{"id":479436,"date":"2026-03-17T00:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T00:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479436\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T00:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T00:16:13","slug":"office-hookworms-how-to-deal-with-colleagues-who-steal-all-the-credit-work-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479436\/","title":{"rendered":"Office hookworms: how to deal with colleagues who steal all the credit | Work & careers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name: Office hookworms.<\/p>\n

Age: A recent term for a very old complaint.<\/p>\n

Appearance: By the time they\u2019ve shown themselves, it may be too late.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to tell me; I\u2019ve encountered hookworms before. In the workplace?<\/p>\n

No, in south-east Asia. In that case you\u2019re probably referring to one of two main species of roundworm belonging to the genera Ancylostoma and Necator, but their office-based counterparts have a similar modus operandi.<\/p>\n

What, entering through the skin as larvae and travelling along the host\u2019s circulatory system to the stomach via the lungs, before maturing into adult worms in the intestines? More like embarking on a secret self-promotional campaign by taking credit for the work of others.<\/p>\n

OK. It\u2019s not quite the same thing, is it? There\u2019s more: office hookworms also deploy streams of passive-aggressive commentary in a bid to undermine their colleagues.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s still a long way from laying 30,000 eggs a day in someone\u2019s digestive tract. The point is, they\u2019re behaving in an analogous fashion to the intestine-based parasite, but at work.<\/p>\n

Says who? Susie Ashfield, executive speech coach and the author of Just F***ing Say It!<\/a> The Ultimate Guide to Speaking With Confidence in Any Situation, which is out in paperback this week.<\/p>\n

So, she has identified the hookworm as a difficult office type, best dealt with through some form of confident speaking? Exactly. In Ashfield\u2019s workplace taxonomy the hookworm sits alongside the hippo (an office bully) and the mosquito (an incessant micromanager).<\/p>\n

And how does one go about eradicating office hookworms once and for all? Unfortunately it\u2019s not that easy. \u201cYou cannot change someone else\u2019s behaviour,\u201d says Ashfield. \u201cThe best you can do is change your own and hope for a reaction in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

You mean there\u2019s no analogous strategy to be derived from the example of intestinal hookworm management? I\u2019m not sure \u201cdon\u2019t walk barefoot in places where people defecate\u201d is applicable here.<\/p>\n

Although it is universally sound advice. True \u2013 if you\u2019re not following it already, you should definitely start.<\/p>\n

When it comes to office hookworms, what is the most effective known treatment? According to Ashfield, the best way to deal with a hookworm\u2019s parasitic habit of taking credit is to be lavish in your praise of other colleagues. Hopefully they will praise your good work in turn, and all credit will be accurately assigned going forward, leaving the hookworm with no way in.<\/p>\n

How annoyingly positive. Prevention beats a cure, every time.<\/p>\n

Do say: \u201cIn cases of difficulty with an office hookworm, present all available evidence to HR at the earliest opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t say: \u201cBut please don\u2019t bring us any evidence of the other kind of hookworm.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name: Office hookworms. Age: A recent term for a very old complaint. Appearance: By the time they\u2019ve shown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-479436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}