How to Spot, Stop, and Survive Toxic Employees 😷

AMS Digital
Jun 4
10 min read

Let’s be real - every workplace has at least one. That one employee who walks in and somehow the air just gets heavier. They turn team meetings into tension Olympics, where every passive-aggressive sigh scores a perfect 10. They kill morale faster than a printer jam five minutes before a client presentation - and somehow, they always manage to avoid accountability like it’s their side hustle.

They’re not just annoying - they’re toxic. And toxic employees are like glitter bombs at a funeral - inappropriate, dramatic, impossible to clean up, and somehow you’re still finding traces of the mess months later.

Picture this: you run a law firm. Your paralegal spends more time stirring up office politics than prepping legal briefs. Or maybe you run a beauty salon, and one stylist's gossiping has the shampoo bowls bubbling with tension. Or you own a cleaning company - but the only thing your crew leader is sweeping is motivation under the rug.

No matter the industry, the effect is the same - one bad apple can spoil the whole staff lunch.

But don’t panic - you don’t need sage or an exorcist. You need strategy. At AMS Digital, we help businesses like yours spot toxic behavior early, manage it like pros, and protect your culture like it’s your grandma’s secret lasagna recipe. Because keeping your best people starts with getting rid of your worst energy.

This guide is your survival kit - full of humor, truth bombs, real-world examples, and proven tips. So grab a coffee, take a deep breath, and let’s clean up the office vibes together. Your sanity - and your staff - will thank you.

🚩 1. Red Flags That Scream "Toxic"

Toxic employees rarely show up with a red warning label - but their behaviors might as well be flashing neon signs with sirens attached. Here’s what to watch out for before you need a team therapist:

Constant negativity - They complain more than Yelp reviewers with unlimited data and worse taste. From the coffee to the copier, nothing is ever good enough unless it’s about them.
Undermining teammates - Their feedback sounds supportive until you realize “You did better than I expected!” is code for “I thought you’d crash and burn.” Their compliments come wrapped in sarcasm and side-eye.
Drama magnet - Every email has a hidden agenda. Every Monday morning starts with “You’ll never guess what happened.” If they were in charge of the coffee machine, it would be involved in a workplace love triangle.
Chronic lateness or low effort - Late to meetings, slow to respond, allergic to deadlines - unless it's gossip hour, then they’re early and enthusiastic. But if you ask them for a report, suddenly their internet went down. Again.
Blame deflection - Their favorite phrases include “That’s not my job,” “Nobody told me,” and “Well, I thought you were handling it.” They dodge accountability like it's a game of dodgeball - and they’re undefeated.
Energy vampire - After talking to them for five minutes, you feel like you need a nap, a juice cleanse, and a new job.

Example: Jessica from accounting has turned Slack into her personal burn book. Her status is always “available,” but somehow she never answers project updates. She volunteers for big tasks only to disappear until it’s time to take credit or assign blame. During meetings, she drops passive-aggressive zingers like confetti, and when someone calls her out, she fake-cries HR jargon until everyone just gives up. No one wants to collaborate because she either ghost-projects or micromanages like a caffeinated squirrel in charge of a spreadsheet rebellion.

💸 2. The Cost of Keeping Them

You think keeping that toxic employee around is harmless? Like, "Maybe they’ll grow out of it?" Think again. Keeping one toxic employee is like leaving a banana in your car on a hot day - you may not notice it immediately, but eventually, everything will reek, your seats will be sticky, and you’ll swear off fruit for life.

According to actual science (not just Karen from HR), 53% of employees say working with toxic coworkers makes them want to quit. That’s more than half your team potentially plotting escape just because Bob refuses to mute his passive-aggressive sighs during Zoom calls.

Let’s break down the financial and emotional wreckage:

Lost Productivity - Teams slow down. Projects stall. Brainstorm sessions feel more like hostage negotiations. Suddenly, the marketing team is spending more time venting than creating.
Client Damage - Toxic employees don’t stop at internal chaos - they spill over into client interactions like a clumsy barista with no lid. One awkward call, one rude email, one missed deadline - and poof - your reputation takes a nosedive.
Increased Turnover - Your best employees won’t stick around to babysit Brenda’s emotional outbursts or decode Chad’s cryptic one-word responses. They’ll quit - fast - and now you’re scrambling to fill roles, train new people, and pretend everything’s fine on LinkedIn.
Morale Crash - A single toxic personality can suck the energy out of the room faster than someone starting a meeting with “Let’s circle back.” Your culture becomes defensive, people stop sharing ideas, and innovation flatlines.

