If there’s one pandemic that rarely makes headlines but quietly corrodes productivity across boardrooms and back offices alike, it’s workplace toxicity.
It doesn’t arrive with coughing or fever, it creeps in through unchecked behaviour, whispered rumours and the silence that follows when no one feels safe to speak. Across Eswatini’s workplaces, many professionals describe an atmosphere where gossip replaces teamwork, intimidation masquerades as ‘firm leadership’ and policies bend for a chosen few.
The result is predictable: Falling morale, stress-related illnesses and a steady drain of talented people who give up. Since the wounds are invisible, organisations often dismiss them as personality clashes or ‘people problems,’ when in fact, they are business problems with measurable costs. Research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) indicates that toxic workplace cultures can reduce productivity by up to 40 per cent and increase staff turnover by more than 50 per cent.
Globally, studies by Great Place to Work show that organisations with healthy, high-trust cultures outperform their peers by as much as 20 per cent in profitability and retention.
The pattern is no different locally, young professionals leave before reaching their potential, while mid-career employees stay but disengage. Behind every resignation letter lies frustration, anxiety or dignity lost. A healthy culture, it turns out, isn’t charity, it’s strategy.
Having spent almost two decades in Eswatini’s corporate and professional sectors, I’ve witnessed both sides of this reality: As an employee enduring it and later as a manager learning how leadership decisions either feed or fix toxicity.
Toxic cultures thrive when communication dies. Once people stop talking honestly and leaders stop listening, the rot sets in.
The good news is that Eswatini already has institutions equipped to help. The Department of Labour and CMAC provide mediation and education on rights and obligations, while Business Eswatini champions ethical leadership and people-centred productivity.
These resources exist; the challenge is using them early, before conflict hardens into crisis. Speaking up can feel risky, especially when job security is at stake but silence helps no one. Change begins when conversations do.
Recognising the patterns is the first step; addressing them requires courage, empathy and accountability from every level of an organisation.
The silent pandemic series will unpack these issues one conversation at a time: How to spot red flags, seek help and rebuild workplaces where people thrive. When we fix the workplace, we strengthen not just companies, but the economy and the nation itself.
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