Jealousy in the workplace is more common than most people acknowledge — and harder to spot than you’d think. Here are 8 signs a coworker is jealous of you.

1. They Diminish Your Accomplishments

When you share good news — a win on a project, a promotion, positive feedback from leadership — a jealous coworker minimizes it. “That client wasn’t that hard to land” or “anyone could have done that” are ways of reducing your success to something less than it is. It’s subtle enough to dismiss as honest opinion, but if it’s a consistent pattern tied to your achievements, it’s something else.

2. They Copy Your Ideas and Take Credit

Jealousy can manifest as imitation — adopting your approaches, borrowing your ideas, and presenting them as their own. If you notice a coworker consistently picking up concepts you introduced in meetings and repackaging them without attribution, that’s a form of professional envy in action. They want what you have and are willing to take it rather than build their own version.

3. They Highlight Your Mistakes Publicly

Everyone makes mistakes, but a jealous coworker seizes on yours in front of others. They bring up errors in team meetings, flag issues in group chats instead of privately, or reference past missteps when they’re no longer relevant. The goal isn’t constructive — it’s to chip away at your credibility in front of the people who matter.

4. They’re Overly Critical of Your Work

Feedback is healthy; chronic nitpicking isn’t. If a coworker consistently finds fault with your work — even when it’s been positively received by others — and applies a different standard to their own, it’s worth examining their motivation. Persistent, disproportionate criticism from a peer often has more to do with their feelings about your success than the actual quality of your output.

5. They Spread Rumors About You

Gossip is one of the most damaging tools of workplace jealousy because it operates below the surface. If you’re hearing through back channels that a coworker is sharing negative information about you — questioning your competence, your ethics, or your intentions — take it seriously. Reputation damage is hard to repair and easy to inflict.

6. They Actively Exclude You

Being left out of social events, informal conversations, or group decisions is a way of marginalizing your presence. A jealous coworker may not want to see you thrive — and keeping you outside the informal network reduces your access to information and relationships that support career advancement.

7. They Sabotage Your Projects

This is the most serious manifestation of workplace jealousy. Deliberate sabotage can look like withholding information you need, giving you incorrect data, failing to follow through on commitments that affect your work, or timing feedback to create problems. If you suspect this is happening, document everything and address it with your manager sooner rather than later.

8. They’re Resentful When You Advance

A coworker who responds to your promotions, raises, or recognition with visible irritation — rather than congratulations — is showing you something important about their relationship with your success. Genuine colleagues are happy when their peers advance. Jealous ones aren’t. This resentment often intensifies over time if the gap between your trajectories grows.