The six categories: descriptions and next steps.
Conditions can change. Feelings alone do not define a category; consider them alongside how people treat you. The categories describe a position on a shifting spectrum, not inevitable stages.
The total is not the whole picture. A single harmful incident or a pattern of harmful incidents can make a workplace or social group unhealthy, even when people can speak freely, disagree, and leave. A low score does not erase those harms.
An unhealthy workplace is not necessarily unlawful. A low score does not rule out a legal violation; a high score does not establish a claim.
Possible issues include discrimination or unlawful harassment tied to race, sex, disability, or another protected characteristic; punishment for protected activity, such as reporting discrimination; or withheld earned pay. Not every complaint or disagreement is legally protected.
A lawyer can also review resignation, severance, repayment, or future-work restrictions before you respond or sign, even without an established claim. Ask the lawyer which rights, deadlines, and options apply to your facts and location.
Explore possible legal issues: Workplace Legal Concerns Guide
A separate tool to identify relevant events, evidence, and questions for a lawyer. Your Workplace Culture score is not used to determine whether a claim exists.
6–8 points · Category 1
People can disagree, question decisions, decline extra demands, and keep outside relationships. Leaders address complaints and correct mistakes; leaving does not bring retaliation. You may feel included and able to ask for help or admit a mistake without fearing humiliation.
9–14 points · Category 2
People soften concerns or agree publicly to avoid disapproval. You may find yourself rehearsing ordinary questions, concealing disagreement, or worrying about disapproval. You may also join optional events to fit in, but questions can still be heard and decisions changed.
Clarify expectations and assess whether agreed changes improve your working conditions.
15–20 points · Category 3
Favored people receive information, invitations, credit, or opportunities others do not. Rules depend on who is involved, and complaints may be filtered by insiders. You may find yourself second-guessing your standing, feeling excluded, or becoming preoccupied with whose approval matters.
Document unequal treatment and seek fair access to information, credit, and opportunities.
21–26 points · Category 4
Saying no or raising concerns brings threats, humiliation, lost opportunities, or punishment. Complaints rarely receive independent review. You may find yourself anticipating punishment, repeatedly reviewing conversations, or staying silent to avoid attention. Others may avoid supporting you for fear of consequences.
Document what happened and identify rights or exit terms that need review.
27–32 points · Category 5
People use control of pay, housing, transport, contacts, or private life to restrict your choices. Monitoring, threats, or withheld necessities make refusal or departure difficult. You may feel unable to refuse demands because essential needs or outside support are threatened.
Reduce the practical barriers to leaving and preserve your income and employment rights.
33–36 points · Category 6
The leader or group demands loyalty above your own judgment. Outside views are dismissed; doubt is treated as betrayal; people who leave may be shunned or threatened. You may feel guilty for questioning, distrust your own perceptions, or fear losing your whole support network by leaving.
Prepare to leave with independent advice and practical support for housing, income, and safety.
This guide draws on research about psychological safety, organizational fairness, autonomy, workplace mistreatment, and psychological abuse in groups.
This guide’s questions, scoring, categories, and recommendations have not been scientifically validated. The cited research supports the underlying concepts and covers different populations and settings.
The score concerns openness and control, not overall health. It cannot establish safety, diagnose a person or group, determine legal rights, or establish that a group is a cult.
Your total is the sum of six answers, each worth 1–6 points. The possible total is 6–36 points. Every question has equal weight. If any response is marked “Not enough evidence,” the result shows a possible score range and every category it overlaps. Add 1 point per unknown answer to the rated total for the minimum, and 6 per unknown answer for the maximum. With no rated answers, the range is 6–36 and all six categories remain possible.
The category boundaries are design judgments, not scientifically calibrated risk thresholds. Your result also lists all six answers, so you can review the specific conditions behind the total.
Meta-analysis. Voice (Q1): 136 samples on workplace psychological safety and interpersonal risk.
Workplace research; not validation of these answer choices, categories, score cutoffs, or an all-setting severity continuum.
Measure validation. Fairness, explanations, and review (Q2, Q4, Q5): four justice dimensions; two studies.
Student and auto-parts employee samples; construct validity of the original justice measure does not establish validity for this handout.
Meta-analysis. Autonomy (Q3): 99 workplace studies; not a measure of coercion or barriers to leaving.
Reviews autonomy, competence, and relatedness at work; does not directly validate boundary abuse, exit risk, or a universal continuum.
Measure validation. Mistreatment and intimidation (Q1, Q4, Q5): behavioral measure tested in 5,288 UK employees.
The NAQ-R assesses exposure to specific negative acts and frequency at work; no items are reproduced and its measurement properties do not transfer to this quiz.
Expert-reviewed taxonomy. Isolation, control, and authority (Q3-Q6): 31 experts; not a test of this category order.
Delphi ratings of 26 strategies in six components. Expert consensus is not population validation, and the paper does not establish this handout's categories or progression.
Measure validation. Group abuse (Q3-Q6): 537 former members in Spain, with a comparison group; retrospective, nonrandom sample.
269 respondents self-identified a psychologically abusive former group and 268 did not. Nonprobability retrospective sampling and demographic group differences limit generalization. This is not validation of the English handout or its six questions.
Workplace guidance. Threats and intimidation: official safety guidance, not evidence for point bands.
Applies to workplace violence and threats. Not a diagnostic or numerical risk classification.
U.S. employment-benefits guidance. Health-coverage options and retirement-benefit records after a job change or job loss.
Eligibility, plan terms, and deadlines differ. No universal coverage entitlement or individualized benefit advice is implied.
Workplace legal-process guidance. Reporting options and filing deadlines for harassment covered by U.S. employment-discrimination law.
Does not establish that every workplace conflict is unlawful harassment, that all complaints are protected, or that one deadline fits every claim or jurisdiction.
Filing time limitsRelationship-abuse technology safety guidance. Safer devices and accounts when another person may monitor your communications.
Relationship-abuse guidance adapted cautiously to other controlling environments. No device can be declared safe solely from this worksheet.
U.S. employment-discrimination guidance. Distinguishes protected EEO activity and unlawful retaliation from ordinary workplace disagreement; the linked harassment guidance addresses protected characteristics and legal thresholds.
A score, timing, or a complaint alone does not establish a claim. Facts, employer coverage, causation, and applicable law must be assessed; other laws may protect other activity.
Harassment guidanceNorth Carolina wage guidance. Explains promised wages and wage benefits, including commissions and bonuses, and the significance of written policies and forfeiture terms.
North Carolina-specific guidance, not a statement of every jurisdiction's law or a guarantee that a particular bonus, commission, or benefit is owed.
U.S. severance and release guidance. Explains how severance agreements may waive claims and why the proposed terms require careful review before signing.
Does not determine whether a particular release, repayment demand, or future-work restriction is enforceable. Contract and state-law questions require separate analysis.
Using the quiz alone does not submit your answers. Reloading or clearing it resets your selections. No account or email address is required.
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This guide provides general information to help you reflect on workplace culture. It does not provide legal advice or a clinical diagnosis. The suggested next steps focus on employment situations; appropriate options depend on the facts and applicable law.