Example: Remember Sarah - your unicorn project manager who juggled six deadlines, knew every client’s birthday, and still brought snacks on Mondays? She left last month. Why? Because Trevor from sales treated every team sync like a WWE cage match in khakis. He “debated” ideas until people just agreed to shut him up. One day, Sarah stopped bringing snacks. Then she stopped showing up. Now she works for your competitor - and guess what? She took half your best clients with her.

🚫 3. What NOT to Do

So you’ve spotted a toxic employee in the wild - what now? Before you go full cowboy and start tossing pink slips like confetti, pump the brakes. Here’s what not to do if you don’t want your HR rep hiding under their desk and your business name showing up in a legal blog titled "What NOT to Do As an Employer."

❌ Don’t ignore the behavior

You wouldn’t ignore a fire in the breakroom just because it started small - don’t ignore toxicity either. That eye-roll in meetings, those sarcastic jabs, that weird habit of “forgetting” to CC people on important emails? Left unchecked, it becomes company culture. And not the cool kind with kombucha on tap.

Silence equals permission. If you don't address the bad behavior, the rest of your team will assume it's okay - or worse, they’ll stop caring entirely. Now you’re not leading a team, you’re running a daily emotional escape room.

❌ Don’t just transfer them to another team

Shuffling a toxic employee around your company isn’t a solution - it’s re-gifting dysfunction. You’re not solving a problem, you’re playing Hot Potato with human resentment. Just because Mike from customer service tanked morale doesn’t mean marketing deserves to suffer through his “I was just being honest” routine next.

You might fool yourself into thinking, “Maybe a new team will fix them.” It won’t. That’s like thinking a different gym will finally make you love leg day.

❌ Don’t fire without documentation

Unless you want to star in your own legal drama called Wrongful Termination: The Reckoning, you need a paper trail. Firing someone just because you’ve “had enough” works great in action movies, not courtrooms.

Track every incident. Note down the dates, what was said, who witnessed it, and how you responded. Keep emails. Send recap messages. Be the Sherlock Holmes of HR. Because when Brenda calls her cousin’s law firm, you’ll want receipts thicker than a Cheesecake Factory menu.

Bonus “Don’t” Tip: Don’t assume the problem will fix itself. Toxic employees don’t “grow out of it” like teen phases. They grow into it - like mold on leftover pasta. Handle it now or risk being known as the boss who let Carl ruin the company, one eye-roll at a time.

✅ 4. What to Do Instead

Okay, so you’ve spotted a toxic employee, resisted the urge to throw them into the nearest potted plant, and now you’re ready to do something about it. Good. This is the part where you stop the chaos - professionally, legally, and without starring in a workplace meltdown TikTok.

Here’s how to detox your office one toxic team member at a time:

📋 Document everything

Treat your workplace like a true crime podcast. Record every suspicious interaction like you're building a case - because you are.

"John sighed dramatically and muttered 'genius ideas as always' when Jane presented in the meeting - 10:03 AM, Tuesday."
"Email from Carrie 'accidentally' left out the entire marketing team - 1:42 PM, Thursday."

Keep it all. Slack messages, emails, missed deadlines, strange disappearances around cleaning duty - you want a digital paper trail so detailed, Netflix could option it. Why? Because if things go sideways, your defense needs to be stronger than Brenda’s excuses for missing deadlines.

🗣️ Have honest conversations

This part is awkward. Yes, you’ll probably sweat. Yes, you might rehearse in the mirror. But real change starts with real talk.

Sit them down (preferably without snacks - this isn’t a picnic) and get specific. None of that vague corporate “let’s circle back on that synergy” fluff. Say things like:

“Your sarcasm in meetings is affecting collaboration.”
“You’ve interrupted four people in five minutes - are you training for the Olympics of not listening?”
“We need to talk about how you 'accidentally' deleted an entire client folder... again.”

They might deny, deflect, or try to gaslight you into thinking you are the problem. Stay calm. You have notes. You’re prepared. You are the HR Avenger now.

🧾 Set clear expectations

Look, toxic employees don’t read minds - and unfortunately, many don’t read memos either. That’s why you need to lay things out so clearly, even a distracted goldfish could follow along.

Define the behavior that needs to change.
Set a timeline for improvement.
List consequences if things don’t change.
Write it all down and send a summary email like you’re chronicling workplace history.

Think of this like making a contract with a professional houseplant - clear light, water, and temperature instructions. Except this plant rolls its eyes and blames IT when their calendar doesn’t sync.

If they improve, great - you saved a team member. If not? You’ve got everything documented to make your next move bulletproof.

Real-World Example: You confront Greg about his pattern of sighing during team wins and sending vaguely threatening GIFs in Slack. You lay out examples, give him a 30-day improvement plan, and summarize it all in writing. He nods, thanks you, and returns to his desk... where he immediately changes his Slack status to “free thinker.” But hey - now you're protected and he's officially on notice.

