Last updated on December 24th, 2021 at 07:20 am
Office politics, secret jealousy, and backstabbing are routine matters in the corporate world. Especially when you don’t want to be part of that or seek no entertainment in it, then perhaps it’s happening to you. Read on as we are going to share ways to spot toxic work behavior and how to deal with backstabbing coworkers that never make it easy for you to stay focused on the ‘work’ at the office.
Have you found some signs of backstabbing coworkers around your desk?
Even though you are not sure about it, you better be aware of office politics and sabotaging at first. Yes, if you are in a corporate job and that’s also an undeniable part of the office culture.
In the race of professional careers, shiny promotions, and recognition, sometimes things get too personal and give source to office politics, unhealthy comparison, and putdowns.
Of course, you are a dedicated, passionate employee who gets appraisals based on performance. Plus, you go to the office to work, to support your own family, and to achieve your career goals.
Even though you think that you have supportive coworkers and friendly colleagues. However, you also need to be aware of those who secretly feel jealous of you.
It’s better if you keep your eyes on that early hints about backstabbing office reality. Before we begin with how to deal with backstabbers at work, let’s see the early signs to spot such two-faced coworkers.
13 Early signs of a backstabbing co-worker that are around you.
Here are some ways you can spot such jealous and backstabbing employees right away. Knowing that someone is feeling competitive with you and carrying secret jealousy towards you, you will keep yourself to stay out of their nasty games.
1. Someone who gives you that repulsive look when you’re working.
2. Someone that gossips too much about others.
3. Someone that shows envy and evil intentions for others.
4. Someone who always criticizes others.
5. Someone who takes credit for your or others’ work.
6. Someone who is too competitive and too greedy.
7. Someone who is hungry for attention.
8. Someone who never values office culture and professionalism.
9. Someone who asks too many personal questions.
10. Someones who has unpredictable behavior & personality.
11. Someone who want secretly jealous of everyone at work.
12. Someone who always tries to keep you away from work.
13. Lastly, you just feel it within that they’re jealous and backstabbers.
So, these are the most common behaviors that a jealous colleague shows in the first place.
If you find common signs from your coworker or anyone around your desk or cabin, then it is proof that someone is secretly jealous of you.
Be sure to stay away from them before they drag you in their game.
Also read: Reasons : Why do good people suffer more in Relationship?
Can you really save yourself from Office Backstabbing?
Well, the answer can be Both, yes and no.
It’s YES, if you don’t want it to happen to you. And NO, if you think of just ignoring it.
Both depending on competition level, work culture, and of course your reaction towards it.
Not everyone has the same approach to respond to office politics and backstabs. Some colleagues do this to entertain themselves or some prefer to stay away because they know why they come to the office.
But, whether you want it or not, but you will be pushed into a similar situation eventually.
Yes, you’ve control over yourself, but not over your sneaky colleagues who are guarded by your boss.
You can’t be fully safe from jealous backstabbing coworkers, but at least you can prevent the situation before it occurs to you.
So, further, in this post, we are sharing the best ways to deal with backstabbing at the office.
Even if it’s just a hint, or in the early phase such preventive actions you better to take, instead of waiting to get things even worse.
You don’t want your office to be a dark place, do you? So, let’s get started.
How to deal with jealous backstabbing colleagues?
1. Don’t make the situation too lightly.
The majority of backstabbing cases are done by coworkers who are self-centered.
Yes, selfish personalities, prefer themselves in every situation. Other’s success and appraisal hurt their ego.
Results, office jealousy, putdowns, sabotages, and of course, backstab.
So, instead of trying to make them more jealous of your success, you better save yourself from them. You better work on yourself, to improve your work performances, rather than beat others with it.
Keep distance from such negative personalities will save your time and you can focus on office work.
2. Mind your words and action from now onwards.
Workplace backstabbing can be from any of your team, colleagues, or any superior teammates, or even your boss.
You have no idea but your tiny mistake can lead to long-term trouble for you.
So, the best thing is to stay awake and aware of what’s happening around.
