Are your coworkers trauma dumping? Heres why oversharing happens and how to handle it

Your coworker came in at 9, overshared by 9:03, and now you know way too much about their breakup and their bowel movements.Some Gen Z employees are airing out all their drama on the clock — and bosses, coworkers and HR departments are wondering how to put the lid back on the tea kettle.“It’s kind of like you had your one work bestie, and you’d be, like, ‘Oh, my God, you’d never guess what I did last night,’” Adriana Lima, a 32-year-old startup manager (not the Brazilian supermodel), told Business Insider.“Gen Z, in my experience, there seems to be a bit more openness in sharing about family trauma, diagnoses, things that they’re struggling with.”Call it “trauma-dumping,” “emotional vampiring” or just plain oversharing — it’s a rising trend in offices across America, thanks in part to Gen Z, remote work and a culture obsessed with “bringing your whole self to work.”But now that your deskmate is unloading details about their ex’s alcoholism again, some are begging for a little mystery.Lima’s caught in the middle: “At the end of the day, all of us would be doing the employee a disservice if we were trying to act as a mental health professional.”Blame blurred boundaries.“We now take our work home readily and easily, basically in our pockets with our phones,” Carrie Bulger, a psychologist at Quinnipiac University, said to the outlet.“Why wouldn’t they blur in the other direction as well? It feels kind of normal.”But normal isn’t always professional.“Your reputation at work is built on how clearly and credibly you communicate, and oversharing can cloud both,” Carla Bevins of Carnegie Mellon warned Business Insider.“There’s a difference between being authentic versus being unfiltered.”The stakes are high.

“You don’t want to invite bias or gossip, especially in very competitive and hierarchical environments,” Bevins added.Still, some Gen Zers say they’re just being real.“Gen Z has become much mo...