Everybody has bad days; when they happen, we often turn to others to talk about our frustrations or negative emotions. This is called venting. At work, this behavior is especially common, as employees vent to their coworkers about shared frustrations or mutual acquaintances. Past research has focused on what venting does to the person who is venting. However, less is known about what venting does to the person on the listening end of the venting.
THE RESEARCH STUDY
Researchers (Gabriel et al., 2025) conducted two studies with university staff and alumni. In the first study, they surveyed pairs of coworkers twice a day, measuring occurrences of venting, as well as levels of distress, empathy, workload, and helping behavior. In the second study, they followed the same methodology but also measured interpersonal mistreatment and coworker similarity to see if they impacted results.
Overall, results indicate that venting can lead listeners to experience personal distress, making them more likely to vent themselves. In addition, venting can also lead to increased helping behaviors when listeners feel increased empathy. This was especially true when coworkers were highly similar to each other.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Venting is a common practice, especially in the workplace. As such, organizations and leaders should consider doing the following:
- Encourage employees to practice empathy when listening to coworkers vent.
- Help employees recognize when listening to venting becomes a source of stress of its own; setting boundaries can prevent venting sessions from going too far.
Gabriel, A. S., Lee, Y. E., Koopman, J., Rosen, C. C., Dutli, A., & Bush, J. T. (2025). The receipt of venting at work: A multi-study investigation of affective and behavioral reactions for venting recipients. Personnel Psychology, 78, 205-227.
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