'They're not prepared for you on your first day': 40 Red flags people spotted in their new workplaces

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 8, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

Starting to work at a new company is a leap of faith. We all want to have the best job possible, with a great salary, tons of perks, good coworkers, benefits, and a nice work-life balance. There's no such thing as a perfect job — you might have a great salary, but your boss is always breathing down your neck. Or maybe you have a lot of vacation time to use, but you work 80 hour weeks most of the time. It's a trade off, and it's all about finding an environment you can thrive in. 

These folks below started new jobs, and felt a little suspicious about their workplace. Some noticed that their coworkers told them not to trust anyone. Others noted that their bosses yelled at them instead of giving them actual instruction for their brand new job. The red flags were waving for these people, and a lot of commenters even added that they left these jobs just a few months after starting them. That's another red flag — high turnover. As some commenters noted, if it's only lifers and brand new people at the company, something's amiss. 

Scroll down to check out these interesting red flags. Then, take a peek into the real estate market's most ridiculous listings. 

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  • 01
    Font - 'I always ask in interviews what the turnover rate is, or why the person I am replacing left the position'
    via Bernd Dittrich on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - What is a massive red flag about a new workplace?
    via u/deleted
  • 03
    Font - desertravenwy People have either been there for decades or a few weeks. No people in between.
    via u/desertravenwy
  • 04
    Font - IAmGodMode I already posted one comment here, but I've got another. I got started in HVAC last spring and a month before tech school graduation I went to every HVAC company in my area and handed in my resume. I had four interviews, my current employer was my third. He gave me the job offer but then told him I had an interview somewhere else shortly after this one and I wanted to see how it goes. After I said that he gave me some really good advice. He says:
    via u/IAmGodMode
  • 05
    Font - "That's good, that's great. Interview at as many places as you can. You need to find a place that fits you and your expectations. If that isn't here, then I wish you luck. Just remember: Not only are they interviewing you, but you should be interviewing them." After he said that I pretty much had my mind made up. This small company actually gives a S
    via u/IAmGodMode
  • 06
    Font - CommanderShift If, within the first month, your boss complains to you about your peers. Get the f out.
    via u/CommanderShift
  • 07
    Font - My ex boss right on the interview told me he was planning to fire a sales person and was complaining about him to me. I took the job anyway. 7 months later i quit.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 08
    Font - [deleted] Constantly having people leave. Constantly hiring people. No real training structure for new hires
    via u/deleted
  • 09
    Font - Pjvie I always ask in interviews what the turnover rate is, or why the person I am replacing left the position. Definitely avoided some sketchy scenarios with those questions.
    via u/Pjvie
  • 10
    Human body - nikkitgirl They're not prepared for you on your first day.
    via u/nikkitgirl
  • 11
    Font - + [deleted] They have insufficient funds to cash your paycheck.
    via u/deleted
  • 12
    Font - slider728 The look of defeat on the faces of their employees. When a place is good to work, their employees seem to be excited to be there. There are smiles, there are jokes, there is enthusiasm. When a company screws over and abuses their employees? The employees get that look of defeat in their eyes.
    via u/slider728
  • 13
    Font - Their job has no enjoyment, it is merely about survival. When I say survival, I don't mean working to make some money to get food to eat, I mean that you are trying to make it to the end of the day, just to go home and repeat the cycle, each day a bit worse than the next. People don't joke and if they do, it seems to be morbid jokes about the workplace. People aren't social. You can feel the lack of joy. The company has managed to defeat their workforce.
    via u/slider728
  • 14
    Font - regularasslady If you constantly get "this is how we've always done it" responses to your suggestions.
    via u/regularasslady
  • 15
    Font - masteroftheseas Having a guy saying in the 1st group meeting: this company IS NOT a pyramid scheme
    via u/masteroftheseas
  • 16
    Font - + [deleted] When they want to know about private accounts or even some asking straight up for social media log in information.
    via u/deleted
  • 17
    Font - Gerreth_Gobulcoque. "We work hard and play hard" translation: You'll have no work-life balance but we also all drink too much.
    via u/Gerreth_Gobulcoque
  • 18
    Font - TheMrBigT77 Being asked to create a presentation to justify my "high" wages... They hired me about 4 weeks previously. Lasted 18 months before getting the h out of that place.
    via u/TheMrBigT77
  • 19
    Font - Astramancer_ The person interviewing you doesn't seem to have any idea who you are. I don't mean your name, I mean the stuff in your CV/application. If they don't know who you are, that means they don't care who you are. They just want a warm body for as long as they can have you.
    via u/Astramancer_
  • 20
    Font - Also, an overly complicated bonus schedule based off a large number of metrics. That's the sign of a company that will be doing everything they can to screw you out of bonuses while simultaneously using the promise of future bonuses to retain people. I can guarantee you that at least 2 of those metrics are all but impossible to hit simultaneously.
