A workplace can look healthy from the outside yet still run on fear. Meetings happen. Deadlines are met. Customers are served. The numbers may even look solid for a quarter or two. But inside the team, people may choose silence over honesty because they have learned that speaking up carries a cost.

That concern has moved to the center of management discussions after iHire’s 2026 Toxic Workplace Trends Report found that 68.9% of U.S. workers have experienced a toxic workplace at some point in their careers. More than a third of employees who witnessed toxic behavior never reported it, and 45.1% said they doubted HR or leadership would take action.