We’ve all heard these stories time and time again: the colleague who’s so busy they can’t remember the last time they took a lunch break, the boss who stays in the office until late into the night, the teammate who hasn’t taken a vacation in years.
“Busy bragging” or “stress bragging” may be new words in our lexicon, but the tactics are common. Maybe you’ve done this in the past? Or are you a regular stress bragging user?
These two terms both refer to the habit of routinely loudly yelling about one’s workload or level of busyness in order to sound important, dedicated, or productive.
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Its underlying purpose is to convey an air of indispensability and hard work in order to elicit respect and recognition from superiors and coworkers.
But anecdotally, it’s an unintended consequence that highlights how unable busy braggarts can be to resist unrealistic demands, and also indicates poor time management.
More concrete evidence is The 2024 study was published in the Journal of Personnel PsychologyStress-induced boasting typically has a negative impact on relationships between coworkers, and the report backs up those anecdotal observations.
Very negative connotations
The authors outline findings from the two studies: “By combining a laboratory experiment (Study 1) and a multi-source field study (Study 2), we found that stress-bragging has significant negative effects for boasters, as they are rated as less competent and warmer by their colleagues and engage in less citizenship behavior. Furthermore, Study 2 found that stress-bragging colleagues also suffer from higher levels of burnout due to increased crossover effects of stress.”
So not only are boasters perceived as less competent (especially if their high contributions are not matched by the results), they can also be stressful for their coworkers.
We found that people who brag about how busy they are not only rated lower in warmth, but also lower in likeability. Because they are typically focused on their own workload and accomplishments rather than those of their team, braggarts are not seen as team players, even if they describe themselves as committed to the greater good of the organization.
They may be so focused on how busy they are that they hog work and unconsciously reduce or minimize the work and assignments of their coworkers.
Listening to a coworker constantly bragging can be exhausting and frustrating, so it’s only natural that over time, those around the braggart will lose interest and sympathy for their situation. As a result, researchers have found that coworkers are less likely to help busy braggarts because they start to believe that their stress is self-inflicted. This lowers team morale and affects the overall atmosphere.
Stress spreads
Researchers found that colleagues who frequently heard others brag about how busy they were were more likely to feel pressured and experience burnout themselves.
Braggarts can instill the idea that working too much is normal and pressure coworkers to match a certain level of busyness.
When braggarts are particularly prevalent, they can create or foster a workplace culture that normalizes long hours, even if it comes at the expense of employee well-being and does not improve actual performance.
Overall, constant boasting and overworking can impact team morale and positivity, as well as the overall culture of the workplace.
If you work with a busybody braggart, it’s important to establish and maintain healthy boundaries. Set time limits for yourself and politely limit the amount of time you spend discussing this with this coworker. Don’t get caught up in their complaints.
If you are reprimanded, suggest a healthier approach, which is to always have them discuss their workload and deadlines with their boss. If you repeat yourself and have low engagement, they are less likely to bother you in the future.
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Another strategy is to steer the conversation away from work, which works best in casual conversation rather than in a physical meeting: if you mention your Labor Day plans or the latest TV show or book you’ve been obsessed with, the other person will have a hard time returning to complaining about their workload.
If you’re a pretty forthright person, you might feel comfortable expressing how the constant conversations about stress affect team morale, or you could use “I” statements to share how stress-bragging affects you personally.
While a stress braggart’s goal may be to appear busy and important, you can always take steps to maintain a personally productive work environment and avoid contributing to a culture that glamorizes overwork.
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