Ever recall a time when you are looking for a new job, you do your online job search, and find the perfect job in your opinion and are super-excited to start working only to find out in a few months that your workplace is a chamber in the deepest, darkest pit of hell?

Welcome, you have joined a ‘Happy to Crappy’ workplace!

Log on to the website of just about any company and you’re bound to see a section on careers where they rave and rant about how much they value their people, that their people are their biggest assets, and so on. Yet, when a crisis hits – who is the first to go? Who is the first to be written off? In most cases, it is the employees first!

Sadly, what you see on the websites of such companies is just good public relations and an attempt to score high on employee engagement and the diversity, equity and inclusion perception. You will notice people from many different demographics, colors and races, with perfectly veneered bright white teeth smiling so hard it will outshine your Colgate toothpaste commercial models’ smile. It all looks good on the website until you join and realize that there is hardly any person of color or minority group in managerial posts, let alone those sitting in the executive suite.

The negative impact of an absent leader in a workplace is like that of an absent father – it has consequences that eventually shows in the behaviors of the employees.

Shuja Rabbani – SHRM-SCP, SPHRi, Executive Coach – John Maxwell Team

You will probably also see that all those smiley faces you saw on the website are nowhere to be seen anywhere in the office. You ask for help from a long-time resentful coworker who was passed over for a promotion you took as an ‘outsider’ and all you get is a vampire’s growl instead of an opportunity for teamwork.

The view from the outside-in is very different to the view from the inside-out.

So what are the signs to pick up when trying to determine if you have landed in a ‘Happy to Crappy’ workplace?

Here are some red flags to help you avoid crappy workplaces:

• Observe the Team Dynamics: One of the best ways to pick up on the type of workplace you have landed a job in is to see how the current team members are interacting with each other. Are they nice to each other? How is the communication? Did you notice anyone gossiping about others? When you ask for help or assistance, is it readily available or do you have to pull a tooth before anyone cooperates? How people talk to each other and about each other tells a lot about the workplace you are in.

• Leadership Visibility: If you see yourself joining a workplace where the leaders are hardly anywhere to be seen or they hardly interact with the rest of the team, pay attention. The negative impact of an absent leader in a workplace is like that of an absent father – it has consequences that eventually shows in the behaviors of the employees. When leaders are not connecting with their people, many of the checks and balances go haywire over time and the team environment becomes dysfunctional due to lack of sight, vision or direction.

• Leadership and Management Diversity: If you find yourself working in a job where the leadership or the management team are not a true reflection of what the company states on their website, chances are you are not going to be seen in those roles if your background is different to what you are seeing. It is very easy for recruiters to talk about diverse representation during job interviews and for the company to put all those diversity, equity, and inclusion images and statements on their websites, but it is not until you have a direct visibility from the inside that it will become evident which group dominates the decision-making roles.

• Do Background Checks: It is common for some companies to ask for references regarding your past employment history and they also ask questions from your former boss or two giving their opinions about your character. Personally, I detest those kinds of reference checks and I cannot think of anything more unethical than a prospective employer or future manager getting primed into thinking about a candidates’ character in a certain way because of outdated HR practices.

If you find yourself being hogged down for reference checks, please remember that you too have the right to ask for reference checks. Why would you want to work in a company or under a manager whose former employees do not have good things to say about them? A bad manger can destroy your career, ruin your chances of growth and development, and possibly even hurt your mental health in the long-run without you ever realizing it. Do your checks on companies and people you are working with whether or not they ask it of you, it will save you a lot of disappointment later if you can stem out the bad ones.

It is important to remember that crappy workplaces are not always easy to spot. Listen to ‘Pod Your Heart Out’ podcast and you will see that even some of the most well-known global brands that make job seekers go, “It is my dream to work in a company like that…” are not necessarily dream workplaces and fit the setup for a perfect nightmare in some instances. The best you can do as a job-seeker is to do your own due diligence and make sure you have done everything at your disposal to find a workplace that aligns with your personal and professional goals, values, and purpose.