A sweeping new analysis by Shegerian Conniff of workplace culture across the United States finds that toxic environments are driving mass turnover, draining productivity, and damaging public health. As of 2024, 161 million Americans aged 16+ are employed, roughly 60% of the population, yet a staggering 72% (nearly 116 million people) say they have left a job because of toxicity. The findings identify the industries with the most severe problems, the states where toxicity is most intense, and specific cultural factors that push workers out.

What Toxic Looks Like

Of the 161 million workers, 85.3 million are men (65.2% of the male population) and 76 million are women (57.5% of the female population). Study data suggests toxicity is a universal risk: 61.2 million men and 54.7 million women report leaving roles due to toxic culture.

Researchers define a toxic workplace as one where negativity, fear, and unaccountable leadership drive the culture. Hallmarks include high turnover, fear of failure, constant gossip/drama, low morale, poor communication, performative DEIB, disrespect, cut-throat competition, lack of recognition, unreasonable demands, and bad management, from micromanagement to favoritism. The cumulative effect: burnout, anxiety, presenteeism and absenteeism, reputation harm, and expensive backfills. As Peter Drucker warned, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

The Most Toxic Industries

The analysis highlights five sectors with outsized toxicity:

  • Healthcare. Violence, bullying, and burnout are endemic. Between 60–90% of healthcare workers report verbal or physical abuse from patients, families, or colleagues. In nursing, 67.5% report demoralizing conduct from supervisors and 77.6% from coworkers. Among physician assistants, 65% report burnout or depression; 43% cite lack of respectful treatment, and 57% cite administrative overload. These conditions harm staff and patients, by correlating with higher error rates and lower care quality.

  • Hospitality. Emotional labor and irregular hours fuel attrition. 47% report personal burnout, while 64% say coworkers left primarily due to burnout. 69% of shift workers report exhaustion from grueling schedules and unpredictable shifts; ~16% have endured harassment or bullying.

  • Construction. Mental health strain is profound: up to 40% report depression/anxiety; 60% struggle with alcohol dependency. Suicide rates are nearly double most industries; overdose fatalities are 17x job-injury deaths, and suicides are 5x fatal injuries—grim indicators of untreated distress.

  • Finance. 82.5% report burnout; 58.3% blame poor work-life balance. 83.3% say they lack uninterrupted focus time. Result: 60% would discourage entrants and are exploring exits, citing burnout and workload.

  • Tech. Burnout is systemic: 57% of tech professionals report being burned out; 46% of software employees tie it directly to toxic culture. 41% of women in tech report harassment—evidence that inequity remains entrenched.

Methodology (Industries). Researchers synthesized publicly available workforce studies and peer-reviewed research on abuse/harassment and burnout. For each industry, multiple data points were averaged (ranges were midpointed) to create comparative toxicity indicators—not official ratings, but standardized snapshots of self-reported experience.

The Most Toxic States to Work In

A composite of Innerbody's state stress rankings (employment stress, income pressure, commute, sleep disruption) and Benefit News' burnout scores (Google Trends + workforce data) places Wyoming as the most toxic state for workers, with Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Idaho, and Connecticut close behind. Alaska and Montana rank highly due to isolation, resource scarcity, and irregular hours. Meanwhile, knowledge-economy hubs such as Massachusetts and Connecticut show that white-collar prestige does not inoculate against overwork and burnout.

Methodology (States). Innerbody's stress index plus Benefit News burnout scores were combined into a single Toxicity Score per state; higher scores indicate more severe conditions.

Why It Matters for Business

Toxic culture drives healthcare costs, lost productivity, and attrition. Replacement can cost up to 2x salary, while negative employer-branding (e.g., Glassdoor) raises recruiting hurdles. Toxicity also degrades team trust, invites unethical behavior, and undermines strategy execution.

What Leaders Must Do Now

  • Codify culture: Clear values, no-tolerance policies, and psychologically safe norms.

  • Fix management: Train managers; end micromanagement; enforce accountability.

  • Redesign work: Sustainable workloads; predictable scheduling; protected focus time.

  • Protect health: Access to mental-health benefits; trauma-informed care; zero-tolerance for harassment.

  • Measure & act: Anonymous pulse surveys; transparent follow-through; tie leadership comp to culture metrics.

Bottom line: With 72% of U.S. employees saying they've quit over toxicity, culture is a risk factor and a competitive advantage, depending on what leaders do next.