Why would one want to read books about toxic workplaces?
Well, it depends on who you're asking. Some folks seek out nonfiction books about navigating toxic workplaces, usually to aid in identifying and navigating their own potentially toxic work situations.
In today's work environment, toxic workplaces have garnered significant attention. From undermining leadership to unhealthy competition among colleagues, toxic work environments—often headed by toxic leadership—are known to damage employees' mental and physical health.
Books on toxic workplaces offer a wealth of resources, strategies, and insights for those seeking to understand, navigate, or even change such environments. In this blog post, we explore a curated list of both fiction and nonfiction books that explore toxic workplaces.
Nonfiction Books About Toxic Workplaces
While I wholeheartedly believe that fiction and nonfiction books offer valuable lessons, I'd be remiss in prioritizing fiction books for employees who might be fed up with working in a toxic workplace. When a reader is looking for actionable advice and achievable strategies to either navigate or leave a toxic workplace, it's best to look to these books.
Dying for a Paycheck by Jeffrey Pfeffer
Does that title seem dramatic or completely reasonable?
For better or worse, many employees land in a toxic workplace because they were sold on a different promise or because they simply need the paycheck. Unfortunately, employers capitalizing off employees' desperation is a tale as old as...capitalism? Pfeffer uncovers the catastrophic effects of toxic work cultures on employee health. Using a compelling mix of research and real-life stories, this book sheds light on how overwork and lack of job security contribute to chronic stress and health problems.
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber
Graeber explores the phenomenon of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs that contribute little to society, discussing how they can contribute to toxic workplace environments.
The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't by Robert I. Sutton
Sutton discusses the impact of toxic personalities in the workplace and provides strategies for creating healthier work environments.
The Toxic Workplace: Managing Toxic Personalities and Their Systems of Power by Mitchell Kusy and Elizabeth Holloway
This book offers practical advice for identifying and addressing toxic behavior in the workplace.
Surviving the Toxic Workplace by Linnda Durre
Durre provides insights and strategies for coping with toxic workplaces and difficult coworkers.
The Asshole Survival Guide: How to Deal with People Who Treat You Like Dirt by Robert I. Sutton
Building on his previous work, Sutton offers additional advice and techniques for dealing with difficult people in various aspects of life, including the workplace.
Who's Pulling Your Strings?: How to Break the Cycle of Manipulation and Regain Control of Your Life by Harriet B. Braiker, Ph.D.
Dr. Harriet B. Braiker explains how depression, low self-esteem, chronic anger, and feelings of helplessness are often the result of being caught in relationships with manipulative people—including coworkers and associates. Who's Pulling Your Strings? arms readers with the knowledge and tools they need to understand and identify manipulative personalities and to free themselves from the bondage of relationships with them.
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
This gripping account of the rise and fall of Theranos, the biotech startup, is a cautionary tale of ambition gone awry. Carreyrou's investigative work reveals the extreme measures taken to cultivate a facade of success, at the expense of ethics and safety.
Fiction Books About Toxic Workplaces
Sometimes, misery loves company. What provides better company than a really good book?
If you hate your job, can't stand your passive-aggressive boss, and can't stand your annoying coworkers, escape your specific toxic situation by diving into someone else's fictional workplace.
Spoiler alert: Many of these fiction books about toxic workplaces are based on reality.
That's all (in Miranda Priestley's voice)
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
This is the formative bad boss book, revealing to an entire generation that the "cool job" isn't always the best. I know there are many differing viewpoints about this book and the movie. (Yes, the boyfriend was also a nightmare.) However, the culture at Runway was bad, bad, bad.
You Might Aso Like
- The People Who Report More Stress: Stories by Alejandro Varela
- The Herd by Andrea Bartz
- The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
This novel follows a wealthy investment banker who hides his psychopathic ego from his colleagues, showcasing the dark underbelly of corporate culture.
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
This is a satirical novel about office life, depicting the absurdity and dysfunction of a group of employees facing layoffs and office politics.
The Circle by Dave Eggers
A utopian workplace designed so that you'd never want to leave? Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?
Set in a powerful tech company, this novel critiques the dystopian realities of workplace surveillance and the loss of privacy. Eggers crafts a world where the line between work and personal life blurs, leading to a claustrophobic existence. This dystopian novel explores the consequences of a powerful tech company's invasive surveillance and control over its employees' lives.
You Might Also Like:
- Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee
- Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
Severance by Ling Ma
It's hard to believe that Ling Ma wrote this book before the pandemic in 2020.
This satirical novel combines the elements of a global pandemic with a critique of modern capitalism and monotonous office life. Ma's narrative delves into the soul-sucking routines of a toxic work culture and juxtaposes them with a protagonist's search for meaning.
