How to Deal with Passive Aggressive Behavior at Work

In a 2019 study on employee deviance researchers found that passive aggressive behavior often begins when employees feel a silent contract has been broken, such as when someone believes they’ve earned something (recognition, autonomy, fairness) and the organization doesn’t deliver. Instead of confronting, employees may push back indirectly. Passive aggression can also emerge when people feel unheard or believe their concerns are being dismissed, leading them to express frustration through subtle resistance rather than direct communication.

These are especially common in white collar or tech driven workplaces, where interactions are often digital and accountability is easier to avoid.

Pay Attention to Signs of Passive Aggressive Behavior

In a 2018 study on workplace incivility and a 2020 study about passive-aggressive traits, researchers found that passive aggressive behavior often stems from a learned discomfort with direct confrontation. People who feel powerless or threatened may resort to indirect expressions of anger that allow them to deflect accountability. At work, that resentment takes familiar forms:

• Eye-rolling in meetings or sighing when others speak
• Muted complaints, muttering, or vague digs
• “Forgetting” tasks, stalling progress, or doing the bare minimum
• Withholding information while pretending to cooperate

These behaviors don’t seem too detrimental at first glance. That’s what makes them hard to call out.

Remember the Categories of Passive Aggressive Behavior

The Passive Aggression Scale (PAS) sorts most passive aggressive behaviors seen at work into three groups: provoking others, avoiding others, and quiet sabotage. Each one hides behind a façade of cooperation, making the damage harder to spot.

• Provoking others: Sarcasm, backhanded compliments, or “jokes” that humiliate while pretending to amuse
• Avoiding others: Silent treatment, deliberate eye contact avoidance, or pretending a colleague isn’t there
• Quiet sabotage: Missed deadlines, minimal effort, or withholding help to let others fail

Passive aggressive behavior doesn’t disappear in remote work. Researchers from a 2020 study on email incivility found that people use delay, and vague responses to express hostility.

What makes these behaviors harder to confront is their ambiguity. You don’t know if you’ve been slighted or simply overlooked, so you dwell on it. That ambiguity has real effects. Researchers found that passive email incivility disrupts sleep more than more obvious, aggressive emails. In hybrid and remote environments, where tone and timing carry more weight than ever, learning to recognize digital passive aggression is now part of reading the room.

Common phrases that may indicate passive aggressive intent include:

• “Please advise”: Can feel dismissive or shifting responsibility when used without context or clarity.
• “Friendly reminder”: May signal frustration about delays or noncompliance while avoiding direct confrontation.
• “Noted” / “Will do”: Short responses that may indicate agreement, but can also signal disengagement or quiet resistance depending on tone and follow-through.
• “Circling back”: Commonly used to prompt action, but repeated use may communicate impatience or subtle pressure.
• “Per my last email” / “As per my last email”: Often used to highlight that someone failed to respond or follow instructions, which can imply blame or public correction rather than collaboration.

While you may often experience passive aggression from your peers, it can also come from the those with higher authority. In their study on abusive supervision Ali Baig and Zahid Riaz identified a more detrimental form of harm: passive aggressive leadership. These bosses don’t yell; they blame others when things go wrong and erode their team’s confidence. The hostility is indirect, but its effects are direct and lasting.

Employees under this kind of supervision often feel emotionally exhausted from constant self-monitoring. To avoid conflict, they overcompensate: volunteering for extra work, staying late. On paper, it looks like dedication. In practice, it’s burnout.

The Enablers of Passive Aggression

Researchers found that passive-aggressive responses often emerge in environments where employees feel silenced or controlled. Under “autocratic” leadership (where communication is top-down, inflexible, or coercive) employees are less likely to speak up and more likely to push back in quiet, indirect ways.

Even major organizational changes like layoffs or restructuring can trigger these patterns when communication lacks transparency. Most employees don’t even realize they’re doing it. But over time, this kind of silent resistance damages trust, productivity, and morale.

How to Handle Passive Aggression Without Escalating It

If you want to deal with passive aggressive behavior at work, you have to approach it with a calm, strategic mindset. Experts say it’s tempting to mirror the behavior, responding with sarcasm or silence, but that only deepens the cycle.

Instead, you should address vague jabs or underhanded comments in real time by asking for clarification in a neutral tone. This not only addresses the behavior, it signals that you are paying attention to the person and their issues. Researchers found that using “I” statements, such as “I felt dismissed when that was said”, reduces hostility while still making your point clear. And when the behavior becomes a pattern, experts recommend keeping a written record of what was said, how it affected your work, and what steps you’ve taken to address it. Conflict management research shows that avoiding difficult conversations may feel safer in the short term but usually makes the problem worse.

If the passive aggression is comoing from your boss, there are additional steps you can take. A 2022 article outlines practical ways to protect yourself in these situations:

• Documenting everything. A quick email confirming what was discussed can serve as a record and a safeguard if the story later changes.
• Clarify expectations: Summarize meetings and requests in writing to avoid miscommunication.
• Build internal support: Trusted peers or mentors can validate your experience and help you navigate tricky dynamics.

In a 2023 study researchers found that people tend to act passive aggressively when they feel powerless, criticized, or emotionally unsafe. That includes work settings where feedback is harsh, authority is rigid, or disagreement is punished.

Passive-aggressive behavior is easy to overlook but shouldn’t be ignored. Spotting it requires behavioral insight skills, and the ability to separate discomfort from danger. These are deception detection tools and communication skills that can be used in any environment.

If you want to strengthen your ability to catch these cues early, formal training can help. Courses in behavioral analysis and deception detection don’t just teach you what to look for. They teach you how to act on it. Whether you lead a team, work within one, or need to navigate complex office dynamics, these skills will give you a sharper lens and a stronger voice.