In meetings, they speak little, do not seek to attract attention and prefer to let their work speak for them. However, these discreet employees can be essential to the proper functioning of a team. The problem ? By focusing on visibility, some companies risk easily confusing “being noticed” and “performing well”.
In many offices, the person who speaks spontaneously, presents a project with confidence or knows how to highlight their successes sometimes seems to be one step ahead. Conversely, someone who works in the shadows, prepares files, checks details and only intervenes when he has something important to say can go much more easily unnoticed.
A situation recounted by Sophie Schütze, a pseudonym used by the media Handelsblatt. This employee explains that, even if she knows how to provide quality work, she struggles to put forward her results herself. According to his testimony, his work is used, but recognition sometimes goes to someone higher up in the hierarchy.
An example which illustrates a phenomenon now studied in the world of work: “recognition bias”.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), it can lead companies to more highly value employees whose contributions are immediately visible, to the detriment of those who work more discreetly.
When being visible matters more than the work you do
The problem does not necessarily come from a desire to favor certain employees. It may simply result from the way managers evaluate their teams.
A notable presentation, a brilliant speech in a meeting or a well-publicized initiative are easy to remember. Conversely, spending several hours checking a file, correcting an error, documenting a procedure or discreetly helping a colleague leaves much fewer traces.
SHRM thus speaks of “silent contributors”, those collaborators who work behind the scenes and whose contributions are essential, but less visible. When the evaluation relies heavily on the manager’s memories, the most expressive employees may therefore have an advantage.
The result is a paradox: an employee can strongly contribute to the results of a team without being the one remembered when it comes time to distribute compliments, responsibilities or opportunities.
Introvert does not mean less competent
However, we must avoid a shortcut: being discreet and being introverted are not exactly the same thing. Introversion refers to a dimension of personality; an introverted person may be perfectly comfortable in their work, while preferring discussions in small groups or needing more time before speaking.
A study published in 2025 in Occupational Health Science was interested in the way in which introverted and extroverted employees are perceived at work. Mallory A. McCord used the Stereotype Content Modela model which studies in particular the way in which we judge others according to two dimensions: human warmth and competence.
Result: in the three studies conducted, introverted workers were overall evaluated less favorably than extroverts on these two dimensions.
In one of the studies, introverted colleagues were notably less often described as competent and more often as incompetent.
In other words, silence can sometimes be misinterpreted as a lack of confidence, involvement or competence.
“He doesn’t talk” doesn’t mean “he doesn’t work”
In a commentary published by Cambridge University Press in 2024, Mallory McCord rightly points out that introverted employees can be misinterpreted at work. Their calmness can in particular be perceived as disinterest or an inability to get involved.
However, the available data paints a much more nuanced picture. Some research cited by the researcher shows, for example, that introverted employees can be particularly comfortable in environments where work requires concentration, creativity or caution.
The number of words spoken in meetings is therefore not a reliable indicator of professional value.
Nearly 4 out of 10 employees affected by negative reactions?
In 2020, Mallory A. McCord and Dana Joseph also published in Personality and Individual Differences a research framework devoted to negative reactions toward introverted people at work.
The authors report that approximately 37% of workers surveyed said they had experienced, in one way or another, negative treatment that they associated with their introversion. The proportion reached 49% among people who defined themselves as introverts.
However, researchers distinguish two mechanisms.
- The first is based on stereotypes or prejudices.
- The second may correspond to situations in which certain characteristics of introversion really do not correspond to the requirements of a position very focused on social interaction.
An important nuance: the study therefore does not say that any negative reaction towards an introverted employee constitutes discrimination. Rather, it shows that the two phenomena can coexist and that they must be distinguished.
How to prevent discreet employees from going under the radar?
For businesses, the solution isn’t to ask reserved people to suddenly become the most talkative on the team.
The first reflex may be to better measure real contributions. Who prepared the file? Solved the problem? Who accompanied the new colleague? Avoided a mistake? Move the project forward without necessarily speaking in a meeting?
Managers can also structure meetings more: transmit topics in advance, leave a few minutes for reflection before asking for answers or suggest several ways to bring up an idea. These practices can in particular give more space to employees who need time to formulate their thoughts.
Recognition can also take different forms: individual feedback, a written message, an explicit mention in the report of a project or even an evaluation based on several sources rather than solely on the memory of the manager.
And for discreet employees?
No question of asking them to play a character either.
But being discreet does not necessarily mean remaining invisible. A person who says little can learn to make their work more easily identifiable: regularly send a brief progress update, keep track of their accomplishments or prepare a speech before a meeting.
A simple sentence can sometimes be enough: “I have made progress on this file and here are the two points that I have resolved.”
The goal is not to become the loudest in the room. It’s just about not letting visibility replace performance.
Because at work as elsewhere, the one who talks the most is not necessarily the one who contributes the most.