'Loud laborers,' the irritating cousins of quiet quitters, may be affecting morale at work
- "Loud laborers" have been dubbed the noisier cousins of quiet quitters.
- These workers will likely spend more of their time discussing work than actually doing it.
Are you surrounded by co-workers who talk an awful lot about work but seem to produce next to nothing?
You may be working with "loud laborers."
The term ranks among the buzziest workplace lingo. "Loud laborers" have been dubbed the noisier cousins of quiet quitters, workers who refuse to bend to the level of overworking expected in corporate America. The "loud laborer" will likely spend more of their time discussing work than actually doing it.
The term was coined by André Spicer, an organizational behavior professor and dean of Bayes Business School. In an article for The Guardian, he described getting work done as an "afterthought" of the loud laborer.
These are employees who see their core task as telling everyone what they have done, Spicer said in the Guardian article.
More recently, Nicole Price, a leadership coach and workplace expert, also discussed "loud laborers." She told CNBC these workers often publicized themselves beyond the workplace. She said: "Loud laborers are often quite politically savvy and are very active on professional social networks, where they publicize their tasks and achievements."
If left to build a workplace's culture, they can create an environment where self-promotion and visibility are more important than results, Price said. Workers who don't self-promote could be demotivated as a result and team morale could be impacted by "an imbalance in perceived effort and recognition."