Studies Show Toxic Managers Cause Employee Turnover but Still Get Promoted
When a manager fails to meet goals, they usually don’t get promoted. But high-performing managers who achieve results while mistreating their teams often do. These “toxic managers” get results at the cost of trust, morale, and employee retention.
Many companies focus on output and overlook the harm caused by bad leadership. Short-term successes often hide long-term problems.
Research from MIT Sloan Management Review shows that a toxic workplace culture predicts employee turnover more than 10 times as much as salary does. Losing employees, low engagement, and reputational damage quietly add up while the high-performing toxic manager keeps climbing. A Harvard Business School study of over 50,000 employees found that toxic workers often seem more productive than others. Avoiding just one toxic hire can be worth twice as much as hiring a top performer. This creates a “productivity paradox”: strong results can hide destructive leadership.
Why Toxic Managers Keep Getting Promoted
A 2023 study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that managers are less likely to punish bad behavior if it comes from high performers. Researchers call this “motivated moral reasoning”: people excuse harmful actions from employees who deliver results. This explains why some toxic managers continue to rise despite the damage they cause.
Similarly, a review in Psychological Bulletin found that narcissistic people are more likely to get promoted, even though they aren’t better leaders. Confidence and self-promotion can help people move up, even if they later harm team trust and performance.
Overall, organizations that focus on short-term results often reward visible performance today while ignoring long-term costs like turnover, lost knowledge, and cultural harm.
How Companies Are Changing Leadership
Some companies are redefining what makes a good leader. Microsoft’s Viva Insights now tracks manager behaviors like coaching, empowering, and connecting teams—not just hitting targets.
LinkedIn research in 2024 shows that employees promoted internally within three years are 40% more likely to stay and 79% more likely to move into leadership roles. This highlights the value of developing talent and promoting strong managers.
The way companies measure performance shapes the leaders they create. Cultures that focus only on results often promote toxic behaviors: competition over collaboration, control over coaching, and results at any cost. But when companies value leaders who grow and support their teams, toxic managers are quickly exposed, and those who build trust and retain talent rise faster.
These people-focused practices don’t just stop harmful behaviors—they also strengthen leadership throughout the organization. Training, reskilling, and internal mobility help employees grow, making the company stronger through its people, not in spite of them.
How to Use AI for a Competitive Edge
Keeping employees engaged and motivated isn’t just an HR task; it shows how healthy the organization is. As AI and automation take over routine work, what will set companies apart is human skills: empathy, mentorship, teamwork, and creating a safe workplace—areas where bad managers have often failed.
Good leadership in an AI-driven world will focus on developing human skills, not just technical ones. Managers who can spend more time coaching and collaborating, while letting AI handle routine tasks, will see their teams perform better.
For companies, this approach is not only the right thing to do, it’s smart business. Tracking how well leaders develop, retain, and empower their teams helps prevent promoting people who deliver results but don’t build trust. In a workplace accelerated by AI, the organizations that succeed will be the ones investing in human leadership—the one advantage machines can’t replace.
Also Read
Top Financial Strategies for Businesses to Grow Internationally
Boost Team Engagement with Effective Leadership Rituals
Emerging Markets to Watch: Business Insights Across Continents
