Many people think escaping a toxic workplace is as simple as changing jobs or cities. I thought the same thing when I transferred to what seemed like a better work environment. But toxic workplace patterns have a way of following you, and here’s why the geographic cure rarely works.

Signs Your Workplace Is Toxic

Before diving into my story, let’s identify what makes a workplace truly toxic. My original office had all the classic warning signs:

• Constant understaffing that created unsustainable pressure
• Management that micromanaged rather than supported staff
• High turnover with no effort to address root causes
• A culture where burnout was normalized, not addressed

If you’re experiencing chronic stress, physical symptoms like headaches or sleep issues, or dreading work consistently, you might be dealing with toxic workplace culture too.

The transfer felt like salvation. Finally, I’d escaped the chaos and found somewhere that treated people fairly. For a while, I actually believed geography could cure toxic workplace culture.

I initially planned to stay at the satellite office for just a year. I thought it would feel like a step back after making it all the way to a major metropolitan area where I felt like I’d built something meaningful. But one year turned into another, and eventually became seven years.

I liked the smaller region. People were easygoing but kept to themselves, and there was endless outdoor activity year-round. But I didn’t feel connected to anything or anybody. I basically got up, went to work, did my job, came home, went to sleep. Repeat, repeat, repeat. In some ways, after coming from complete chaos, I enjoyed the mundane. I felt isolated, but I had breathing room. The work was less chaotic and stressful, at least initially.

My typical week was 3-4 night shifts. I stayed on nights because, as many healthcare workers know, things are less hectic without daytime micromanagement. I could make my nightly to-do list and check items off one by one with fewer interruptions. I’d wake around 4pm for my 7pm shift, grab some food, spend time doom-scrolling and watching YouTube, catching up on Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) content. Finding good food in the middle of the night isn’t easy. The choices were bring your own or raid the vending machines when that 3am hunger hits.

Most nights looked chaotic to outsiders, but seven years into the job, there wasn’t much I hadn’t seen or couldn’t handle efficiently. I was making good money and doing work I was proud of. This was life-saving work, and we were in the middle of it. On my days off, I’d catch up on sleep, though as I aged, sleeping during the day after night shifts became increasingly difficult. I tried everything but just dealt with it as a way of life. I’d live my normal, mundane everyday life: cleaning house, buying groceries, taking long walks and hikes. I needed that boring downtime because the work required precision without fail.

Why Toxic Workplace Culture Spreads

Toxic workplace culture spreads because the underlying systems and leadership approaches don’t (or won’t) change—they just migrate. In my case:

Three years into my transfer, the writing was on the wall. The storm that drove me away from the main office started rolling into my new region. The main offices were perpetually understaffed, which meant I had to travel back frequently for shifts. It sounds glamorous: flying on a private plane as the only passenger, then taking ground transport to a hospital. But I missed my eight-minute commute to local hospitals and the relationships I’d built with staff there.

Traveling for shifts meant arriving late to assigned hospitals and leaving early to keep shifts closer to 12 hours instead of 14+. I wasn’t working with people I’d developed relationships with, so they weren’t familiar with my work ethic and personality, and vice versa. After thinking I’d escaped the toxic environment, it found a way to drag me back.

As demand for our services increased, the workload intensified while resources remained stretched thin. Great for our mission, brutal for staff. The lack of personnel and resulting burnout was crushing. Then came restructuring: new leadership, including a former boss who’d been recruited back. He had a micromanager personality. We were cordial, but we both knew we rubbed each other wrong. Not ideal when someone controls a big chunk of your life.

He was eventually promoted to an executive position, no longer my direct boss. In his place, he promoted someone I’d historically gotten along with, but whom he’d been grooming. She followed his every word like gospel, adopted his leadership style, and created friction I constantly had to navigate.

The workload, micromanagement, and feeling of never being good enough was a recipe for disaster. I was sleeping only 3-4 hours after 12-hour shifts and waking up in a panic. I had headaches and heart palpitations. My diet consisted mostly of junk food (something I now wonder if I ate because it was one of the few things giving me pleasure and a sense of control).

This is when I realized I’d only found a temporary cure for my toxic workplace problems. I had no close friends. No romantic interests. I had no family nearby. I was diagnosed with hypertension at age 38—first noticed at my dentist’s office, of all places and was put on a high dose prescription medication to control it. I was isolated and in a self-destructive place.

I had traded one problem for another, and geography wasn’t the solution I thought it would be.

Links:

Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation

DISCLAIMER: This is my personal experience and shouldn’t be considered professional advice. If you’re experiencing severe workplace stress, burnout, or mental health issues, please consult with qualified professionals including therapists, doctors, or employment attorneys as appropriate. FMLA eligibility and workplace rights vary by situation and location. Every workplace and personal situation is different.