It’s highly likely that at some point in your career, you’ve encountered a ’loud labourer’. These are the people who love to toot their own horn. They’re constantly banging on about all the great stuff they’ve done… so much so that they hardly have time to actually complete their work. But that doesn’t matter, because to a loud labourer, work is not about productivity, but the appearance of it. They’re the ones who always pipe up in meetings to ramble about their recent success (or even arrange an entirely pointless meeting just for that purpose), who moan audibly about how busy they are, and generally make a song and dance out of anything they do. 

Maybe you’ve read the above and have a firm picture of someone from your office in mind. Or perhaps you’ve had an awful, unsettling realisation: that you might be veering into loud labourer territory. 

If you’re in the latter camp, there’s no judgment here. From the outside, loud labourers can seem like – to put it bluntly – annoying show-offs. But it’s worth thinking about how and why people become loud labourers, and what’s pushing us into this behaviour. 

“Fear is a big driver of becoming a loud labourer,” Jeremy Campbell, the CEO of Black Isle Group, an expert in behavioural science and an executive coach, tells Stylist. “Fear of not being good enough for their role (imposter syndrome), fear that someone else is doing a better job, fear that the culture of the business is such that they need to shout about what they’re doing, fear that they’re going to lose their job if they don’t ‘play the game’.”

In many workplaces, it can feel like being a loud labourer is the only way to get recognition and thus be considered for a promotion or payrise. If you work in a place where presenteeism rules and managers don’t seem to notice the people quietly getting things done, it makes sense that you’d resort to loudly proclaiming your successes. 

“Being a ‘loud labourer’ can often stem from a place of insecurity and feeling like you have something to prove,” says Molly Johnson-Jones, CEO and co-founder of Flexa. “When staff feel that their employer doesn’t trust them or fear they won’t be seen as working hard enough, workers feel pressured to prove their productivity by heightening their visibility at work. It can all be traced back to the long-held myth that the more we’re seen to be working, the better.”

And there’s a thin line between (rightly) highlighting your successes and loud labouring. The truth is that you probably do need to talk up your successes, but when the talking outweighs the work getting done, something’s gone wrong. 

“Celebrating and taking credit for your work achievements is essential, and it’s vital that we encourage this practice among women, who are far more likely to decline praise or underplay their value at work,” says Johnson-Jones. “However, when the act of talking about your work becomes performative or when you begin to prioritise the promotion of your work over the work itself. This is a warning sign that you might be in danger of becoming a ‘loud labourer’. 

“Often, we know deep down when we’re doing something to be seen. So, the key is to pay attention to our motivations for why we want to share our work woes or highlights. If it feels unjustified or unnecessary, it’s time to stop. There’s a lot of self-awareness needed here.” 

There are a few reasons why we need to avoid falling into the loud labour trap. For one, having a loud labourer in your office isn’t great for morale. Campbell explains: “It can have a big impact on engagement and lead to poor retention of colleagues.” Think about the resentment that would build if you saw someone constantly taking credit for work and getting rewarded for it, but not actually putting in much graft. 

Loud labourers can also promote bad habits, whether that’s also becoming a loud labourer or veering into burnout in an attempt to catch up with someone’s proclaimed workload. “Colleagues of ‘loud labourers’ can often feel pressure to overwork and put in extra hours in an attempt to match up to what they perceive others to be doing,” says Johnson-Jones. “This can feed hustle culture and create environments where staff feel pressure to outperform and outcompete each other. 

“If left unchecked this can become a recipe for a mental health crisis. It’s up to leaders to notice these patterns and make sure that teams feel valued without having to be overly loud about their work. Businesses need to empower employees through trust to create healthy work environments where staff don’t feel forced to become ‘loud labourers’ or overwork, and can instead thrive.” 

Even if at first it seems to be the path to a promotion, being a loud labourer might not work out in the long run. The problem is that it’s all too easy for your loud labouring ways to be called out and for managers to see the reality of your work without the noise surrounding it. “People pleasers who rely on letting everyone know how good they are normally get found out. If someone is leading a team of people or being put in the spotlight to deliver a project, often this will mean they have few places to hide. Loud labourers who are promoted based on managing up/politicking will often be exposed to feedback from the team (engagement surveys) and via the delivery of results. This will expose their real capabilities.”

“Being a loud labourer can often hinder career progression in the long term,” agrees Johnson-Jones. “Firstly, time taken up needlessly shouting about achievements is a waste of time that could be spent getting the job done. 

“Moreover, loud labourers can fall into the overpromise underdeliver trap. For example, when loud labourers share their unrealistically long list of weekly tasks only to achieve half of what they set out to do or exaggerate past achievements so they appear far more capable than they really are, they can harm their reputations with colleagues and managers by regularly failing to live up to the expectations they’ve created – hindering chances of promotion and making things more difficult for themselves.”

So becoming a loud labourer is a bad idea. But the same goes for staying too quiet about what we’re getting done. How do we strike the right balance?

Campbell recommends sending weekly updates on what you’ve delivered and making an effort to be aware of the goals of each project you’re working on. It’s worth asking about exactly how your performance is measured, so you know what success looks like – is it just hours put in or is it based on results? Hopefully, it’s the latter. 

Make sure that you’re having regular catchups with your manager about your progression, and if you’re planning to ask for a payrise or promotion, don’t be shy about keeping a proper list of all the stuff you’ve accomplished. The key is to shout about your accomplishments strategically; think of it as a well-timed direct conversation rather than a constant, monologued broadcast. 

“Recognising our work achievements is vital for career progression,” Johnson-Jones says. “Keeping a record of projects and tasks well done, and noting down key feedback from managers and clients can be useful to draw from as examples in performance reviews. Moreover, it’s important to take credit for your work and accept praise when it’s given. The key is to recognise and be proud of your progress without boasting about it to avoid falling into the ‘loud labourer’ camp.”

Images: Getty; Stylist