    via u/Astramancer_
  • 21
    Font - SwimnGinger- They like to micro manage you but then tell you off for not having enough initiative to do something.... then tell you off for doing it due to micro managing and the cycle continues
    via u/SwimnGinger-
  • 22
    Font - Kirkinho08 Being hired for a specific job and then having additional duties tacked on after you are hired. The company doesn't follow it's own employee handbook or whatever rules and guidelines they have. Work hours and days change after you are hired. Telling you which holidays you have off, then not giving you those holiday's off.
    via u/Kirkinho08
  • 23
    Font - Every employee is talking s about every other employee. Poor or non-existent training time. Management with no management training or knowledge.
    via u/Kirkinho08
  • 24
    Smile - idiopathicsmellyfeet. Hostile co-workers
    via u/idiopathicsmellyfeet
  • 25
    Font - LawfulOrange Places with truly great culture don't have management teams constantly gushing about how great the culture is. If management talks about the culture ten times in the first week you're there, run. Don't look back.
    via u/LawfulOrange
  • 26
    Font - Notasupervillan Specifically the management's turnover rate. The employee's is important too, but in every job I've worked there's always people who think it's an unfathomable h hole. Some folks just don't like working, so I take it with a grain of salt. Management is a different story. If you've got new bosses every few months, you know there's a real problem.
    via u/Notasupervillan
  • 27
    Font - Moltrire A lot of people telling you who you can trust and distrust, and asking your opinions on people you just met. They'll make it seem like they're just befriending the new person, but really they're trying to draw you into their side of the company's factions (or gauge if they should bring you into their faction), and get some dirt on you to turn others against you if need be. That's not to say there's anything you can do once you see those red flags, except go ahead and figure out h
    via u/Moltrire
  • 28
    Font - UGo2My Head Their training you for your specific duties is limited to screaming at you when you have done something wrong.
    via u/UGo2MyHead
  • 29
    Font - Cspacer97 The boss being 30 minutes late to an interview and/or going to the wrong building
    via u/Cspacer97
  • 30
    Font - zeroGamer My friend got hired at a place that called itself "the family". Nahhh.
    via u/zeroGamer
  • 31
    Font - ZiggyZoggyOiOioi Co-workers gossiping about other co-workers. No defined training program. High turn over rate. Always follow up with your manager to know 30-60-90 day expectations for your position. Most importantly, don't ignore your intuition. If you feel like workplace is sketch, it most likely is.
    via u/ZiggyZoggyOiOioi
  • 32
    Font - ijustsmokeok If everyone is s talking everyone else, you don't want to work there.
    via u/ijustsmokeok
  • 33
    Font - thatgreatgreat Like others have said, high turnover rate. Also disagreements on procedure. If the book says one way, manager tells you to do another, and a coworker suggests differently all on the same situation - red flag, especially in retail. I like working somewhere where there's consistency in rules and how things are done mostly because I don't want to look dumb doing it the "wrong way" for the same situation another time.
    via u/thatgreatgreat
  • 34
    Font - adoptagreyhound You realize that all of the other people working there are related to the person who hired you or the person who is running the place. Run while you still can.
    via u/adoptagreyhound
  • 35
    Font - + [deleted] If they tell you overtime is voluntary, then get mad when you never volunteer.
    via u/deleted
  • 36
    Font - + [deleted] Vagueness, if you cant get a answer to a simple question then...
    via u/deleted
  • 37
    Font - Ritehandwingman Passive aggressive sticky notes everywhere. 259 Share droogans Or those notes that were obviously HASTILY TYPED UP AND TAPED TO A DOOR IN THE BACK SOMEWHERE in Word using size 36 Times New Roman and FEATURES RANDOM SHOUTING IN IT in the form of all caps complaints and PARAGRAPHS WORTH OF RUN-ON SENTENCES because
    via u/Ritehandwingman
  • 38
    Font - a handful of your fellow co-workers BROKE THE RULES AGAIN and therefore warrants an unending stream of notices that each blend into the next because they CHANGE EVERY TWO WEEKS based on whatever minor infraction occurred most recently.
    via u/Ritehandwingman
  • 39
    Font - ALSO, DO NOT FORGET THE SUMMARY CLOSING PARAGRAPH RESTATING THE ABOVE SANS ANY CONTRACTIONS OR SUPPORTING PUNCTUATION SAVE FOR THE CLASSIC QUADRUPLE EXCLAMATION MARK!!!! USE OF THE PHRASE "AS PER THE ..." MAY ALSO APPEAR AS THIS EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE AND URGENCY OF THIS MEMO TO THE STAFF
    via u/Ritehandwingman
  • 40
    Smile - to_the_tenth_power The first thing that's said is "Your only limit is how much you can sell."
    via u/to_the_tenth_power
  • 41
    Font - NotVerySmarts Started a new job 6 months ago. Coworker took me out to lunch and warned me not to trust anyone. He repeated it again. DON'T TRUST ANYONE. Turns out he was the one that I wasn't supposed to trust.
    via u/NotVerySmarts
  • 42
    Font - tourny25 5 yr. ago If you have to share an open workspace with management and/or if your coworkers are silent until management leaves the room.
    via u/rollbackprices

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ask reddit boss jobs work stories toxic-workplace coworkers workplace red flags job search red flag job interview interview toxic-work-environment
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