Imposters in the workplace

85% of employees feel like frauds in their organisations

Between May 2020 and May 2021, UK Google searches for ‘imposter syndrome’ increased by 150%. Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which people believe they are not as competent or skilled as their peers. Feeling like frauds, they spend their working lives waiting to be ‘caught out’ for their incompetence.
Whilst these feelings have always existed, for some, the blurred boundaries of working from home have only made things worse. Being at home and out of sight is making some feel like bigger frauds than ever before—as reflected in the sharp increase in Google searches from May 2020 to May 2021.

A recent survey of over 1,000 British employees primarily working in finance, marketing, digital and management roles, conducted by OnePoll, commissioned by The Hub Events, revealed 85% of British workers surveyed suffer from imposter syndrome.

Christine Macdonald, Director, The Hub Events, offered six critical tips for HR leaders looking to alleviate imposter syndrome in their workplaces.

1. Create an inclusive and open environment
   44% of those surveyed said they wanted an open environment to discuss challenges. Employees should be comfortable speaking up when they have a problem without the fear of being seen as incompetent. Try to create an inclusive environment that helps employees open up, including letting everyone have an equal amount of time to speak in meetings and ensuring there are no interruptions, help. If people do mention their mistakes, acknowledge them, but steer the conversation towards what they’ve learnt and potential for future wins.
2. Give regular positive feedback.
   A 60% majority of those surveyed said that they needed regular positive feedback on their performance. This is one of the best things you can do to help alleviate your team’s issues with imposter syndrome. By providing regular and positive feedback, you’re empowering your employees and helping to reduce doubt—you want to help them find the self-awareness and self-acceptance to push past imposter syndrome.
3. Recognise accomplishments
   When suffering from imposter syndrome, many employees will fixate on a supposed lack of talent or skill. So bypass this by instead praising the processes and methods they used to get results. Praise effort, not results. So tell your team, ‘I’ve noticed you’ve worked hard on this’ as opposed ‘this is great work’. This offers the praise to combat imposter syndrome, but in a way that highlights the work they have done to get there.
4. Ask teams to create a ‘brag book’
   HR can do more to encourage employees to internalise their successes. A great way to do this is to ask them to keep an internal ‘brag book’—a list of all their work-wins, no matter how small. This helps them see the great work they have been doing and focus less on the perceived success of others. It will also help them when it comes to review time too. Many team members do not realise the value of the work they do every day.
5. Remind teams that they are only human!
   Being detail-oriented and having high standards are great attributes for employees to have, but imposter syndrome is born from this kind of perfectionism and, left unchecked, these traits can easily lead to burnout. Effective leaders highlight the human side of working—your team are not robots, they need breaks, and they need to know that they can make mistakes. Don’t foster an all-work-no-play attitude. Instead, encourage staff to take time off and take holidays.
6. Offer your own mistakes
   No one wants to look like a weak boss, but you do not want to look utterly infallible either. Tackling issues with imposter syndrome begin and end with you—so do not be afraid to be open with teams about issues like self-doubt. You need to explain that some of these feelings are normal: innovating, risk-taking are standard parts of business, and they bring their own fears. By explaining how you deal with these, you help normalise these feelings.

Christine also offered top tips for employees, which HR could share with colleagues, to help get everyone on the same page, particularly those already struggling with imposter syndrome:

1. Admit you are suffering from imposter syndrome: it is easier to deal with problems we can name. Only 25% of respondents had heard of imposter syndrome; once you know, it is easier to address what you are feeling and deal with it.
2. Remember, people are emotional: it is easy to confuse the way you feel for facts. You might feel bad at your job today, but that does not mean you are.
3. Remember you are self-involved: other team members might think you’re doing fantastic. You only have access to your own thoughts—the way you come across to others might be exactly the same way they come across to you, i.e. competent.
4. It is ok to say you do not know: if your boss puts you on the spot, it can be ok to say I do not know the answer. Alleviate this by framing it as something you can look into—you do not know the answer.
5. Be kind to yourself: your feelings are normal—everyone experiences them at some point. If you are having a bad day, do not be scared of taking a breather.
6. Develop a healthy response to failure: mistakes happen, and the best thing you can do is learn from them and move on.
7. List your successes: with imposter syndrome, it is easy to ignore the everyday tasks you do, so start tracking what you do daily and highlighting any positives.
8. Remember you are an expert: when people ask your opinions, try not to second guess yourself. You were hired for a reason—because you are the expert in your own right.