3 Reasons to Avoid Stress Bragging at Work

The term ‘bragging’ is traditionally taken to mean excessively proud and boastful talk about one’s positive achievements or possessions.
Bragging or positive self-promotion is evident in many workplaces and is often deemed an important strategy for securing career advancement. It can however result in other less favourable outcomes, such as reduced likeability or negative co-worker reactions.
More recently, another form of workplace bragging phenomena has been attracting researcher and commentator interest, that of stress bragging.
What is Stress Bragging?
Stress bragging occurs when an individual appears to brag about how stressed they are to others. Just as positive bragging has been shown to have relational impacts at work, less has been known about the relational impacts of stress bragging.
However, a recent research study has explored the phenomena of stress bragging in the workplace and reported on the impact it can have both on the stress braggers themselves and their co-workers.
Its findings, summarised below, contain important insights about the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of stress bragging and how, if left unchecked, it can lead to “a toxic cycle of bragging about stress” in many workplaces (McMahon, 2019).
List of Services
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1. Being a stress bragging employee creates an unfavourable impressionList Item 1
Some degree of stress is inevitable in most jobs and venting to co-workers about feeling stressed, whether bragging or just talking about it, can be a means of coping with pressure.
However, though the stress bragger may experience some personal benefit from discharging feelings of stress by telling others about their troubles, this does seem to come at a cost in terms of less favourable perceptions of co-workers.
In particular, this study found that workers who talk about feeling stressed were perceived as being less competent. Furthermore, if talking about feeling stressed was perceived as stress bragging, then it resulted in reduced feelings of warmth and support towards the worker.
So, although stress bragging at work may bring some short term personal relief from feelings of stress, it may actually be an act of self-sabotage, reducing the social support and warmth of co-workers.
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2. Listening to a stress bragger generates stress in co-workersList Item 2
Stress bragging can have negative consequences for any co-worker who listens to it.
In particular, this study showed that listening to a stress bragger actually increases feelings of stress in the listener.
Co-workers should take protective steps to limit their exposure to stress bragging colleagues and note how personal mind states are impacted by listening to stress bragging in the workplace.
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3. Stress bragging is contagious and creates a toxic cycle of stress braggingList Item 3
Most organisations and leaders recognise and take steps to ameliorate the damaging impact of workplace stress.
However, less overt leadership attention has been given to how the toxic tentacles of stress bragging can infiltrate a team or organisation to create a high stress workplace climate.
So, despite useful policies and practices designed to reduce worker stress, such as, flexible work patterns, gym memberships or counselling support, an unchecked culture of stress bragging may undermine these efforts.
The study suggests that leaders may need to review the prevalence of stress bragging within their team or organisation and consider proactive strategies to limit its growth.
Look out for our next blog where you can learn about more productive and creative ways to manage stress in your life.
However, if you need more urgent expert support in addressing toxic stress bragging within your team or organisation, contact us here at Creativia Coaching to arrange an informal conversation about how we can help.
McMahon, M. (2019). It is time to stop the toxic cycle of bragging about stress. Hatchet. https://www.gwhatchet.com/2019/02/19/it- is- time- to- stop- the-toxic- cycle- of- bragging- about-stress/
Rodell, J. B., Shanklin, B. C., & Frank, E. L. (2024). “I’m so stressed!”: The relational consequences of stress bragging. Personnel Psychology, 1–25. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12645









