Do good work. Tell everyone. Repeat until exhausted. What Loud Working reveals about job security and how to break the cycle.
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I want to call this out.
‘Loud working’ is a simple phrase attached to a serious issue.
It sounds like all those other lifestyle trends we keep hearing about.
Like something a consultant invented on a flight to a conference to impress people, or something an influencer came up with just to get more likes on a post.
And because it sounds like that, most people will do what they always do with phrases like this.
Dismiss it, decide it's LinkedIn nonsense for people who enjoy posting about their morning routine, and scroll past.
Please don’t though, because the behaviour underneath this latest seemingly throwaway phrase is fear.
Specifically, it is what good, honest people do when they have decided that doing good, honest work is no longer enough to keep their job, so they spend part of every week proving their worth in public.
Research conducted by Tide, a leading company registration organisation, found that across the UK workers spend an average of 2.8 hours a week making their work visible.
And that’s just those who actual admit to doing it.
Reported by Metro it also found that more than one in four (27%) UK workers have considered leaving a job because of a ‘loud working’ culture or because colleagues are particularly vocal about their own work and achievements. Further, nearly one in ten workers have already walked out because of it.
So, loud working isn't a just a made up buzzword.
It's a real response from a workforce that doesn't trust anyone to notice them.
Perhaps you feel the same?
Key Takeaways
- Loud working can start when good employees fear good work will no longer keep them employed.
- The biggest warning sign is a change in someone’s behaviour, not how loudly they talk.
- Constantly broadcasting your value can damage the credibility you’re trying to protect.
- Building career options gives you more security than repeatedly proving you deserve your current job.
- When a whole team starts performing for attention, leaders need to examine the culture driving it.
What is loud working?
Put simply, Loud working is where employees make a deliberate effort to increase their visibility by over-promoting their daily tasks and broadcasting their achievements to colleagues and management, rather than just getting on with their work and trusting that their results will speak for themselves
Now, you may be thinking what's the big deal?
After all, the behaviour of loud working is not new. In fact, you probably have at least a few names in your head right now of workplace braggers and show offs that you have unfortunately encountered in your career.
But what's new is the volume, and the reason behind the surge in this behaviour.
Obvious signs are workers volunteering for high-profile projects, speaking in every meeting so their name stays prominent, sending unrequested update emails at 8pm, and posting their wins on LinkedIn at every given opportunity.
The not so obvious signs are workers starting to document everything, keeping a record, and putting contributions in writing where they never bothered before.
Let’s put this in perspective. ADP is a global provider of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solutions. Their report, People at Work 2026, found that only one in four Australian employees feel their jobs are safe from elimination, with young workers aged between 18-24 the least confident.
It also found that confidence in job security is lagging globally. Just 22% of workers worldwide strongly agree that their job is safe from elimination, and no country surveyed reported a majority of workers who feel secure about their future employment.
So, it’s no real surprise that people have decided to be a bit louder in these uncertain times.
Why the economy is doing this to people
Two forces are squeezing at once and they multiply each other.
The first is that leaving a job has become harder. Australian Bureau of Statistics data released in July 2026 shows the job mobility rate fell to 7.2% in February 2026, down from 7.7% the year before. Fewer people moving means fewer people feel they have somewhere else to go, which means more people doing what frightened people do in a job they can't leave.
The second is AI. Randstad's Workmonitor survey in March 2026 reports that one in three Australians (32%) worry their job will disappear to AI within five years.
It also revealed that less than half of workers surveyed felt they have received training on the AI tools that will reshape their jobs (48%).
So, in a team of twenty, that's roughly half the people sitting in a meeting worrying that technology is coming for them and they can't keep up with the pace.
Emotions and fear are running high.
Business Insider spoke to a former Meta employee who described the atmosphere during layoffs and restructuring as though "the Hunger Games had started."
Everyone competing for attention, taking on more work, trying to prove they deserved to stay. That's the shape of a workplace where the work stopped being the point and being seen doing it became the only point that mattered.
So, when you can't leave but also can't be sure you'll be given the chance to stay, you've no choice but to go into survival mode.