✂️ 5. When It’s Time to Cut Ties

There comes a point where coaching turns into enabling. You’ve documented, you’ve mentored, you’ve held meetings that felt more like therapy sessions with worse lighting - and still, the toxic fumes linger.

That’s your cue. The “we’ve tried everything” stage means it's officially snip o'clock.

🚫 The behavior doesn’t change, no matter what you do

You offered training. You held one-on-one sessions. You even role-played better communication skills like it was amateur improv night. And still? The same eye rolls, the same backhanded compliments, and the same meeting hijacks that end with "I'm just being honest."

If you find yourself Googling “how to exorcise bad vibes from Brenda in HR,” it's probably time.

📉 Morale hits rock bottom

Here’s a fun business truth: top talent hates working with bottom-tier energy. When you keep toxic employees around, it silently tells the rest of the team, “This is fine. The chaos is fine.”

Suddenly your best people stop offering ideas, stop volunteering for projects, and start mysteriously needing “dental surgery” every Friday. You’ll know morale’s gone when even the coffee machine sighs when it sees them walk in.

😬 Clients start picking up on it

When the drama starts leaking out of internal meetings and into client interactions, it’s officially costing you money.

A client emails, “Is your account manager okay? She told me to ‘circle back never.’”
A vendor says, “We’d rather not work with Jim again. He told us our campaign was ‘a crime against marketing.’”

Now your rep is taking a hit, and trust - like that one last paperclip in the supply closet - is fragile.

✅ Fire fast... but legally

Let’s be clear. This isn’t about being harsh - it’s about protecting your team, your culture, and your sanity. But you’ve got to do it the right way.

Make sure your documentation is airtight.
Follow your company’s HR policies step by step.
Be professional and clear in the termination meeting. No need for drama or a dramatic exit playlist (unless you want one for you).

Think of it like cleaning out the office fridge. No one wants to deal with that mystery Tupperware... but once it’s gone, the whole place smells better.

Real-World Example: You gave Tyler three separate improvement plans, two feedback sessions, and one motivational podcast playlist. After the fourth client complained about his “intense vibes” and your intern cried during a Zoom call, you let him go. The next Monday, the office was quiet, productive, and someone even brought muffins. You did the right thing.

🎯 Your Culture Is Contagious

Here’s a truth bomb that hits harder than an office chair with one short leg - culture spreads. Quickly. Relentlessly. Like glitter at a craft fair.

If negativity, gossip, and passive-aggressive Post-it notes are floating around, that stuff will infect the entire workplace faster than Brenda can say, “That’s not my job.” But the good news? The reverse is also true.

When you lead with clarity, consistency, and the courage to call out dysfunction early - you create a culture that doesn’t just survive, it thrives.

✅ Healthy culture = healthy business

It’s not just an HR poster with happy stick figures holding hands. It’s your secret growth strategy.

Teams that trust each other perform better.
Clients love working with people who aren’t constantly side-eyeing each other.
Staff retention improves when employees don’t dread Slack notifications.

Toxic employees might be loud, but loyal employees? They’re louder in impact.

💡Set the tone, or someone else will

And spoiler: that someone might be Chad from sales who thinks “sarcasm” is a leadership style. Culture doesn’t wait around for a formal handbook - it forms every time you avoid a hard conversation, ignore bad behavior, or reward performance over decency.

Set the tone. Reinforce the good. Address the bad. Repeat.

🍩 Want a team that thrives? Feed it more than bagels

Yes, breakfast meetings help, but what really matters is recognition, boundaries, and shared purpose. That’s what builds camaraderie. That’s what makes someone say, “I love working here,” instead of “I’m emotionally attached to this swivel chair but ready to leave.”

Example: At a growing marketing agency, leadership started recognizing one team player each week with shoutouts and a gift card. Nothing huge - just visibility and validation. Within months, toxic vibes dropped, collaboration improved, and the breakroom drama turned into people actually cleaning the microwave. It works.

AMS Digital Can Help Fix the Vibe

At AMS Digital, we do more than just clean up marketing messes - we help businesses build cultures that attract top talent and keep toxic vibes out. Need a brand that screams “We’ve got our act together”? We’ll craft it. Website look like it time-traveled from 2009? We’ll redesign and develop it to convert like a boss.

Want the right people knocking on your digital door? Our paid ads will target them. Want those people to stay interested? Our social media team will make your feed less “meh” and more magnetic. From branding, SEO and websites to paid campaigns and daily posts - we don’t just build marketing machines, we help build workplaces worth working in.