The Workers Rights 
You’re not the only one who thinks that your job is more like a pressure cooker than a growth area. Decades of toxic office horror movies have been depicting office nightmares on the big screen — and watching them can help you identify what’s happening, learn about your value, and determine when it’s time to call it a night. These five Toxic Workplace Movies are all uncomfortably familiar, whether it’s the high-stress work environment, the silence or just burnout.
Comparison Table: 5 Toxic Workplace Movies at a Glance
| Movie | Year | Core Toxic Issue | Who Should Watch |
| The Devil Wears Prada | 2006 | Emotional abuse & impossible expectations. | Staff who have low status bosses. |
| Office Space | 1999 | Micromanagement & corporate meaninglessness | Anyone drowning in a maze of rules and regulations! |
| The Wolf of Wall Street | 2013 | The pressure of greed, corruption & unethical influences | Managers and staff in stressful sales or finance positions. |
| 9 to 5 | 1980 | Sexism & workplace harassment | Staff who are being discriminated against or treated unfairly. |
| The Assistant | 2019 | Institutional silence & complicity | Staff who don’t feel seen or are afraid to raise their voice |
5 Toxic Workplace Movies Every Employee Should Watch
1. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Toxic Issue: Emotional abuse, unrealistic workload, and feeling lost as to who they are.
This movie will be the definitive portrait of a fearsome and humiliating boss. When a young woman lands a dream job at a high-profile fashion magazine, she discovers under a perfectionist editor who makes employees a pawn in her ambition. The demands are constant, there are no boundaries and the emotional burden is huge.
One of the best movies about bad bosses is because the protagonist gradually loses herself attempting to fulfil ever-changing criteria. This one will strike a chord if you feel that no matter what you do in the workplace, it’s never enough.
Red flag to watch for: If you’re doing things to impress your boss that are hurting you and your sense of self, it’s not doing you a favour, it’s hurting you.
2. Office Space (1999)
Toxic Issue: Micromanagement, soul crushing bureaucracy and no purpose.
It is a film that has withstood the test of time in office culture films. After a software developer comes to the end of his rope reporting to several managers for work he doesn’t really care about. Loving on the surface, but on the edge of your seat underneath.
This is one of the best movies about stress in the workplace that anyone who has ever wondered, “what’s the point of the job. It’s the calm desperation of being there each day with less-than-humanistic managers who worry about the process more than they worry about the people.
Red flag to watch: If the management doesn’t have a good answer about why your work is important, employee burnout is not too far behind.
3. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Toxic Issue: The systemic corruption, greed culture and moral pressure are toxic issues.
One of the hottest movies about poisonous jobs ever. A stockbroker creates a strong business based on manipulation and a culture of excesses over ethics. Staff are encouraged to pursue numbers for numbers’ sake and have no regard for conscience.
Although the situation is extreme it is not new, i.e. environments that demand high pressure and results for which any measure is appropriate. This is a very helpful job film for those who work for a commission in their profession.
One red flag you should watch: If crossing the line is considered “how things are done here,” it will be caught up sometime later.
4. 9 to 5 (1980)
Toxic Issue: Harassment at work, sexism and misuse of power.
One of the most popular employee rights movies ever. Together three co-workers have had it with a boss who discriminates, harasses and takes the credit for their work, and they are taking action.
This is still one of the most significant movies depicting workplace harassment, as it makes it a film about what people feel but often don’t have the words for. Workplace issues are seldom individual, they are systemic and will impact people differently, depending on who has the power.
Red flag to watch out for: When it is commonplace in your workplace to be singled out for not working because of gender, age, personality, it’s not bad management, it’s a toxic workplace.
5. The Assistant (2019)
Toxic Issue: Institutional silence, complicity and normalised misconduct is an issue of toxic culture.
Probably the most quietly devastating of all work environment poisonous film. It’s a single HARD DAY’s work on the life of a junior assistant at a big company. Nothing explodes. No one shouts. Yet it does convey the feeling of how the abuse continues, not only at the hands of bad actors, but perpetuated by a culture of silence that everyone is a part of.
It’s one of the most crucial workplace drama films of the past decade — a must see if you’ve ever seen something go wrong in the workplace and never said anything about it.
Red flag to watch out for: If it’s obvious there’s some misbehaviour or type of bullying but nobody ever mentions it, or if the HR person feels safer about the person he/she reported than you do, then the silence is the culture of the problem.
What These Movies About Toxic Jobs Have in Common
In each of the five, the same features appear:
- Power differentials are used and “normalised”
- Boundaries are not set up at once, but change over time
- Don’t silence bad actors, employees
- Not getting out is not a failure – in every movie all the harm that can be done is done when they stay too long.
These films about the time to exit a negative work environment aren’t about worst case dramatisation. They’re in the business of noticing the gradual erosion in advance of a crisis.
FAQs: Toxic Workplace Films
Q: What are some of the best toxic workplace movies out there?
A: The Devil Wears Prada, Office Space, 9 to 5, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Assistant are some of the most well-known films that deal with toxic work environments. Each movie depicts a different kind of toxic job environment.
Q: Do toxic workplace films really help employees?
A: Yes, indeed. By showing different kinds of toxic work environments, toxic workplace films help employees recognise red flags, feel validated in their experiences and understand what they are experiencing is a known phenomenon.
Q: Which films deal with workplace harassment and discrimination?
A: The films 9 to 5 and The Assistant are the most specific when it comes to movies dealing with workplace harassment.
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