Loud working as a survival response
When employees face a threat they can't fight and can't run from, they do a third thing. They try to make themselves harder to remove, hoping the threat passes over them and lands on someone else. Behavioural scientists call this appeasement.
If you've read our article on job interview nerves you know the biology. Your amygdala and limbic system can't tell the difference between a threat you're imagining and one happening in front of you. Tell yourself "I'm going to lose my job" and the body responds as though something or someone is literally hunting you down. So, in effect, interview nerves and loud working are the same thing running on different stimuli.
And, that difference is the clock.
An interview lasts an hour. Job insecurity lasts quarters. Run a threat response for two years and it stops being an emotion and becomes a habit, which is how somebody who was never once performative ends up sending their manager a weekly summary nobody asked for and, consequently, feels slightly sick about it.
Australian work health and safety law already treats this as a hazard rather than an attitude. Job insecurity appears as a named psychosocial hazard in the Commonwealth Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work alongside unreasonable job demands and inadequate recognition. The behaviour you're seeing in your team is the symptom of something your organisation has a legal duty to manage.
Two kinds of loud, and why confusing them is the whole problem
Most commentary lumps everyone together and calls them ‘attention seekers’. But, in real life, two different categories of people are doing this, and the difference decides whether you're dealing with a personality trait or a person in trouble.
The traits
Let’s just acknowledge the fact that some people are built this way.
Natural marketers and extroverts think out loud by talking and projecting. These are people who learned early that a good reputation travels faster than good work, so they doubled down and invested in it deliberately.
They're usually good at the job, otherwise their bragging wouldn’t land, but their downside is real. They drown out quieter people, drift into taking credit for shared work, and tend to exhaust a room.
Their driver is identity. You can ask them to leave more space, but you can’t convince them to change because it isn't an issue for them. I've written before about how easily this gets misread at the hiring stage. There is a real problem here between those who are confident and those who are narcissists but that is not what we are concerned with here. It's the next category of people we are talking about.
The troubled
These are the ones to worry about, and their tell-tale sign is a change of behaviour.
Somebody who never once mentioned their own contribution, suddenly mentioning it.
Somebody quiet going loud.
Somebody who always did the work and left the reporting to other people but now they're building a paper trail.
The troubled are the epidemic.
A personality trait doesn't spread. Fear does.
Those with natural traits were always here. What's happening now is thousands of ordinary, understated people deciding that understatement is a luxury they can no longer afford.
Why loud working backfires more often than it works
There's a strong influencer led argument going round that loud working is a smart strategy. Read the career columns and you'll find plenty of advice to be ‘more visible’, ‘broadcast your wins’, and ‘build your brand’. But, go easy, unless you are looking to leave paid employment and go self-employed, because you need to consider what colleagues will actually think of your actions.
Monster's 2025 Workwatch Report found 77% of employees have worked with someone who is overly vocal about their work without being productive. So if you start shouting from the rooftops the people sitting nearest to you probably already know what your performance is all about and have most likely decided they don't like or trust you.
Contrast this with Built In's write-up of the trend which shows that authentic, help-driven visibility builds trust, while performative self-promotion damages relationships which highlights the dangers of loud working.
Breaking this down, performing from fear reads as instability. The person who tells you once, calmly, what they delivered and why it mattered sounds senior. The person who tells you every week sounds like they're being managed out, and often gives people the idea that they should be.
What to do if you're the one loud working
Who me? Yes you!
You may have read this so far and recognised yourself, and therefore you may now be feeling defensive.
That's OK and the response I'd expect.
But please know this. It’s not a failing in you. It's a failing in the system you find yourself in.
Start with an honest question.
Would the version of you from two years ago recognise the way you now talk about your work? If the answer is no, you've found it, and you can stop looking for second opinions.
Do something practical, because you can't think your way out of a threat response. Get another option in play. This is the most effective thing to do, and it's the same advice I give nervous candidates.
A job feels terrifying when you think it's the only one you'll ever have. But if you update your résumé, have the quiet conversations, and realise what you're worth you will feel so much better. You just have to stop your nervous system believing this is the last job on earth.
