When a colleague’s success creates tension at work

A colleague’s success can change the balance within a workplace. A promotion, public recognition or a major assignment may motivate some employees while triggering comparison or frustration in others. Research on social comparison suggests that these reactions can become more significant when employees see colleagues as close professional benchmarks.

Psychologist Leon Festinger’s work on social comparison established that people partly assess their abilities and position by comparing themselves with others. The process is particularly visible at work, where performance, responsibilities, promotions, pay and recognition can be directly observed or discussed.

A colleague with similar experience, responsibilities or professional status can become a more meaningful reference point than someone whose career is very different. Their success may therefore be interpreted not only as an achievement but also as information about one’s own position.

Envy does not always produce hostility

Workplace envy does not automatically lead to harmful conduct. Research distinguishes between benign envy, which can encourage employees to improve their performance, and malicious envy, which can be associated with hostility toward the person who holds the advantage.

A 2020 systematic review covering 32 studies on workplace envy highlighted this distinction. Another study involving employees in the telecommunications sector found links between upward social comparison, envy and performance. The findings suggested that benign envy could be associated with improved performance, while malicious envy produced different effects. Perceived organizational support also influenced these relationships.

The situation becomes more difficult when an emotional reaction turns into repeated behavior against a colleague. Problems may appear through reduced cooperation, withholding information, demeaning remarks or gradual exclusion.

Research published in 2022 among 268 employees in the information technology and services sector found a significant association between envy toward colleagues, workplace incivility and social undermining. The findings do not mean that every distant or unenthusiastic colleague is envious. They show that comparison-related emotions can become damaging when they develop within fragile professional relationships.

Avoid reading intentions into every reaction

A colleague who offers a brief congratulations is not necessarily jealous. They may be dealing with their own difficulties, feeling disappointed by a management decision or simply expressing emotions differently.

This distinction matters for employees who experience professional success. Interpreting every silence or awkward reaction as hostility can create a permanent need to monitor colleagues. The workplace then becomes a series of interactions that must be decoded.

Repeated behavior provides more useful information than an isolated reaction. A pattern that consistently obstructs cooperation or access to information deserves more attention than a single uncomfortable exchange.

The organizational context also matters. Highly competitive environments can intensify social comparison. Individual ranking systems, unclear promotion criteria or reward structures focused heavily on personal performance can make colleagues’ achievements feel more threatening.

Research on organizational envy suggests that performance objectives and certain compensation systems can interact with reactions to social comparison. The issue therefore extends beyond relations between two employees. It also concerns how an organization distributes recognition.

The role of workplace culture

Pressure to display constant enthusiasm can create another problem. Employees may be encouraged to celebrate every success, remain positive and avoid criticism. Recognition can strengthen cooperation, but a culture that leaves no room for legitimate frustration can make workplace problems harder to address.

The World Health Organization identifies several workplace factors that can affect mental health, including negative organizational cultures, poor support from colleagues, bullying, discrimination, exclusion, excessive workloads and limited control over work.

The International Labour Organization also identifies difficult interpersonal relationships, isolation, insufficient support, harassment, abusive behavior and poor management among psychosocial risks linked to workplace stress. It recommends stronger communication, worker participation and workplace support systems.

The problem is therefore not the existence of frustration or envy. These emotions can occur in professional life. The concern arises when employees have no effective way to address them or when they develop into conduct that damages others.

What a promotion can reveal about a team

A promotion can act as an informal test of a team. It makes differences in recognition visible and can expose how employees respond when professional positions shift.

Where promotion criteria are understood and perceived as fair, colleagues may find it easier to view an achievement as an individual result. Where decisions appear arbitrary, the same achievement can be interpreted as favoritism or privileged access to opportunities.

Management transparency can reduce this uncertainty. Employees do not need every detail behind every decision. They need to understand the criteria that guide professional development and recognition.

The broader workplace environment also matters for mental health. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of working-age adults were living with a mental disorder in 2019. It also estimates that depression and anxiety lead to around 12 billion lost working days each year, at an estimated cost of $1 trillion in lost productivity.

These figures cannot be attributed directly to envy between colleagues. They show why organizations cannot treat workplace relationships as a secondary issue. Social support, communication and working conditions shape the environment in which employees perform their jobs.

Responding without feeding rivalry

Employees facing a difficult relationship do not always need to confront the other person immediately. A more useful first step is to observe specific behavior and whether it is repeated.

A temporary disagreement can often be addressed directly. Problems affecting information sharing, task allocation or the ability to perform a job can be documented and discussed factually with the relevant manager.

Employees who achieve professional success also face a balance. They do not need to minimize their achievements to make others comfortable. At the same time, turning every success into a display of superiority can intensify unnecessary competition.

The responsibility for managing emotions remains with each employee. A professional approach can nevertheless avoid reinforcing rivalry.

For managers, the response needs to be structural. The World Health Organization recommends interventions that address working conditions and training for managers so they can recognize distress, improve communication and respond to workplace stressors.

The International Labour Organization also recommends assessing psychosocial risks, improving communication, strengthening worker participation and developing social support within organizations.

A colleague’s success does not have to become a collective threat. Comparison and envy can exist without making a workplace toxic. The problem emerges when they become repeated behaviors that damage cooperation, when employees cannot discuss difficulties or when competition replaces shared rules.

A healthy organization does not need to eliminate every negative emotion. It needs rules, communication and management practices that prevent those emotions from turning into harmful conduct.

The key question is therefore not who applauds most enthusiastically. It is whether the team has the conditions needed for individual success and collective trust to coexist.