In today’s era of hyper-social workplaces, simply doing your job quietly might not be enough. Recently, a 29-year-old woman’s Reddit post has gone viral after she claimed her co-worker reported her to HR, not for poor performance, but for being too quiet at work.
The woman (@Kataklysm17), who works in analytics at a marketing agency, described herself as introverted. She said her job involves working with spreadsheets and data, and she prefers to stay focused rather than engage in casual chats.
However, a colleague whom she names ‘Erin’ seems to have a problem with that.
HR steps in after complaints about her silence:
In her post, she mentions that Erin regularly commented about her silence during meetings and lack of participation in team chats.
Eventually, Erin filed an HR complaint, calling her “emotionally distant” and “uncooperative.” Though her manager supported her, HR said they had to record the concern.
“I was stunned when HR called me in. My manager backed me up and said I was one of the most reliable and focused members on the team,” she adds.
“A few weeks ago, she did it again. This time, she claimed that I ‘undermine team morale’ because I don’t join in ‘water cooler talk’ or ‘send emojis’ in the group Slack,” she further adds.
In her post, the woman mentions that she works more than 40 hours a week, meets all deadlines, and produces high-quality results, yet she feels penalised for not fitting into a loud or chatty office culture.
The post went viral online, and many users agreed that quiet workers often face unfair pressure to act extroverted in modern workplaces.
One of the users, @Quick-Diamond3697, commented, “Not gonna lie, Erin sounds like she’s projecting hard, like… ur silence threatens her need to be the center of attention.”
Another user, @Choice_Marsupial_414, commented, “Proud of you for staying professional. Just don’t let them gaslight u into thinking ur peace is a problem.”
The post has sparked a larger conversation about what “teamwork” really means and whether personality should impact how employees are judged.