America’s labor market is strong, but its workplace culture is fragile. New national data from Shegerian Conniff show that in 2024, 161 million people were employed, and 72% have quit a job due to a toxic culture. The report identifies which industries and states are driving the crisis and outlines concrete steps leaders can take to stop the bleed.
A Nation of Workers And Walkouts
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Employment footprint: 161M workers (≈60% of the U.S.).
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Gender split: 85.3M men (65.2% of men), 76M women (57.5% of women).
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Walk-away totals: 61.2M men, 54.7M women have left jobs due to toxicity.
Defining features of toxic workplaces include: high turnover; fear-based decision-making; cliques and gossip; low morale; confusion about goals; performative DEIB; disrespect; win-at-all-costs competition; no recognition or growth; unreasonable demands; and bad management (micromanagement, blame cultures, favoritism).
Industry Leaders in Toxicity
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Healthcare faces a dual epidemic of abuse and burnout. 60–90% report verbal/physical abuse; nurses cite supervisor (67.5%) and coworker (77.6%) mistreatment. 65% of PAs report burnout/depression; 43% blame disrespect; 57% administrative overload. Patient outcomes suffer.
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Hospitality endures chronic burnout: 47% personally burned out; 64% witnessed exits due to burnout; 69% of shift workers are exhausted; ~16% faced harassment/bullying.
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Construction reveals acute mental-health risk: up to 40% depression/anxiety; 60% alcohol dependency; suicide nearly 2x other sectors; overdose deaths 17x job-injury deaths; suicides 5x fatal injuries.
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Finance shows 82.5% burnout, 58.3% poor work-life balance, 83.3% lack of focus time; 60% would discourage newcomers and plan industry exits.
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Tech struggles with burnout (57%), culture-driven burnout (46%), and harassment of women (41%), evidence of systemic inequity and “always-on” expectations.
Methodology (Industry). Public studies and peer-reviewed sources were synthesized into two comparable dimensions: abuse/harassment and burnout, to generate cross-industry toxicity indicators (averages/midpoints where applicable).
Where It’s Hardest to Work: State Rankings
A composite Toxicity Score (Innerbody stress + Benefit News burnout) ranks Wyoming as the most toxic state for workers, followed by Idaho, Alaska, Utah, and Massachusetts in a broader top tier that also includes Rhode Island and Connecticut. Themes across these states include geographic isolation, limited support resources, long commutes, irregular/long hours, and pressurized job markets.
Methodology (States). Innerbody’s stress indicators (employment stress, income pressure, commute time, sleep disruption) were combined with Benefit News’ burnout data to create a single ranked score per state.
The Business Case: Culture as P&L
Toxicity is a profitability problem:
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Health costs rise with stress-related illness.
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Productivity falls via absenteeism/presenteeism.
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Turnover costs spike (often up to 2x salary per replacement).
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Reputation declines—harming recruiting and retention.
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Execution falters as trust erodes and ethical risk grows.
From Crisis to Culture Change: Action Plan
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Name it. Publish behavioral standards; articulate leadership expectations; protect whistleblowers.
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Resource it. Fund mental-health benefits, manager training, and conflict-resolution programs.
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Redesign jobs. Calibrate workloads; protect focus time; provide schedule predictability.
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Enforce equity. Move beyond performative DEIB; track fairness in pay, promotion, and assignments; act on harassment reports.
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Listen & iterate. Run confidential pulse surveys; share findings; commit to quarterly fixes; link executive compensation to culture metrics.
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Measure outcomes. Monitor burnout, regrettable attrition, and team NPS—then report progress.
What Workers Can Do Today
Employees should document incidents, set boundaries, leverage internal reporting channels, and, if necessary, plan an exit to safeguard their health and livelihood. In many cases, legal remedies exist for harassment, retaliation, and hostile work environments.