Roughly a third of employees say their colleagues are less collaborative (29 per cent) and more confrontational (28 per cent) compared to three years ago, according to a new survey by the Harris Poll on behalf of Express Services Inc.

The survey, which polled more than 500 employers and more than 500 employees, found the most common toxic workplace behaviours reported by employees include gossiping (44 per cent), unprofessional communication (36 per cent), taking credit for another employee’s work (25 per cent), bullying (20 per cent) and harassment (18 per cent).

Read: Survey finds perceptions of workplace culture impacting employees’ mental health

A quarter of (25 per cent) of employees who quit their previous job did so to leave a toxic work environment and a fifth (19 per cent) said they’re currently looking for a new job to leave their toxic workplace.

Almost half (45 per cent) of employers said they’ve observed more instances of poor employee behaviour being reported now than they did three years ago. Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) said they’ve witnessed toxic traits regularly, with gossiping (39 per cent) being the most common, followed by unprofessional communication (27 per cent), employees avoiding collaboration (24 per cent), micromanaging direct reports (19 per cent) and employees taking credit for another person’s work (19 per cent). As a result, more than half (53 per cent) of employers said there have been increased discussions at their company about the way their employees act.

While 75 per cent of employees said their company implements measures to manage conflicts, 25 per cent said their company doesn’t take any steps, highlighting the need for more proactive approaches. This includes providing resources on conflict resolution (47 per cent), encouraging open communication with supervisors (46 per cent), mandating training on appropriate workplace behaviour (34 per cent) and displaying signs or other materials regarding appropriate workplace behaviours (24 per cent).

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