The office is not alright — but everyone pretends to be.
Experts are sounding the alarm about the toxic work behavior called “glossing,” a term referring to a leader’s failure to address workplace issues and hardships which prompts employees to coast at work and suppress negative emotions.
Instead of addressing tough times at work, bosses might try to ease anxieties with toxic positivity, when they should really have conversations about underlying problems, experts explain.
While “glossing” could be a “natural response to anxiety or fear,” Leena Rinne, the global head of coaching at Skillsoft, told Business Insider, she also warned that the habit could be impacting workplace morale.
When employees don’t feel seen or heard by leaders who routinely ignore glaring issues or struggles, it creates “a perfect storm for people to show up very carefully.” The feeling of insecurity might also make higher-ups “less willing to evaluate the problems for better solutions” or “take risks and be innovative,” she noted.
Other signs of glossing in the workplace include refusing to talk about hard times at work, employees complaining behind leaders’ backs, leaving cameras off for meetings and a workforce that is stressed, burned out and more likely to call out sick, symptoms of what has also been dubbed “The Great Detachment.”
“So I think senior leaders and all leaders should be concerned about this,” Rinne said, noting that “leaders create culture.”
“There’s a reason why we show up this way at work, and I think that senior leaders in particular need to take a pretty hard look to say, what are we creating, and how are we motivating people to show up in this way?” she continued, calling the habit “laziness” on the part of managers and employers.
Recent data from a Leadership IQ poll of more than 27,000 people found that a meager 15% of workers believed their employers were candid about workplace and business challenges, while only 23% of those surveyed said that their boss responded constructively when employees voiced concerns.
Meanwhile, a June survey from Science of People revealed that 68% of people experienced toxic positivity in the workplace only in the previous week, BI reports.
Rinne said that leaders may be tempted to “gloss” over bad news in an attempt to preserve workplace morale, but acknowledging it is actually better for employees in the long run.
“Hearing from a leader how the disruptive change on the horizon is going to be so difficult,” Rinne said. “There’s a way to frame that eases anxiety, and there’s a way to frame it that probably amps it up.”
Rinne offered an example of how managers could better address the fact that the team is “in a period of disruption”: “We know it’s hard, and we’re so grateful you’re on this ride with us. There’s no one we’d rather have than you.”
She recalled one client who enforced that their team starts every meeting with 60 seconds. While it takes “no time at all,” Rinne continued, it shifts the energy for the meeting.
“You get more when people feel safe and feel engaged than if they’re punching that clock and glossing for hours,” she said.