13 Things You Should Never Share With Your Coworkers (Even If You Call Them Your Bestie)

 

Building a friendly rapport at work is great, but some topics are a career liability.

 Have you ever worked in a place where everyone is warm and friendly, like one big family? Me too. They’re your go-to for lunch breaks, the person you gossip with in the Slack DMs, and the first one to hear your post-meeting vent. This camaraderie can make the 9-to-5 grind feel less like, well, a grind.

But the reality is that the office is a professional minefield. It’s easy to confuse

a "work friend" with a "true friend", and that mistake can negatively impact your credibility, drag you by the jugular into unwanted office drama and politics, and even derail your career progression. 

If you’ve been scarred before and want to maintain a healthy, successful professional life, or you want to avoid it, you need to know where to draw the line and set healthy boundaries. 

Here are 13 things you should never share with your coworkers, no matter how close you think you are or how friendly the workplace is.

1. Your Salary or Bonus Details

Money is a deeply personal and emotionally charged subject. Sharing your salary can instantly create an atmosphere of jealousy, resentment, or internal competition. 

Even if your coworker seems happy for you, that information can be used against you later to weaken your position in future negotiations or cause friction within the team.

What to say instead: If asked directly, a polite but firm "I prefer to keep that information private" or "My compensation is confidential, but I'm happy with my role here" is all you need.

2. Intimate Details of Your Personal Life

Oversharing about your relationship troubles, wild weekend escapades, or intense family drama can quickly change how you're perceived. You risk being labelled "unprofessional" or "dramatic", and this new image can overshadow your skills and work ethic. 

What to share instead: Keep it light and positive. Talk about your hiking trip, a great restaurant you tried, or a funny story about your pet.

3. Negative Opinions About Your Boss or Leadership

Honestly, this is probably the quickest way to totally wreck your career. Sure, venting about your boss feels good in the moment, but you really can't ever be certain who you can truly trust. 

That "bestie" you're confiding in might end up feeling pressured to share the information to gain favour, and just like that, you're forever labelled as disloyal and a complainer.

What to do instead: Vent to your partner, your friends outside work, or a therapist. Keep work grievances out of the workplace.

4. Your Plans to Leave the Company

The moment you whisper, "I'm thinking of leaving," you are no longer seen as a long-term player. You might be passed over for that exciting new project, a promotion, or a raise. 

Management may even start looking for your replacement, and you could find yourself managed out earlier than you planned.

What to do instead: Your job search should be a "need-to-know" operation, and your coworkers don't need to know. Wait until you have a signed offer letter in hand before you give your formal notice.

5. Political or Strong Religious Views

These topics are divisive. Bringing them up at work is just asking for a massive, heated debate that won't achieve anything positive. Worse, it can leave subtle, negative impressions that stick around and make it harder to work together as a team.

What to do instead: Politely deflect or change the subject. "That's a complex topic for a Tuesday morning! How many articles have you written today?"

Read Next: 10 Fun Team-Building Activities That Actually Work

6. Confidential Work Gossip or Information

Sharing confidential information about upcoming layoffs, mergers, or a colleague's performance review is a major breach of trust. It can have legal ramifications, destroy your credibility instantly, and mark you as someone who cannot be trusted with sensitive information.

What to do instead: Be a vault. If the information isn't public knowledge or wasn't shared in an open forum, lock it away.

7. Chronic Health Issues

While you are protected by laws and have a right to reasonable accommodations, sharing specific details about a chronic illness, mental health struggle, or surgical procedure can lead to unconscious bias. 

Colleagues or managers may start to question your reliability or ability to handle pressure, even if subconsciously.

What to share instead: "I need to take a sick day" or "I have a medical appointment" is all the information required. For longer absences, work directly with HR.

8. Financial Problems or Debt

Discussing your debt or financial struggles can affect how people perceive your judgment and stability. Unfortunately, it can also lead to questions about your trustworthiness, especially if you work in a finance-sensitive role.

9. Complaints About Other Colleagues

You are creating a triangle of gossip. The person you're complaining to may feel uncomfortable, feel forced to take sides, or worst of all, go and tell the person you're complaining about. This is a recipe for a toxic, untrustworthy environment.

What to do instead: If you have a legitimate work issue with a colleague, address it directly and professionally with them. If it's serious, involve your manager or HR.

10. Your Side Hustle or Passion Project 

If your side gig is in a similar industry, uses the same skills, or could be seen as a competitor, it raises immediate red flags about your commitment and loyalty. It can lead to accusations of conflict of interest or even using company time/resources for personal gain.

What to do instead: Review your employment contract and be transparent with your manager if you are required to disclose outside work.

11. Anything You Wouldn't Want Your Boss to Read in an Email

This is the golden rule of workplace communication. Assume that anything you say verbally, in a DM, or on a non-work app could be screenshotted, forwarded, or repeated to your boss, HR, or the entire company.

If you wouldn't say it in a formal meeting with senior leadership, don't say it to your work bestie.

12. Your Insecurities or Imposter Syndrome

While it's an incredibly common feeling, constantly vocalising that you "don't know what you're doing" or that you "got lucky" can make people believe you. It can cause managers to question your readiness for a promotion and peers to doubt your expertise.

What to do instead: Project confidence (fake it till you make it is a real strategy!). Seek validation and constructive feedback from a mentor, not a peer on your team.

13. Off-Colour or Risqué Jokes

Humour is highly subjective. A joke you find hilarious could be deeply offensive, inappropriate, or even harassing to someone else. The risk of an HR complaint is never worth the cheap laugh. Every day on X (formerly Twitter), I read about people facing disciplinary panels for office misconduct based on a joke. 

Keep all humour professional, inclusive, and safe for work. When in doubt, err on the side of being bland.

The Golden Rule of Workplace Sharing

Having good, friendly relationships at work indeed makes your career much more enjoyable. But the office is where you build your career, not where you spill your deepest secrets. 

Staying professional, being discreet, and maintaining healthy boundaries will always benefit you more in the long run than the fleeting relief of oversharing or trying to win people over by telling them too much.

By keeping these topics private, you protect your reputation, maintain positive relationships, and position yourself as a reliable, trustworthy professional poised for long-term success.