Somebody with options doesn't need to shout. If you need a starting point, our article on the hidden job market is where I'd begin.
Keep a written record of what you deliver, for your own benefit, not for posting. The point is that the evidence exists whether or not anyone has clapped for it, and after a few weeks of keeping it the urge to announce yourself drops, because you know you have real value.
Have one real conversation with your manager instead of three months of commentary. Tell them what you've delivered, what you want next, and what you're worried about, then hear the answer. Fear makes people overestimate danger, and I've watched good people spend months performing for a threat that turned out to be just a rumour.
If the answer is genuinely bad, and the role really is at risk, loud working is the wrong use of your energy. Start your job search now. Don't put it off and definitely don't tell anyone about your plans.
What to do if it's your colleague
Let’s face it, your loud colleague is annoying, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. But notice what your irritation is doing. In a frightened team, whoever shows anxiety most openly becomes the group's outlet for its own. It's easier to have a problem with the one who speaks out than to sit with the fact that everyone is scared.
Deal with the behaviour, not the diagnosis. Say something like "when you summarised that project, it read as yours. It was ours. Next time let's bring it together."
No psychology, no accusation, just what happened and what you'd like instead.
Don't absorb credit-taking quietly. Keep your own record, say "we" in public, correct it privately once, and if it becomes a pattern, escalate with facts.
Documenting your own work isn't loud working. It's your protection against someone else's claims.
And if you manage a team, look after the quiet ones. A strategy that rewards attention will overlook the people who don't chase it, and these are often your best people. Before your next restructure, check who you know is performing, and check whether you know it because they told you or because you know the actual facts and numbers.
Where people get it all wrong
Assuming the loudest one is the most anxious.
Sometimes yes, it is. But the person performing hardest may be the least worried in the building, because they do this permanently. Look for the change in the relative behaviour, not the volume.
Performance managing it as a personal flaw.
If half your team has started narrating its output, you have a culture telling them their jobs are at risk. 'Fixing' one individual punishes other people for reacting accurately to their environment.
Reading extra effort as engagement.
If your people spend more energy being seen than doing the work, they've told you something about your leadership. Don't reward it by mistaking it for commitment.
Thinking a wellness programme fixes it.
An app and a mindfulness session won't touch the fact that three in four workers don't feel safe. You cannot meditate somebody out of redundancy fear.
Confusing loud working with ambition.
Asking for the high-profile project isn't loud working. Neither is telling your manager what you achieved. The difference is whether it comes from professional confidence or fear.
Conclusion
I’ve watched people get overlooked for thirty years because they assumed good work spoke for itself, so I have sympathy for anyone who has now decided to start shouting. Some of them have to, and some will be better off for learning it.
It's the sound of a workforce that doesn't trust its employer to see it, and no amount of individual coaching fixes a cultural trust problem at a company.
If you're the one performing, stop trying to be louder and choose to get safer by increasing your options.
If you manage people doing it, stop asking why they've changed and start asking what changed for them.
FAQ
How can I make my work visible without constantly promoting myself?
Share useful updates that explain what you delivered, why it matters and what happens next. Give credit to the people involved and agree on a reporting rhythm with your manager so you don’t feel compelled to announce every achievement.
What if my manager only notices the people who speak up?
Ask your manager what results they use to assess performance and how they want you to report yours. Bring specific examples to your reviews, because assuming they’ve noticed everything is a gamble with your career..
How do I stop a colleague taking credit for my work?
Correct the record calmly and specifically: “Yes, that’s the analysis I put together, and Sarah used it to develop the recommendation.” If it keeps happening, document examples and raise the pattern with your manager.
Should I start looking for another job even if I don’t want to leave?
Exploring your options doesn’t commit you to resigning. Updating your resume, reconnecting with contacts and checking what employers need gives you something useful to work with if your current role changes.
My team has gone loud and I'm the manager. What's the first thing I do?
Stop reading it as engagement. Ask your people what they understand about their job security and tell them the truth you're allowed to tell. Then make sure you're recognising people on results rather than on visibility, because a team that has learned to perform for attention will keep performing this way until someone proves the quieter route works better.
