Are “loud labourers” impacting the morale of your team?

We’ve had quiet quitting, we’ve had JOMO (the “joy of missing out”), and we’ve had the Human Energy Crisis – but have you heard of the “loud labourer”, and could they be at this very minute cramping your work style?

While a lot of attention has been paid to quiet quitters, André Spicer, a professor of organisational behaviour and dean of Bayes Business School, says we should instead be looking at their noisier cousins – the “loud labourers”. 

What is a loud labourer – and how to spot one

“If you have had a colleague who spends more time talking about work than actually doing it, then you have witnessed a loud labourer first-hand,” he explains, adding that they spend more time “grafting for the ‘gram and toiling for the tweets” than actually getting anything done. 

Before, you may have noticed when a colleague loudly sighed or muttered at their desk in a clear display of “Look how hard I’m working”. These days, you’re more likely to hear loud labourers waxing lyrical about all the work they’re about to do during video calls or constantly updating their social channels with a list of things they are “working on”.

When is a loud labourer a problem?

Let’s face it, we’ve all worked with someone who is a fan of tooting their own horn. But when is a loud labourer really a cause for concern? Issues can arise if management rewards or promotes a loud labourer based on what they’re saying they’ve achieved, rather than on actual work accomplished. 

If someone is spending more time talking about the work than actually doing it, that extra load can fall to colleagues and quickly start to impact morale, leading to a more competitive, less collaborative workplace.

A 2021 study found that workplaces with high rates of self-promotion led to people acting in more self-serving ways, “striving to maximise their self-interest”, which negatively impacted the performance of teams as a whole. Bottom line: nobody wins when everyone is out for themselves. 

Does being a loud labourer ever pay off?

While you may feel more comfortable letting your work speak for itself, these days, we know it’s important not just to be competent and hard-working, but to be seen as such by your peers and colleagues. 

Visibility and self-promotion are tools that can help you get a raise, promotion or a spot on important company projects. This is particularly important for women: a study conducted by Harvard Business School found that women were less likely to self-promote even when they performed better than others, leaving them at risk of missing out on advancement opportunities. 

How to promote yourself without loud labouring 

To successfully promote yourself without sounding like you’re just bragging, be selective about what you choose to share and keep the focus firmly on the concrete outcomes of your efforts. 

Whether it was a savvy work-around or a new approach to a sticky problem, what was the actual impact? Showing rather than telling –“As you can see from this graph, load times are now 12% faster thanks to this optimisation I implemented” – can help both colleagues and managers better understand and appreciate your contribution. 

Bottom line, the key distinction between a loud labourer and a savvy brand-builder is all in the curation – sharing the wins while still doing the work.

Ready to get stuck into some meaningful, collaborative work worth shouting about? Here are three exciting roles from the Silicon Canals Job Board.

Software Developer, InTraffic, Amsterdam

Mobility-as-a-Service company InTraffic is hiring a Software Developer to work on challenging C++ projects across their traffic management, infrastructure monitoring and travel information solutions. Contributing to one of the largest and most complex information systems in the Netherlands, benefits include 13th-month pay, as well as a book and personal development budget. Explore the role here. 

Enterprise Account Executive, Multiverse, London

London-based scale-up Multiverse is looking for an Enterprise Account Executive to drive continued growth with enterprise clients. The mission-driven unicorn aims to change the future of work through the power of expert-led professional apprenticeships, building an alternative to university and corporate training. A passion for social mobility and doing social good as well as experience in an enterprise B2B sales environment are key. Discover more about the role here.

(Senior) Data Engineer for AI projects, Deutsche Bahn, Germany

Deutsche Bahn has millions of passengers and thousands of trains and is e looking for a (Senior) Data Engineer for AI Projects (f/m/d) for DB Systel GmbH in Berlin, Erfurt or Frankfurt (Main). You will design and be responsible for complex concepts for data integration from different areas and data sources such as big data, IoT or streaming data based on cloud technologies/services (e.g. AWS Glue, S3, Athena, RDS etc.) You’ll also create production-ready artefacts in the agile development process and feel confident in dealing with code reviews and staging concepts. Get all the information you need here.

For hundreds more opportunities and to find a role that fits, head to the Silicon Canals Job Board