Whether it’s jealousy or laziness, coworkers become more active when finding someone’s mistakes.
Yes, even in some companies, coworkers are more focused to find other’s faults, rather than minding their schedule.
Mind your words and the things you do to them because they track everything you do and speak.
That may be collecting the proofs against you as well.
Also Read: What career is best for me? Know it Yourself.
3. Find the person who carries some secret jealousy for you.
Till you don’t make any further move to save yourself from any office politics, you first know who is your backstabber colleague?
Find that one sneaky coworker(s) who has shared some hints or left their negative remarks.
It’s very important to know who actually can backstab you.
Indeed, it’s quite a tricky part. But, instead of putting yourself in big trouble by pointing the wrong one.
You first have to collect some proof to ensure that who is the reason behind all these troubles at the office for you.
Find that mastermind at the office who gets direct benefits when you are in a problem.
4. Talk with that jealous backstabber coworker personally. Simple.
Hard one, but indeed worth it. Yes, you have to speak to the coworker who is the confirmed backstabber.
Talking to the problem in the early phase is always better than waiting for things to get hard to solve. Ultimately, your mindset to wait too long leaves nothing, but just regrets.
Let the sneaky coworker know that you’ve noticed their action and what they are doing behind you.
Not strictly, it’s the first time so inform them you are not a fan of this game.
If your backstabbing colleague is clever and having some respect for office culture, they will understand their own mistakes in the first phase.
And, if not then we have other options over how to deal with backstabbing coworkers read ahead.
5. Inform your senior or HR departments.
Once confirmed who is that coworker trying to pollute the office environment, the next thing you can do is to inform your seniors.
Also, even your first notice aren’t impact your jealous coworkers, this is the next best thing you can do to save yourself from this game.
Talk to your manager or HR departments, about the situation in the early phase.
The earlier you do something about it, the better it’ll be.
In the end, you all are working for a company, and you have to think from everyone’s perspective.
Inform your superior that you want to maintain the office standards, but not in exchange for your personal values and work respects.
Also Read: Don’t rely on the Single Income, Develop multiple income streams
6. Don’t wait too much. Get ready to deal with backstabbers at work.
The most common mistake that suffered employees do is, they wait for too much or too little for addressing their problems at the workplace.
Don’t be the one who’s thinking that everything will be better soon eventually.
That’s not happening in all cases. Especially, when things are not in your control and your sneaky coworkers are in the mood to backstab you.
Better to save yourself from such negative work personalities.
Like said earlier, informing HR and your manager about your teammates’ behavior is the best option you opt for.
The department or place shifting, moreover assigning to another project is the best thing that your HR/superior will do at the primary concern, which helps a bit.
7. Save your back, always. Have your records and proofs intact.
You can’t ignore the fact there can be someone ready to take your work credit.
And that’s the same person who blames you when things go wrong.
Beware of such credit seekers, have you all performance reports and project details clear.
Make everything documented, secured.
Always carry your work schedule and maintain your daily work updates. Save it for yourself, for an uncertain future.
That not only be the backup of your track record but also be your secret weapon when backstabber attacks and trying hard to put down with false reports.
Also Read: Signs it’s time to quit your job right now
8. Keep Distance from sneaky coworkers.
Negative personalities like arguer, backstabbers, credit-takers, jealous colleagues are highly expert in their art of getting others involved in their shitty game anyway.
Yes, they want you to participate in office politics and want to get pleasure from it.
Save yourself from the blame game, save from the backstabber coworkers.
Don’t respond to everything they say to you, too quickly. Minimize your connection with them, have work one-liners ready to give them.
Completely ignore them.
That’s the best reaction, an office backstabbing coworkers deserve.
9. Show your respect for the office work culture.
By any means, simply don’t get yourself involved in office squirrels, or gossips.
You are not here for complaining and arguing about someone’s behavior.
So try some early action, as you get the hint from backstabber. Don’t give them any clues or reason to point at you.
