40% of employees admit sabotaging colleagues for career growth: Survey

As organisations continue encouraging employees to return to offices, concerns over workplace politics are resurfacing. A new Resume Now survey of more than 1,000 US workers, reported by Fortune, found that 40% of respondents admitted sabotaging a colleague at some point to advance their careers, highlighting the persistence of toxic workplace behaviours.

The findings also suggest many employees believe office politics has intensified alongside the return of in-person collaboration, with blame-shifting and workplace backstabbing remaining common experiences.

Survey points to widespread blame culture

The research paints a picture of workplaces where employees frequently feel undermined by colleagues. Key findings include:

• 40% admitted sabotaging a colleague to improve their own career prospects.
• 61% said they have been "thrown under the bus" at work.
• Nearly one-third reported witnessing workplace backstabbing every week.
• 73% claimed they had never thrown a colleague under the bus themselves, despite a majority saying they had experienced it.

The contrast between employees identifying as victims while denying similar behaviour themselves highlights the complexity of workplace perceptions and accountability.

Career ambitions among leading reasons

According to the survey, career advancement and self-preservation are among the main motivations behind workplace sabotage.

Respondents identified several forms of behaviour they had witnessed or experienced:

• 26% said colleagues blamed others for their own mistakes.
• 21% reported negative information about co-workers being shared with managers.
• 10% said colleagues withheld important information that could help others succeed.
• 6% reported deliberate attempts to set someone up to fail.

The findings indicate workplace sabotage often extends beyond isolated incidents and can take multiple forms, from shifting blame to limiting colleagues' opportunities to perform well.

Generational perceptions and leadership concerns

The survey found Gen Z and millennials are perceived to be twice as likely as Gen X and Baby Boomers to engage in workplace sabotage.

However, almost half of respondents said blame culture cuts across all generations, suggesting the issue reflects broader organisational behaviour rather than the actions of a single age group.

Leadership also emerged as an area of concern.

According to the survey:

• One in four employees said their manager had deliberately set them up to fail.

Researchers suggested younger employees may be adopting these behaviours after observing leaders and viewing them as necessary to succeed in competitive workplace environments.

Creating healthier workplace cultures

The report concludes that blame culture is more than an interpersonal challenge and can influence trust, collaboration and organisational performance.

It recommends organisations strengthen accountability, reinforce professional ethics and encourage open conversations around conflict resolution to reduce toxic behaviours.

As companies continue balancing return-to-office strategies with employee engagement, the findings suggest building psychologically safe workplaces may become just as important as bringing teams back together physically.