If you worked somewhere that went through 10 managers in 12 years, made hundreds of redundancies, removed long-standing employee benefits, and had leaders publicly criticise their own team - would you consider it a toxic workplace?

In this episode of The HR Room Podcast, Dave and Mary are joined by Joe Thompson, Head of HR Services at Insight HR, to examine one of the most talked-about organisations in the world - Manchester United - through an HR lens.

Drawing on recent media coverage and their own professional experience, the team explore whether the challenges at Manchester United reflect the hallmarks of a toxic workplace culture, and what HR professionals can learn from it.

Together, they unpack leadership behaviour, culture drift, psychological safety, employer brand damage, and the risks of reactive change - offering practical advice for HR leaders navigating similar issues in their own organisations.

• Joe Thompson – Head of HR Services, Insight HR

• What defines a toxic workplace culture?
• Leadership behaviour and its ripple effect across an organisation
• High performer favouritism and double standards
• The impact of constant leadership turnover
• Psychological safety – what it looks like (and what it doesn’t)
• Employer brand damage and recruitment risks
• Why “quick fixes” and constant restructuring can make things worse
• The hidden cost of blame culture and fear-based management
• The role of HR in diagnosing culture challenges
• Practical steps to rebuild trust and create a healthier workplace

• Toxic cultures rarely start with dramatic events — they begin with small tolerated behaviours that become normalised.
• Culture change takes years, not months — and must be consistent.
• Values must be lived, not laminated.
• Leadership alignment between words and actions is critical.
• HR’s role is to diagnose, listen, structure feedback, and guide meaningful change — not simply label a workplace “toxic.”

If any of the warning signs discussed resonate with your organisation, it may be time to step back, assess honestly, and put a structured plan in place.

How Manchester Utd became a textbook example of a toxic workplace - RTÉ

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