Six in 10 workers say their boss is toxic. Experts aren’t so sure

Brooks points to the same underlying pressure. Managers are being asked to lead through an era of rapid change, economic uncertainty, and AI-driven transformation, often without the training or support to do it well. The Harris Poll found that 71% of workers link toxic behavior at least partly to current economic conditions. And 44% say their company invests more in AI than in one-on-one coaching for people managers.

“We’re in the largest technology investment cycle in a generation, and the human side of work is being left behind,” said Libby Rodney, Chief Strategy Officer at The Harris Poll in New York. “Toxic leadership isn’t a character flaw. It’s an investment failure.”

When the complaint hits HR’s desk

When an employee complains that their manager is toxic but there’s no clear policy violation, Tepper’s advice is to resist the urge to treat it as a one-off. It matters more than many organizations realize: just 1 in 4 employees believe HR will actually address toxic behavior at work, making how HR responds to these complaints critical to whether employees trust the process at all.

“I wouldn’t take any one data point as meaning a lot, but I would take a lot of data points as being helpful,” he said. “Exit interviews can be a rich source of information about how employees are experiencing their manager. A lot of current employees are going to be reluctant to say what they really think, but the folks who are on the way out may have more to say.”

He recommends that HR look for patterns across time and across employees: turnover rates, absenteeism, requests for internal transfers, the prevalence of employee relations cases. Where those patterns cluster around a particular manager, that’s where attention is warranted.