Colleague took credit - would you say something?

[Corporatejargon]

Just that. Passed off an important piece of work as their own pretty much, no acknowledgement of the fact I had done the bulk of the research and work. Received all praise. Was so shocked and due to circumstances there wasn’t the chance to say anything when it happened.

Would you say something, or not, to either manager/the colleague for fear of being petty/bitter?

For context - male colleague, about 10 years older but no more senior position wise.

Vote yes - say something
Vote no - leave it, petty

I'd say something, but keep it professional and unemotive. None of the 'extremely frustrated' language mentioned in a PP's draft email. I'd leave it on a question, to be sure you get a response.

I'd just say 'X has taken full credit for this project when, in fact, I did x% of the work. I wonder how we should deal with this on future projects?' And give examples of the parts of the work that were all yours.

You have my sympathies- I know how you feel. What an older and wiser colleague told me was to think about it this way: how will you feel at the next round of appraisals when he gets a pay rise and you don’t? How will you feel when he gets the plum tasks in the future, thus allowing him to prove himself further? How will you feel if (potentially) the company has to make redundancies and the bosses keep him over you? How will you feel the next time he does this (because let’s face it, CF like these don’t only do something like this once)? What do you think he’d do if the roles were reversed?

So many mediocre men and women get ahead in life by doing this - enabled by people who don’t speak up.

It’s scary but you owe it to yourself - do it!

Please say something.

And agree with @eckhart take the emotion out of the email, keep your initial message factual and ask a question.

Yes I would and have! And yes it was an older Male too. Nothing came if it. I wasn’t aware if he has been spoken too about it but at least I knew it had been noticed.

Agree about taking the emotion out of the email. Straight to the point and factual

Ask your boss for feedback on your work on the project in question.

I would speak to my line manager. Has happened to me before with my actual manager. It annoyed me that everyone thought it was him but I made it clear to my Director (above him) the truth. As long as she knew, I was fine.

Please speak up, tell your manager - don't be sneaky about it, raise it in a one to one. This happens to women all the time and if it's not confronted head on it will keep happening. I'm so on your behalf!

Definitely say something but how you say it will depend on how he announced ‘his’ achievement. If he emailed the piece of work to your manager saying “Look at this fantastic thing I’ve done” then I’d email the manager copying him in and say something like “I was disappointed that Dave didn’t acknowledge my contribution to this work. Although Dave added ‘idea X’ at the end, the bulk of the work was done by me.” Then briefly explain how.

If he announced his success out loud to the office, then that’s a little harder to deal with. I’d probably wait until he mentioned it again and politely correct him. “Yes, Dave, you made a helpful contribution at the end of the project but I did the bulk of the work,” etc.

It is hard though. Maybe it’s just me, but I find it very hard to pitch my tone at work as a woman. I worry about coming across as petty, moaning, jealous, etc.

However, I wouldn’t let this go. I used to. I used to think that as long as I had the satisfaction of knowing I’d done well, it was OK. But it’s not. This was rammed home to me when a male colleague asked for (a lot of) help with a project then won a prize for it - and made zero mention of me, just sat their like a conceited twit basking in the admiration of ‘his’ achievement. 😡

OP I would def saying something but I wouldn't go all guns blazing

I'd email your manager and cc in the plagiarist scumbag.

I'd day something along the lines of...

At meeting x on date xx I was delighted to hear such positive feedback from boss a, boss b and team x on project x.

Unfortunately I did not get to say anything at the time, and due to the nature of the meeting, plagiarist git may not have had the opportunity to mention that I completed 80pc of the work on this project, which took me a period of x hours.

However, plagirist git and I did work collaboratively at the the end of the project to ??? .....for a total of approx x hours.
It would be appreciated if you could clarify with others who attended the meeting the division of the time and labour involved.

Plagirist git and I worked well together and I'd appreciate the opportunity to work together again.

Should you require further confirmation on the content of this email I'd be more than happy to provide this

Kind regards

He's done this on the assumption that you won't now challenge him or say anything to anyone else and if you don't he will do it to you again

I would definitely say something. Imo speak to your manager and just say how disappointed you were that X didn't pass on any thanks or acknowledge you did the lions share of the work.

