Workplace envy - here's how it can be "trained"!

In the Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language, envy is defined as "a selfish feeling of ill-feeling, trouble or spite, caused by the success or good situation of another". Therefore, we are talking about an eminently negative feeling, which can occur even (or especially) in the professional environment, and which can destabilize us emotionally, making us lose our motivation and stop giving the expected performance. By reading the following article, you will learn how to keep this emotional process under control, and how to use it to your advantage, changing the perspective from which you look at things.

Envy at work - 4 out of 5 employees feel it

According to a recent study, 80% of Romanians feel envy at work, "targeted" being both colleagues who dress better, have a family and numerous possessions and can afford exorbitant expenses (for example, exotic vacations), and those who would benefit from certain advantages from their superiors (for example, they work less than the person in question, but would be better paid). However, as you can already tell, this is an extremely subjective analysis, from the "envious" point of view, and perhaps even superficial.

When you feel that you are beginning to be dominated by such feelings, you have several options at hand, and by reading the advice of experts Brightway®️, you will also find out how best to act. First of all, we understand if it's not easy for you to keep your feelings at bay, but we remind you that it's not good to make hot-headed decisions (especially since, as we saw above, it may just be a misinterpretation). Therefore, the most important thing is that you carry out your work, whatever it may be, absolutely impeccably, so that your superiors have nothing to reproach you for.

Secondly, when you notice certain situations which, having been filtered through your own values and experience, do not seem right to you, the solution is not simply to be envious and to take it out on a colleague, but to report the problem to your manager. However, the move should be thought out a few steps in advance, like in chess, so as not to risk a possible backlash against you (as your aim is to ensure a positive climate and fairness in the office, not to gain certain advantages or "dispossess" others of them).

Replace envy with admiration!

Last but not least, you can adopt a proactive attitude, turning any problem into a challenge and an opportunity. So, instead of showing envy at work, you can replace it with admiration and follow your colleague's example, noticing what qualities he or she has and how he or she got in a position to arouse such feelings. On the other hand, you can do an exercise of imagination, thinking about why you might be "envied" by those around you, professionally or personally.

We welcome you to our Personal Development courses, such as Process Communication Model, Growth mindset, Emotional Intelligence training or the Motivation Moment, to better understand your emotions and use them for your personal and professional success!