What is ‘loud laboring’? The new work trend that’s driving employees towards burnout

Do you work with someone who’s a little too keen to share their accomplishments? Or perhaps you’ve noticed that certain colleagues talk a lot about their successes at work, but you rarely see results or notice them pulling their weight? Maybe you are worried about your performance, so you feel the need to remind people about your achievements. You could be in the presence of (or indeed, becoming) a ‘loud laborer’. 

A loud laborer is someone who is not actually about productivity, but the appearance of it. They are very vocal about what they’ve done or how long their to-do list is, without really having the tangible work to show for it.  

What’s the cause of loud laboring? 

It’s too simplistic to say that every loud laborer is just a show-off. It’s much more likely to be a product of a certain type of workplace. Loud laboring thrives in workplaces where fear and anxiety are present. If employees are constantly worried that they’re being scrutinized by management, they may opt for overdoing it on self-promotion. Similarly, if there is no culture of appreciation and trust in a workplace, employees are more likely to develop imposter syndrome, which can evolve into loud laboring to make up for their insecurities.   

Why is loud laboring a bad thing? 

But isn’t it a good thing to celebrate our own achievements, especially for minority workers who are far more likely to downplay their successes? The short answer is: yes! Sometimes, the best way to make sure you’re getting credit for the great work you’re doing is to make sure you’re letting people know. The difference between this and loud laboring is that, with the latter, the act of making sure everyone knows how well you’re doing actually stops you from getting anything done. The act of self-promotion overtakes everything else.    

Loud laboring also has negative impacts on the people around you. For example, loud laboring can:

• Have a negative impact on employee morale and company culture. We begin to resent those around us and the work we do. 
• Encourage burnout. People start to try and ‘keep up’ with workloads and achievements that aren’t necessarily true. 
• Result in poor company performance. It goes without saying that just speaking about great work doesn’t lead to good results.

How can we avoid it? 

Along with numerous other workplace issues, loud laboring can be solved by a change in company culture. If companies create a culture of trust, encouragement and transparency, the very act of loud laboring will not only become easy to spot, but also unnecessary to do!

At Remotify, we believe that happy employees produce better results, and better results produce happy employers. It’s a reciprocity cycle. If you want to find out how our services can inject some joy and passion into your teams and culture, get in touch today!