10% of staff take credit for colleagues' work

A poll by employment agency Monster has shown that 89% of Irish workers surveyed would not take credit for their colleagues’ work, with 75% stating they like to succeed based on their own merit.

The results also found, however, that while 14% of workers polled did not take credit for others’ work they have been tempted to do so.

A cheeky 10% of respondents stated that they frequently take credit for their colleagues’ work, while 1% reported they have only done so once. The Monster Meter poll asked 189 workers across Ireland, “Have you taken credit for someone else’s work?”

The key findings were:

No, I get by on my own merit –75%.

No, but I have been tempted – 14%.

Yes, frequently – 10%.

Yes, but only once – 1%.

The results showed that the workers in Spain are the most honest, with 85% of respondents stating that they would rather succeed on their own merit.

Integrity at work also scored highly in Switzerland and Canada, where 77% and 76% of workers polled respectively stated they strive on their own success rather than that of their colleagues.

The results revealed that workers in Luxembourg take credit for others’ work the most often.

Some 16% of workers polled in both Hungary and Norway also claimed to have frequently taken credit for their colleagues’ work.

Conversely, only 6% of workers in Canada and the UK claimed to take credit for their colleagues work often.

The poll results showed that while more than one quarter (26%) of workers in Finland have not taken credit for their colleagues’ work they have been tempted to. Temptation levels were also high in Norway (21%), Canada (15%) and the UK (15%). In comparison, only 3% of Spanish workers polled stated that they had not taken credit for their peers’ work despite being tempted to do so.

“Honesty and trust are critical to forming strong and valuable working relationships and without a basic understanding of what’s acceptable, workplaces can quickly become tense or even unpleasant,” said Julian Acquari, managing director at Monster UK and Ireland.

“Colleagues have a huge impact on people’s job satisfaction, work environment and potentially how their career develops.”

Article courtesy of the Evening Echo newspaper.