How to tell if your colleagues are keeping information that could help you do your job better to themselves – and how to stop them

• "Quiet constraining" is the latest business catchphrase, following on from "quiet quitting."
• It refers to the withholding of valuable information from coworkers or managers.

Are you withholding information from your colleagues that could help them do their job better? If you are, you might be guilty of "quiet constraining."

Connor Campbell, a business finance expert at NerdWallet, says failure to reveal a more efficient way to execute a task has the potential to hinder growth and cause conflict in the workplace.

The phrase has been coined after Insider led the way on "quiet quitting" with an article in March about "coasting culture", or setting stronger work-life boundaries while still collecting a paycheck.

Kahoot! recently surveyed 1,635 employees in the United States and found that 58% admitted to holding on to information that could benefit their coworkers.

Just over three quarters of Gen Z workers, defined by Pew Research as those born after 1997, are the most likely to be guilty of "quiet constraining," the survey found.

Moreover, 95% of them feel bored at work, compared to 87% of workers overall, primarily due to online employee training and virtual team meetings.

Introduce employees to new recruits

Campbell says there are ways businesses can help crack down on "quiet constraining."

He says it's important to introduce new employees to their colleagues. They should be told about new recruits and "given a run-down of their strengths and what they'll be bringing to the team. This makes the new member of staff less of a rival, and more of a team member," Campbell adds.

He also suggests setting up one-on-one meetings or calls to help employees to get to know their colleagues better.

Share knowledge in morning meetings

Starting the day with a group meeting can help set the tone for the rest of the day, along with setting expectations and tasks for the entire team.

"Business owners should remember that if they want to foster an information-sharing culture, this also applies to them," Campbell adds.

Allow each staff member to have the opportunity to speak about any information they have gathered that they think would be useful to the team, and ensure that employees that share are praised for doing so.

Set up a noticeboard

Managers can set up physical or online noticeboards to post important information on.

Details posted can be shared in meetings, giving a boost to employees who that shared that information, Campbell says.

Team-building activities

The secret to a successful team-building activity is identifying the reasons for communication breakdowns and selecting an appropriate activity to target the problems, per Campbell.

"Forcing people to exercise against their will, for example, may actually do more harm than good, as employees will then associate the team with this negative experience."

Encourage group working and team projects

"Understated ways that business owners can curb selfish thinking in the workplace is by introducing more group work rather than individual projects," Campbell said.

Group projects can also help to fully utilize all employees' strengths and specialties, leading to better respect among colleagues and generally helping staff feel that they are more valued in the workplace.