Workplace Culture Quiz
A self-scoring guide to work and social environments, from openness to domination.
Choose the description that best matches what you have observed at work. For all six questions, use the same workplace or group, the same role, and the same time period.
Your result
Choose a response for all six questions to see your results. “Not enough evidence” is a valid response.
A low score does not erase harm or rule out a legal claim. A high score does not establish one.
Your answers (6)
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Open the inquiry form without transferringYour result shows the possible score range and every category it overlaps. Each unknown answer could add 1–6 points; it is not assigned a single score.
Next steps & resources
Review the possible categories above and compare their guidance with the experiences you could rate. You can return to a question when you have more information; your range will update.
Workplace Legal Concerns Guide — explore possible legal issues and evidence related to your experiences.
Full category guide — compare descriptions and next steps for the categories in your range.
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.
Next steps & resources
Workplace Legal Concerns Guide — explore possible legal issues and evidence.
Full category guide — read more about your result.
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.
Next steps & resources
Clarify expectations and assess whether agreed changes improve your working conditions.
- Ask your manager for one specific change. Explain the problem and what would help. For example: "I have three urgent assignments. Which should come first?" or "Is attendance at this after-hours event required?"
- Check whether the agreed change happens. Confirm the agreement and a review date with your manager. If the change helps, raise other concerns the same way. If requests are repeatedly dismissed or punished, record what happened and explore transfers or other jobs.
Workplace Legal Concerns Guide — explore possible legal issues and evidence.
Full category guide — read more about your result.
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.
Next steps & resources
Document unequal treatment and seek fair access to information, credit, and opportunities.
- Document unequal treatment. Record the date, decision, and decision-maker when you are excluded from meetings, denied credit, or passed over. Keep relevant records you are entitled to retain.
- Ask the decision-maker for a specific correction. Use the recorded examples to request meeting access, credit for your work, or written promotion criteria. Set a review date with that person. If nothing changes, compare transfer and outside-job options.
Workplace Legal Concerns Guide — explore possible legal issues and evidence.
Full category guide — read more about your result.
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.
Next steps & resources
Document what happened and identify rights or exit terms that need review.
- Record the sequence of events. Note the concern you raised or request you refused, what your employer did afterward, dates, and witnesses. Keep records you may lawfully retain; consult an employment lawyer before copying confidential employer or client files.
- Check whether the punishment may be unlawful. If it followed a discrimination complaint or other potentially protected activity, give an employment lawyer your timeline and response deadline. Ask the lawyer about retaliation protections and filing deadlines; internal review may not pause them.
- Review your options before resigning or signing. If pressured to leave or offered a separation agreement, ask an employment lawyer which claims you may release, what obligations remain, and which terms you can negotiate. Legal advice can help even without an established claim.
Workplace Legal Concerns Guide — explore possible legal issues and evidence.
Full category guide — read more about your result.
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.
Next steps & resources
Reduce the practical barriers to leaving and preserve your income and employment rights.
- Check whether withheld pay is owed. Give an employment lawyer your pay records and agreed terms. Ask the lawyer whether you can recover unpaid wages, commissions, or bonuses.
- Calculate your departure budget. Compare living costs during a job search with available funds. List unpaid wages, the date health coverage ends, and alternatives to employer-provided housing or transport.
- Review exit terms before resigning or signing. Give an employment lawyer your agreements and deadlines. Ask the lawyer which repayment or future-work terms are enforceable and what severance to negotiate.
Workplace Legal Concerns Guide — explore possible legal issues and evidence.
Full category guide — read more about your result.
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.
Next steps & resources
Prepare to leave with independent advice and practical support for housing, income, and safety.
- Find independent support. Contact a trusted person from a device and account outside employer control. For threats or withheld pay, ask an employment lawyer which protections apply.
- Prepare a departure plan. Arrange funds, housing, transport, health coverage, and personal documents. Ask a lawyer to review notice, repayment, and future-work terms before you resign or sign.
- Keep evidence after leaving. Lawfully retain records of threats, missed pay, or interference with your next job. Ask an employment lawyer whether these support a claim and how to respond. For immediate physical danger, seek emergency help first.
Workplace Legal Concerns Guide — explore possible legal issues and evidence.
Full category guide — read more about your result.
Keep a copy of the guide
Research & interpretation
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.
How the score works
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. The lowest possible total adds 1 point for each unknown answer to the rated total; the highest adds 6. Unknown answers are not assigned a single score. 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.
Sources, relevance, and limitations
- Frazier, M. L., et al. (2017). Psychological safety: A meta-analytic review and extension. Personnel Psychology, 70(1), 113-165.
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.
- Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 386-400.
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.
- Van den Broeck, A., et al. (2016). A review of self-determination theory's basic psychological needs at work. Journal of Management, 42(5), 1195-1229.
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.
- Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., & Notelaers, G. (2009). Measuring exposure to bullying and harassment at work: Validity, factor structure and psychometric properties of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised. Work & Stress, 23(1), 24-44.
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.
- Rodríguez-Carballeira, Á., et al. (2015). Group psychological abuse: Taxonomy and severity of its components. The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context, 7(1), 31-39.
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.
- Saldaña, O., Rodríguez-Carballeira, Á., & Almendros, C. (2018). The Psychological Abuse Experienced in Groups Scale: Psychometric properties of the Spanish version. Behavioral Psychology/Psicología Conductual, 26(3), 421-436.
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.
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Workplace violence: Overview. U.S. Department of Labor.
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. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. (2022). Protecting retirement and health benefits after job loss.
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.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2017). What you should know: What to do if you believe you have been harassed at work.
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 limits - National Domestic Violence Hotline. (n.d.). Internet safety.
Relationship-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. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2016). Questions and answers: Enforcement guidance on retaliation and related issues.
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 guidance - North Carolina Department of Labor. (n.d.). Promised wages including wage benefits.
North 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. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2009). Understanding waivers of discrimination claims in employee severance agreements.
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.
About your answers and privacy
Using the quiz alone does not submit your answers. Reloading or clearing it resets your selections. No account or email address is required.
If you choose to start an assessment, your six responses, including any marked unknown, are temporarily passed to the inquiry form in a new browser tab. They are not placed in the page address. The transfer is removed when the form loads and expires after 30 minutes if unused. Review or remove the results before submitting; only submission sends them with your inquiry. The website’s general analytics and privacy terms still apply. Read the Privacy & Disclaimers page. This quiz is not a confidential communication with a lawyer.
This quiz 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.