For subscribers
The behaviour that annoys colleagues more than any other
And the reasons to try to remain calm.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Grabbing kudos for someone else’s idea makes lots of people angry.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
The Economist
Follow topic:
Surveys of office behaviour are not scientific. In a global poll conducted in 2024 by Kickresume, a firm that helps create CVs, 85 per cent of people said they had experienced an annoying co-worker. That means the remaining 15 per cent are either sole traders or liars. But surveys can still reveal truths about what gets people riled up.
The Kickresume survey put credit-stealing top of the list of irritating colleague behaviour, as did a survey of British workers in 2022 by Perspectus Global, a research firm. Another recent poll, this time of American workers and conducted by BambooHR, crowned taking credit for employees’ ideas as the worst managerial trait of all.