If you have the same manager, how does the manager not know you were working on this?

Personally I would say something to both of them individually.
To credit stealer I would say that you are disappointed he chose to present your work as his own.
To manager I would ask were they aware that this is based on your work and what is the correct procedure to ensure in the future the people's work and contribution is appropriately reccognised. That is this situation, it feels as thought "creditstealing colleague" has gotten all the credit for this work and that is obvisously not anyones intention.

TBH if it we me, I'd be direct with colleague but more delicate with manager so that it doesn't sound like you are accusing or blaming anyone. But simply pointing out there is a flaw in the system, as no one would intentionally have not credited you for the work you did.

Hope that makes sense.

www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/5/130519-women-scientists-overlooked-dna-history-science/
I would tread carefully - be sneaky how you approach this
Do you have any email trail of your work -did you do this at his request on independently? ie you put forward a fresh view & extended research or was it your originally idea?
Subtilty is the key -accidently dropping him in it by faux apology for mentioning it by "accident" something like " it was great working with you -perhaps we can do it again … & mention the work you did - it was interesting work doing this...."

Speak up ASAP. I’ve been dealing with male colleagues doing this for 20 odd years - speak up EVERY time. It’s trickier if they’re senior but this douche bag isn’t so speak up. In my experience it happens more to women as the blokes know we speak up less.

Definitely say something and keep the emotion out. How blatant was it?

I once witnessed someone challenge a colleague during a presentation. It was two women and the one presenting was taking all of the credit. The point where she announced she had devised a pathway must have been the tipping point and the other woman started asking questions about her thought process and results.

Of course the presenter could not answer and it became obvious it was not her work. Oh it was cringeworthy but so satisfying to watch. Not many people can pull that off in the moment as they are, understandably, usually too shocked, angry or disappointed.

If he sent it out I would reply all saying Dave! I did that work although it was helpful of you to add x in at the end. Don't be a pushover. Women get labelled as bitter or insecure or whatever but you can bet he wouldn't try it to a man. He's banking on you keeping quiet. Don't as you will lock yourself when it looks like you have been doing nothing and he has been super productive and gets promoted. And don't just have a very quiet word to your manager as others will think they can do the same to you.

Yes speak to your manager, you don't even need to reference the colleague, just say you are confused as to why you aren't getting the credit for your work, and try and take along a few bits of 'evidence'.

Your name should be on that piece as a joint author.

If it isn't, request that it be put there. If this is refused, then take it further. If there's still a resistance to act, then suggesting you've experienced this as sex discrimination might not do any harm either.

YANBU.

No emotion (even though it feels very personal and your emotions are involved).

Gather your evidence- do you have a draft version that you did before CheekyGit (CG) joined in?
How many meetings did you have with CG to finalise the document?

Than approach your manger for mentoring- "how do you suggest I deal with this?"

@mumwon

I'm curious as to why you (and a couple of other posters) think it's better to be sneaky about this than upfront? Surely if you have an issue with a colleague, you speak to your manager? Why the need to be subtle instead of straight to the point? I don't understand the advantage?

The way I've handle this is the past is to write an email like Thingsdogetbetter suggested.

There must be things about it that only you know.

Craft a follow up document detailing those bits he left out and make it damn obvious it was your project.
Something like you're happy that XYZ was well received. Note a few points and tie it back to you. Then casually mention that Workstealer helped with: list busy work, organizing documents or some other crap that doesn't matter but give him accolades on how much his filing, coffee making, etc. helped you get to the deadline of the project.

In the future, keep your boss updated with a quick and simple weekly status report of your accomplishments. Nobody needs to know you do this. It's just between you and your boss. It's part of being visible.

This also helps when you are seeking a pay rise or promotion.

But the fact that you have the same manager hasn’t put him off stealing the credit has it?

I'd email your manager with a 'shit sandwich'.

Bread - Happy to hear how well received the project was.

Filling - disappointment that your 80% of work wasn't acknowledged.

Bread - happy that you can add clarity to a situation, you enjoyed working on it etc, hope to have the opportunity again...