When your colleague announces their promotion, lands a prestigious client or receives public praise for a project you worked equally hard on, that sinking feeling in your stomach has a name: workplace envy. It’s a good time to examine how these “green with envy” moments can either derail careers or – when properly channeled – become powerful catalysts for professional development.
Envy in professional settings is remarkably common. According to a 2018 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, approximately 75% of professionals report experiencing workplace envy at least monthly. The research, conducted by researchers at New York University and the University of Southern California, found that these feelings were present across all organizational levels, from entry-level employees to senior executives.
Workplace envy stems from seeing someone succeed in ways we envisioned for ourselves. The Society for Human Resource Management reports that unchecked workplace envy can decrease productivity by up to 20% and significantly impact employee retention. But not all is lost – when envy is redirected constructively, these same feelings can drive performance improvements and career growth.
Harvard Business Review distinguishes between two types of workplace envy: malicious envy that leads to resentment and potentially undermining behavior and benign envy that motivates self-improvement. The difference often lies in how achievable we perceive the envied success to be.
Research from Stanford University’s Department of Psychology shows that organizations with growth mindset cultures – where skills are viewed as developable rather than fixed – report 47% lower levels of destructive envy behaviors and 34% higher rates of skill development initiatives among employees.
The first step in harnessing envy productively is honest self-reflection. The Center for Creative Leadership recommends asking yourself specific questions when feeling professional jealousy:
What exactly about this person’s achievement am I envious of?
What skills or attributes contributed to their success?
Which of these skills align with my career goals?
What specific actions could help me develop in these areas?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that professionals who engage in regular skill assessment and development planning advance 37% faster than those who take a more passive approach to career management.
Workplace envy often reveals unacknowledged professional desires. A LinkedIn Learning survey found that 68% of professionals discovered new career interests by initially envying colleagues in different roles or specializations. A recent Gallup workplace study found that professionals who intentionally sought mentorship from colleagues they initially envied reported 63% higher rates of skill acquisition in targeted areas and 41% greater job satisfaction over one year than those who avoided such coworkers altogether.
Tribune News Service