate in leaders helps you avoid the common pitfalls that drive toxic productivity.

2. Build psychological safety

True performance is impossible in a culture of fear. Psychological safety creates the foundation where employees feel secure enough to speak up, admit mistakes, and raise concerns without fear of payback or public embarrassment. Building trust in the workplace is essential for creating this safe environment.

Create and protect reliable feedback channels, such as anonymous surveys and regular check-ins. Most importantly, you must act on what you hear to build trust and show that employee input drives real change. When feedback disappears into a void, it destroys credibility and reinforces the very fear you’re trying to eliminate.

Publicly frame mistakes as learning opportunities rather than reasons for blame. When leaders openly discuss failures and extract lessons without assigning fault, it encourages innovation and smart risk-taking throughout the organization. This approach builds a culture where people focus on solving problems rather than covering them up.

3. Redesign work for well-being

The way work is structured can either be a source of chronic stress or a driver of engagement. Leaders must focus on redesigning systems to reduce unnecessary friction and stress that contributes to toxic productivity.

Start by identifying and eliminating “nuisance work”:

• Low-value tasks that drain energy without adding business value
• Excessive red tape and bureaucratic hurdles
• Unclear processes that create confusion and rework
• Conflicting priorities that force employees to choose between competing demands

This type of work is a primary driver of burnout because it creates stress without providing any sense of accomplishment or contribution. The key to preventing burnout lies in addressing these systemic work design issues rather than just treating symptoms.

Provide clarity and autonomy by ensuring every role has a clear purpose and well-defined responsibilities. Role ambiguity is a major source of workplace stress, leading employees to work longer hours simply because they’re unsure what’s expected of them. Clear job descriptions and expectations reduce anxiety and allow people to focus their energy effectively.

Give employees more control over how they complete their work. Autonomy over work methods and schedules can significantly reduce stress and improve job satisfaction, even when workloads remain high. This control helps employees manage competing demands and personal needs without sacrificing performance.

4. Establish clear systems of accountability

In a healthy workplace culture, accountability is about shared ownership and commitment to clear standards, not blame or punishment. This distinction is crucial for ending toxic productivity cycles.

Embed ethics and respectful behavior into performance management systems. Make collaborative, supportive behavior a formal part of performance reviews and promotion criteria. This sends a clear message that how results are achieved matters as much as the results themselves. A well-designed performance management system helps track both outcomes and behaviors to create lasting cultural change.

Model personal accountability by openly admitting mistakes and taking responsibility for difficult decisions. When leaders show vulnerability and ownership, it creates psychological safety for others to do the same. This breaks down the defensive behaviors that often drive toxic productivity as people try to avoid blame.

5. Align Goals for Clarity and Purpose

Employees are most effective when they understand how their work contributes to larger objectives. A lack of clear, shared goals fuels unproductive busyness as people try to demonstrate value without understanding what actually matters.

Implement a transparent goal-setting framework like OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) so every employee can connect their individual tasks to team and company objectives. This alignment helps people prioritize effectively and reduces the anxiety that drives excessive work hours. Understanding the difference between OKR and KPI frameworks helps you choose the right approach for your organization.

Focus on outcomes rather than hours worked. Shift performance measures from time spent to results achieved, rewarding efficiency and quality over mere presence. This fundamental change in how you measure success directly addresses one of the root causes of toxic productivity.

Toxic productivity represents a business threat with real costs in turnover, healthcare expenses, and reduced innovation. As CEO, your personal behavior is the most critical driver of cultural change—your team watches what you do more than what you say. Real transformation requires redesigning the basic systems of work, not just implementing wellness programs or giving motivational speeches.

The research is clear: focus your efforts on leadership behavior, psychological safety, and work design. These three drivers have the greatest impact on whether employees experience your workplace as supportive or toxic. By addressing these systematically, you can break down harmful burnout cycles and create a resilient, engaged organization built for long-term success. Supporting mental health in the workplace becomes a natural outcome of this systematic approach.

Ending toxic productivity is not about giving up ambition—it’s about building a culture where people can achieve great things in a sustainable way. This is not an HR initiative; it’s a leadership requirement. The culture of your company is your legacy. Make sure it’s one that attracts top talent, drives innovation, and delivers results without destroying the people who make it all possible.