Subject to change

Do you hide your true self at work to win praise, promotion or even just acceptance? You’re not the only one. It’s called ‘covering’.

Coveringnoun

The act of changing your true self at work. This could mean:

Physical changes: your clothes, makeup or jewellery
Verbal changes: your accent or your potty mouth
Personality changes: your character or behaviour

We asked 4,000 of you if you cover at work – and how. Here’s what you revealed…

💼 New job, new you

Covering can start even before your first day on the job.

% of respondents

62%

The majority of us hide our real personality during a job interview

62%

And we continue to cover when we start the new job

25%

It's not until we pass probation that most of us stop disguising our true selves

45%

Although the office party can make some of us want to put our disguises back on 🎉

Physical changes

52% think that people should change their appearance 👡 in order to fit in at work.

But why do we change our appearance at work?

50%

45%

Nature of the job

14%

Typical style doesn’t fit in with company style

13%

Typical style wouldn’t make a good impression

Have been discriminated against

Don’t want to draw attention to ethnicity

Don’t want to draw attention to socio-economic background

🔍

Look closer

If you’re LGBTQ+ you’re twice as likely to change your appearance at work because you’ve been discriminated against

50%

6% of all

12% of LGBTQ+

Most people have no problem with tattoos ☠️🌹 at work, but many still worry 😰 about their body ink.

42% of respondents with tattoos are worried about people seeing them at work

62% of respondents have no problem with tattoos at work

Why?

When you have visible tattoos, respondents think…

60%

It’s harder to get a job

46%

It's harder to be promoted

48%

Women are more likely to be discriminated against

42%

It's harder to be taken seriously at work

🔍

Look closer

More women than men tend to think females are most likely to be discriminated against for tattoos

58% of women

39% of men

How about jewellery 💍?

For some, it reveals a little too much. Including the fact you’re married.

Out of 4,127 respondents...

10 men13 women

admitted to removing their wedding ring at work

💍

Verbal changes

Remarkably, 45% of people think it's normal to change the way you speak at work.

And maybe it’s not surprising we’re hiding our true voices 🤐

13% of you admit to having thought less of someone or mocked 😓 someone at work because of their accent.

For people with accents, work isn’t always a safe space.

% of respondents who were mocked vs.

% of respondents who felt ashamed

25%

50%

At work

Work is the place we're most likely to be mocked for our accents or feel ashamed of them

With friends

With strangers

At school

At university

Uni is the place we're least likely to feel ashamed of our accents

Interview

Job interviews are where we often feel ashamed of our accents, yet are least likely to be mocked

Maybe it’s not surprising, then, that people are more likely to tone down their accent for a job interview 📝 than for a date 💕

4 in 10 respondents with an accent would tone it down in a job interview

😶

2 in 10 respondents with an accent would tone it down on a date

😶

Oh, and as for swearing on the job?

NSFW 🙊

16% swear in front of grandparents

7% swear in front of clients

And here are the justifications they gave…

“I swear at my computer. It is a shame I cannot do more to it in order to make it behave”
“Banter with others”
“Not heavy swearing, just things like damn, blooming”
“Release :)”

“If you cut your hand with a knife what are you supposed to say?”
“To act like a normal f****** person”
“Only with trusted colleagues and no women around”
“I only swear quietly"

Personality changes

Most dramatically of all, 52% think people should change their personality 🎭 at work.

And it seems to make a difference.

When people change their personality at work, they feel much more comfortable 🛀 and confident 😜... Yet they also feel more stressed 😫

% of respondents who change their personality and feel...

Negative feelings 👎🏼👍🏼 Positive feelings

50%

100%

11%

Amused

43%

Confident

46%

Comfortable

28%

Stressed

11%

Exposed

Ashamed

🔍

Look closer

Women find changing their personality at work more stressful than men do

100%

25% of men

28% of all

32% of women

And straight men feel more comfortable changing their personalities compared to LGBTQ+ respondents

100%

38% of LGBTQ+

46% of all

50% of straight men

Why might these be the groups of people that feel least comfortable and most stressed? Perhaps it’s because…

7 in 10 respondents think we should stick up for groups such as women, LGBTQ+ and disabled people at work

👌🏾

But only 5 in 10 respondents say they actually do

👌🏾

Here's how changing their personality made people feel…

“Safer from back-stabbers”
“IN CONTROL”
“Armoured (protected)”
“It’s what needs to be done to be professional. That’s that”

“Alien”
“Like I’m hiding my true colours”
“To appear like putty in their hands, when actually I have manipulated them into getting projects finished in a timely manner”

Conclusion

But what happens when a company encourages you to be your true self 👯?

There’s a clear relationship between being inclusive in the workplace and job satisfaction.

Of those respondents that are dissatisfied ☹️ with their job, 5 in 10 work for an inclusive company

😕

Of those respondents that are satisfied 😊 with their job, 8 in 10 work for an inclusive company

😊

But does that mean you’re more likely to be true to yourself if you work at an inclusive company?

🤔 Interestingly, no...

Even if you work for a company that’s inclusive, people still feel the need to change who they are at work 🙃

Of those respondents that work for an inclusive company…Of those respondents that don’t work for an inclusive company…

52% change their personality

Keep exploring your work-self

Covering your true self

Why do we often feel we can't be our true self at work?

Displaced in the workplace

LGBTQ+ advocate Rhammel Afflick explores our research on covering.

Survey data
Totaljobs research of 4,127 UK workers in May 2018.

Created in collaboration with Beyond Words Studio.