Colleague keeps taking credit for things I did and I’m getting fed up

[ManoharDash]

Just wanted to see if anyone else has dealt with this. I’ve got a colleague who keeps jumping in and taking credit for work I’ve already done. It’s small things sometimes, like finishing a task and then she tells the manager she “sorted it,” but it’s started happening more often and I’m really annoyed.
I don’t want to start drama at work, but it’s getting to the point where I feel invisible. I put in the hours, I do the work properly, and then someone else gets the praise. I know I should probably say something, but I’m worried I’ll come across as petty or difficult.

Office politics are a good skill to master and it doesn’t sound like you’re strong in that area.

You need to learn to be visible, give yourself credit, and ensure your management know what you’re up to. When you act like that, colleagues like this will stop taking the piss.

But you need to strategically ensure your input is visible first, you have to make conscious moves and not be passive.

That’s fair, I probably have been a bit too quiet about what I’m doing. I don’t love having to push myself forward but I can see how being more visible would help. I’ll try to be a bit more proactive so it’s clearer what I’m actually working on.

That’s really frustrating, and I don’t think you’re being petty at all for feeling fed up. It’s one thing if it happens once or twice, but when it becomes a pattern it really does start to wear you down.
I’ve seen this handled best by calmly making your own work visible rather than directly accusing — things like following up with a quick email summarising what you’ve done, or speaking up in meetings with “I finished X and the next step is Y”. It keeps it factual and gives credit where it’s due without creating drama.
You shouldn’t have to fight for recognition, but you’re also not wrong to protect your own work.

That sounds really frustrating and you’re not being petty at all. Anyone would feel fed up if their work kept being taken by someone else. I’ve seen this happen where someone is just very quick to speak up and it slowly turns into them getting all the credit. If you don’t want to create drama maybe start by calmly making your work more visible like following up tasks with a short email or mentioning what you’ve completed in meetings. It keeps things factual and professional without pointing fingers. You deserve to be recognised for what you do.

I think that it’s ok to deal with this directly, as long as you are polite. Lying about something you’ve done in a workplace isn’t ok.

Next time she does it about something provable calmly say something like “That’s odd, I’m sure it was me who finished that” and leave the ball in her court. If it blows up or she gets stroppy, offer to show the proof.

You’ll probably only need to do it once……

What sorts of things are we talking about?

There is a big difference between winning the next best client that will keep the team in jobs for 2 years or putting the post in a sack for the postie?

She’s doing it because you are allowing her to and she knows you are unlikely to advocate for yourself. You need to start!

If you are there when she tells the manager she has sorted something, why don't you say ' actually, brenda, I think you'll find I sorted out xxx, this morning or did you mean something else? '

You could add ' did x go wrong again? If so, we need to investigate it properly'

If you don't stick up for yourself, you'll find she becomes your supervisor because she will say instead ' yeah, I told x to get that sorted' and frame herself as a manager.

I had someone try this in a meeting last week and my first response was “that’s news to me”

I took glee in correcting her update on the project- she had no clue

I sympathise, it’s so annoying and somehow disempowering. One thing that helped me was to give more ‘progress updates’ to my managers - this was against my natural communication style as I undercommunicate rather than overcommunicate, but try and slip in progress or plans when you speak to your manager. That way it will be self evident what’s happening when she takes credit. You can then gently correct as your manager will already be ‘on side’.

Or you can use other fluffy terms in the meeting to gently ask her for clarification- eg she says I completed X work. This is work you completed. In the meeting say something like conscious of avoiding duplication, can I check what you did and if it’s the same as me? Ensuring no crossed wires? Not stepping on toes? Etc

Chances are, she’ll admit she hasn’t been doubling up the work you are doing as that would look worse than her piggybacking off you.

Reframe it as "ah yes, thanks for your contributions, can you send me your bits so I can add it to the main folder please with everything else?" (e.g. requiring it for future audits) in front of the bosses. It will look like she helped you with bits, rather than doing all of it, and looks like you lead it.

Gotta play the game.

Accidentally put this on a wrong post.....

Also I find chairing meetings and summarising stuff on emails and sending out final reports really important for clarifying who did what. Those who do these aspects look more like the lead. Anyone else tends to look like they are taking the back seat.
Also the order of attendees on a meeting / email etc is quite important. To be really toxic, you need to make them look more like an after thought.
It sounds like they would do this to you, so don't be afraid to play the game. Ask Chat GPT for other advice!! ...I am not saying this is "good behaviour" I am just saying I know for a FACT this is what people do in corporate.

I think there’s a lot of truth in this, even if it’s uncomfortable. The person who does the summarising and follow-ups often ends up being seen as the lead, regardless of who actually did the work.
It’s not how things should work, but it’s definitely how they do work in a lot of places. Being visible and clear about your contribution isn’t the same as being toxic — sometimes it’s just self-protection.

“Excuse me, no you didn’t. I’d be happy to walk to through the process and point out your and my roles within it”. Stand up for yourself OP!

”Oh gosh, did you. I wish you’d told me. We seem to be duplicating a lot of tasks recently and it feels like a waste of both our time.”

if it’s feeling like you’re puffing yourself off that makes it hard, tell your manager you’re going to do a weekly check in on what you’re working on, you will send an email listing things and if they want to redirect any effort to let you know.