While most employees claim to play fair, many have felt the sting of workplace betrayal.

According to a recent survey by Resume Now, 73% of workers insist they have never shifted blame onto a colleague – yet 61% say they have been on the receiving end of such behaviour.

The study, The Dirty Moves in the Workplace, surveyed over 1,000 professionals last month, exposing a widespread yet often unspoken culture of blame-shifting and professional sabotage.

Alarmingly, 63% of respondents have witnessed these tactics in action, with nearly one in three (29%) seeing them unfold at least once a week.

At the heart of this issue are peers (64%) and teammates (37%), who emerge as the primary offenders, though even direct managers (26%) are not entirely innocent. These findings paint a picture of workplaces where trust is fragile, and self-preservation often trumps collaboration.

Sabotage in the workplace: The most common tactics

From subtle manoeuvres to outright betrayal, the report highlights the most common ways employees undermine one another:

Shifting blame – 26% admit to pinning their own mistakes on someone else.

Gossiping upwards – 21% have shared negative information about a colleague with leadership.

Withholding vital information – 10% have kept crucial details from a coworker to hinder their success.

Setting others up to fail – 6% have deliberately created obstacles for colleagues.

These underhanded tactics chip away at morale, disrupt team cohesion, and foster a workplace culture where employees are constantly looking over their shoulders.

Also Read: Understanding office blame culture

Why employees throw colleagues under the bus

What drives this cutthroat behaviour? The survey reveals a mix of career ambition and self-preservation:

Reputation management – 47% say they do it to protect their image.

Avoiding blame – 45% use it as a shield against personal consequences.

Climbing the corporate ladder – 40% see it as a strategy to advance their careers.

Winning favour with leadership – 40% use it to curry favour with those in power.

In a competitive workplace, it seems some employees are willing to trade integrity for professional gain. But at what cost?

A generational divide – or a universal problem?

The survey suggests that younger employees are more likely to be perceived as engaging in workplace sabotage, with Gen Z (17%) and Millennials (18%) called out more often than Gen X (8%) and Baby Boomers (9%).

However, nearly half (49%) of respondents believe that these behaviours are not exclusive to any one generation. Instead, they reflect a broader workplace challenge – one that transcends age and experience.

Also Read: What's hurting your team productivity?

The business impact: Eroding trust and productivity

Keith Spencer, career expert at Resume Now, shed light on the gravity of these findings.

“Workplace blame-shifting and sabotage can have significant consequences on team dynamics, productivity, and employee morale,” he said.

“This research not only highlights the widespread nature of this issue but also points to the urgent need for fostering healthier, more supportive workplace cultures.”

Organisations that fail to address these toxic behaviours risk cultivating an environment where employees operate in survival mode rather than collaboration mode.

And when trust erodes, so too does productivity, engagement, and long-term organisational success.

Key takeaway: Creating a culture of accountability

For HR leaders and business executives, these findings present a call to action. Workplace cultures thrive when accountability is championed from the top down.

Open communication, psychological safety, and clear performance expectations can help dismantle the culture of blame.

Encouraging team-based success over individual politicking, rewarding transparency, and creating mechanisms for fair conflict resolution can all be steps towards ensuring employees focus on collective growth rather than personal survival.

After all, a workplace where colleagues lift each other up – rather than throw each other under the bus – is good both for morale and for business.