Create the environment around you that makes people want to work with you. Show those backstab, colleagues, that they have no chance to involve you in their dirty game.
Be with some dedicated and hardworking co-workers that come to the office, for working only.
10. Don’t get too personal with office colleagues without knowing them truly.
Backstabbing coworkers are always looking for some proof and evidence to point at you and to your performances.
As a focused employee, don’t give them any chance.
Mean, never share your private information too early without knowing someone at the workplace especially.
Separate your work and personal life clearly, also follow professional behavior.
Too much personal in a professional environment sometimes brings big troubles for sure. Until and unless you know your colleagues well at a new office space, keep things to yourself.
Don’t open up too much. Don’t give them any hints which they can use later on.
Also Read: changing jobs too often in the early career development stage
11. Never entertain them back. Don’t backstab in return.
Office gossip, backstabbing, hidden tactics, flavorings, sabotage are the favorite entertainment elements for some sneaky coworkers.
Not all come to the office to make their career, some exist there to destroy others as well.
We know the enthusiasm you carrying from the day you selected for this job.
But, professional life is not that easy.
The real challenges start when you enter into the corporate game.
From day one, most backstabbing coworkers with jealous mindsets activate their ears against you. You’ll be their ultimate target when you are about to overtake them.
So keep a distance from negative colleagues and do your job well.
12. Learn to stay focused on your work. Not on those who feel jealous of you.
Overall, the office is the place where you go to work and achieve your career goals.
And not to impress with your personal life and thoughts you carry. But, as you know, office politics in the corporate environment is indisputable.
You are better to save yourself from such hard professional realities.
Negative thoughts, situations, and even your sneaky coworkers are of course hard to ignore. They simply never let you work on your stuff so easily.
So, train yourself to maintain your cool in negative surroundings. Learn how to stay focused on your career goals.
You are here to make a career, not to win against anyone.
Also Read: How To Deal With Someone Is Trying To Ruin Your Reputation?
Backstabbing Coworkers Quotes to Remember
Well, you now understand how to spot also how to deal with sneaky and jealous colleagues. So, next, let’s take a look at some of the best two-faced coworkers quotes to keep you inspired and focused. We hope you like these quotes and may never lose control over yourself while handling such sneaky behavior at your job.
- Beware of such friends or colleagues who talk about someone behind their back. What they do to others they can do with you, too.
- Dear backstabbers, whatever you’re thinking of doing to me or others, it’s not part of your job description. So, do what you’re hired for.
- Let them stay at your back. Don’t give too much attention to them, they don’t deserve it.
- Having an honest enemy and bad boss is far better than having a jealous friend and backstabbing colleagues.
- You get to see their true faces when they think that you’re going ahead of them.
- After all, it’s you who gives too much attention and reason to do any negative things about you.
- When ranks and recognition are part of the process, you will see a lot of two-faced people. So Be Ready.
- Not every idea is great, as it looks. Not everything is perfect, as it seems. And, not everyone is that nice, as they behave.
- Just because they talk and laugh with you, doesn’t mean they are your best friend.
- It’s better to limit the connection, rather than giving too much information to jealous and backstabbers to use it against you.
Read next: Fake Friends vs Real Friends: Spot The Difference
Final thought
No matter what you do, whether you follow a defensive approach or just let time decide what to do with a backstabber colleague.
But, you simply can’t ignore the fact that office politics, put-downs, jealousy, and backstabbing will be there anyway.
You can’t save yourself from it, so easily.
Even if you are that passionate worker, who just wants to come office on time and leave on time. But there are always some others who just can’t let you work with full focus and dedicated mindsets.
So beware of such sneaky behaviors and jealous colleagues from the very early stage.
And, don’t give them too much attention and information to use against you, that’s the smart move.
Hope you are in the early phase of backstabbing and have some insight from our article. Do you have some experience from a toxic work environment before? Or have any suggestions on, How to deal with backstabbing coworkers and what you did to save from such jealous and unhealthy workplace behavior, then let us know.
Feel free to share your views in the comment below, We are happy to consider that.
