There’s a reason the Milgram experiment is still discussed decades later. It showed how far people can go when an authority figure pushes them to. If you’ve never heard of this experiment, here’s a quick summary:
The Milgram experiment was a famous study from the 1960s that looked at how easily people will obey authority, even in situations where they shouldn’t. Participants were told by a researcher to administer electric shocks to a person in another room whenever that person answered a question incorrectly. The shocks weren’t real, and the person reacting to them was an actor, but the participants didn’t know that. What shocked researchers—pun totally intended—was how many people continued administering what they believed were painful or even dangerous shocks simply because an authority figure told them to keep going. They could literally hear the person screaming—fake, but still—in the next room. They normalized causing pain to others.
How is it even possible for toxic or unhealthy behaviors to be normalized? Because if it’s done often enough and no one speaks up, eventually, people stop questioning it.
So let’s look at some workplace behaviors that have become normalized—and really shouldn’t be.
1. Working through lunch.
A lot of us work through lunch so often it barely registers anymore.
We eat at our desk. We answer emails between bites. We get crumbs on our keyboard. And we do it every day, without even realizing it.
Of course, working through lunch once in a while isn’t the end of the world. Sometimes there’s a deadline, sometimes there’s an emergency, and sometimes you’re in the middle of something and stopping would break your focus. However, when skipping lunch becomes routine, it’s not dedication. It’s an unhealthy habit that has become normalized.
It could mean the workload is unrealistic, the team is understaffed, or that people feel guilty taking breaks—none of which are good.
I can’t believe I need to say this, but breaks are not a luxury. We need them to stay functional. It’s not a sign of commitment; it’s a sign that the system is broken.
2. Answering work messages after hours.
If your team falls apart when someone goes on vacation, that’s not the problem of the person who is sitting on the beach with an umbrella drink. They don’t deserve to be interrupted with emails. They deserve to relax. And they deserve to be working for a company that has a backup plan, like training multiple people to do a task, or putting together how-to docs.
It’s such an unpleasant feeling to be expected to respond outside work hours—it’s like your time is no longer yours. Managers may not intend to create that pressure, but if they regularly send after-hours messages and praise fast replies, employees will learn the standard.
And once availability becomes a sign of commitment, boundaries start looking like a lack of dedication.
3. Making the reliable workers the cleaners.
It’s such an odd thing to reward people who do their job well with even more work. They’re they cleanup crew who fix other people’s messes. So what happens to the person who makes the messes? Sometimes, they’re retrained, sometimes they’re fired. And sometimes, they’re just given easier or less important tasks.
This is one of the most normalized workplace habits, and it’s also one of the most damaging.
When reliable employees are constantly asked to take on extra work, they eventually learn that being competent isn’t an advantage. Being good at your job doesn’t just mean being trusted. It means being used as backup for a failed hiring or training process.
Managers need to be careful here. Giving someone more responsibility can be a good thing if it comes with recognition, support, authority, growth, or compensation. But dumping extra work on the same person because they’re reliable is not just unfair, it’s also lazy.
4. Treating rude customers as something employees should just accept.
One of my biggest work pet peeves is managers who protect customers instead of their staff. It’s something I encountered often in retail, where customers who made a fuss were given what they wanted in order to just get them out the door. Like the customer who tried to return a dress that was quite clearly worn for an event and then returned a week later. I did what I was trained to do—I told her we couldn’t accept it. She started yelling, the manager came over and approved the return, and the customer walked away with a smug look on her face. At the end of my shift, I asked management to take me off of the customer service rotation. Why should I have to be abused by customers for following the rules?
(Check out Why the Customer is Always Right is Wrong)
Professionalism matters, of course. We shouldn’t yell at customers, insult them, or call them all the clever names we’re thinking in our heads. However, professionalism should not mean accepting disrespect with a smile. Respect goes both ways.
We need managers who will step in when a customer’s behavior crosses a line. We need clear policies about what is and isn’t acceptable. We need to know we won’t be punished for setting reasonable boundaries with someone who is treating us badly.
Is that customer really worth losing a good employee?
5. Making people feel guilty for taking sick days.
Sick days exist so people who are sick don’t infect the rest of the team. It’s not a complicated concept—or a conspiracy.
And yet, in some workplaces, calling in sick comes with guilt, suspicion, or pressure. You get the sigh. You get the “Can you at least check your emails?” Or the “If you’re really sick, then bring me a doctor’s note.” Because your hoarse voice, leaking nose, and the fact that your fever is making you hallucinate aren’t enough.
So people come in sick. Or they work from home while sick. Or they take a “sick day” and still answer messages, because that’s “normal.”
A sick day shouldn’t feel like a moral failure. If your policy allows sick days but your culture punishes people for using them, then the policy is not doing what you think it’s doing.
Remember, once something becomes normal, it becomes harder to challenge. That doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. Sometimes improving workplace culture starts with looking at the things everyone has gotten used to—and finally asking why.
(Want to know what your team really feels about how the company is managed? Try a 360, like SAGE-M 360)