So you’ve heard of the trend quiet quitting, and its sister, loud quitting—but now workers are doing the complete opposite: “loud working.” Instead of doing the bare minimum to get by or turning their anger on their employers, they’re pouring all their energy into making their work more visible.
Think of the colleague who posts every win on LinkedIn or pings the whole team on Slack the second a task is done.
New research from Tide, a finance platform, found that the average U.K. worker spends 131 hours a year—more than 17 working days or 2.8 hours a week—making their work visible. That includes singing their own praises on social media, posting updates on Slack or Teams, speaking up in meetings, and vocalizing their wins to anyone who will listen.
And the loudest of all are younger workers: In fact, nearly 70% of 25- to 34-year-olds are “loud working.” They’re spending about 5 hours every week self-promoting. And it’s drawing attention from management, clients and even angry coworkers.
Does ‘loud working’ actually work? Yes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s not always the most competent worker who gets rewarded—it’s the one who makes the most noise about it.
According to the research, 77% of “loud workers” have had at least one career opportunity in the past year alone, including new customers or clients, pay rises and promotions. For 15% of respondents, getting vocal about their wins has even gotten them awards.
And all the new noise around their success is attracting the attention of other employers; In fact, 17% say they’ve not only been poached, but they’ve actually landed a new job because they’ve been more vocal about their work.
But worryingly, it’s not just “loud workers” who are at risk of being snapped up and leaving the business.
Colleagues are sick of ‘loud workers’—and even quitting over the trend
Not everyone’s cheering. More than one in four (27%) workers have considered leaving a job because of a loud working culture, or because colleagues are too vocal about their own achievements.
One in 10 have already walked out.
Zillennials are both most likely to be guilty of “loud working,” as well as the ones walking off. They’re posting about their success at more than three times the rate of over-55s. Yet nearly half of 25 to 34-year-olds have considered quitting a job because of it—and one in five already have.
Some industries are more forgiving of office braggers than others: Workers in IT, telecoms, and finance are the most likely to have had enough of performative culture. Meanwhile, men are more likely than women to have already quit over it.
“Loudworking has mixed reactions in the workplace and it’s easy to understand that a colleague who turns every small win into an announcement might be off-putting,” said George Schmidt, Tide’s CEO for the U.K. and Europe. “But our research shows there’s a difference between being performative and backing yourself.”
He said that for small business owners, sharing their work, wins and expertise is often the most effective marketing they have. And the same goes for anyone who has left their employer to go solo or who is eyeing up the exit.
Ultimately, though, many workers want to be at a business that rewards people for actually doing the hard work—not just shouting the most about it.
Do you ‘loud work’—or have you quit over a colleague who does? Get in touch: orianna.royle@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
