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wo-thirds of white-collar professionals ( 60 %) have admitted to ‘ rage applying ’ to a new job since the beginning of the year – with a toxic workplace culture ( 56 %) being the primary motivating factor . The trend – which has seen a spike since New Year appraisals – occurs when professionals retaliate to a bad day at work by firing out multiple applications to new job roles .

Of those who admitted to rage applying in the past six months , almost half ( 40 %) stated that they had applied to multiple new roles within a short space of time . The findings come from a recent poll by staffing firm , Walters People , of 2,000 UK professionals .

Toxic workplaces to blame

The leading issue provoking rage appliers is a toxic workplace culture – with over half ( 56 %) of professionals stating this was the primary reason they took to the keyboard to apply for new jobs . A fifth of workers blamed an unmanageable workload ( 20 %), followed by 18 % who state that poor work / life balance continues to be an issue .

Just 6 % said that a disagreement with management led to them rage applying in the past six months .

Janine Blacksley , Director of Walters People , said : " By and large it continues to be a candidate-driven market – with more jobs than people available – so ‘ rage applying ’ is really something that most employers cannot afford to happen .

“ Interestingly it is not issues relating to pay or progression that is creating this knee-jerk reaction – but the work environment itself , something well within the control of the employer .

“ Toxic workplace cultures can very much be invisible but the knockon effect to employee happiness is significant – from staff members ’ mental and physical safety in the workplace , productivity levels , ideas generation and innovation .

“ As a result , we are increasingly seeing more ‘ culture matches ’ in the hiring process – where both the company and prospective employee are vocal about what kind of worker or workplace they are looking for .”

Problem with the culture

According to Walters People , working for an inspiring company culture and colleagues is the number one thing that attracts professionals to a job advert – ahead of flexible work and enhanced benefits packages .

Blacksley ’ s top tips on how to improve a toxic work-environment :

1 . Put it high on your management ’ s agenda – ensure that managers are well aware that team morale and a positive work environment is a core responsibility of theirs . Business leaders should raise this in management meetings often .

2 . Launch anonymous feedback surveys – a fairly basic initiative that simply not enough employers do !

3 . Invest time and money – culture does not come for free . Fact is the workplace is made up of a set of people brought together because of their varying skillsets – not because they would necessarily make good friends . As such , companies need to put more effort into helping to create a friendly , social and inclusive environment – these things often don ’ t happen by chance . �