Some Envy Is Good for You—and the Workplace

Since Shakespeare named jealousy the green-eyed monster and envy was named one of the seven deadly sins, it's been difficult to admit and deal with feeling jealous of others. Even though it is one of the most human of emotions, and everyone experiences it, we can't quite believe that envy can be good. Luckily, social psychologists studying how people look at and compare themselves to others have shown us that some envy is good for you.

First, let's define envy. Envy is the emotion caused by others having relatively more than you. The difference between your situation and theirs is the key—if they have $2 and you have $1, you may experience envy. If they have $2,000,000 and you have $1,999,999, you may experience envy. A typical response to envy is to reduce that discrepancy between yourself and the other. This might include bringing the other person down to your level, either directly or indirectly, bringing yourself up to their level, or deciding that the entire comparison area is without value.

Not all envy is the same. Dutch researcher Niels van de Ven has identified what he calls "benign" and "malicious" envy. Benign envy is that which leads to a moving-up motivation aimed at improving one's own position and malicious envy leads to a pulling-down motivation aimed at damaging the position of the superior other.

When do people feel benign or helpful envy? Generally, people feel benign envy and respond by trying harder when they like and admire the other person and want to be closer to the other person. They still feel dissatisfied with themselves, but they also have the sense that they want to engage, fix things, and move forward. The behavior of the other person does matter—when the successful other is smug or arrogant, it is harder to like them and celebrate their successes. In contrast, people feel malignant envy and respond with negative behavior when they feel that an injustice has occurred. When they feel wronged, they may seek to exact revenge or leveling by degrading the other, harming the other, or hoping the other will fail. In other words, unfairness leads to malignant envy and negative relationship behaviors.

How to change your envy into benign envy

Envy that focuses on bringing another person down a notch may lead to relative equality, but does not improve one's actual status. That is, if I'm paid $10 and someone else is paid $15 and I do something that reduces their pay to $10, we are now equal, but I am not really better off. Therefore, letting malignant envy drive your behaviors may not lead to an objectively better outcome for you. Instead of focusing on what parts of the situation are out of your control, or how unlikable the other person is, it is more helpful to focus on what is in your control and on the desired outcomes. When people focus on the characteristics of the other person, instead of their own goals, they get stuck. Instead, maybe you need to change jobs, seek areas for success, or try to find mentoring and advice for improving your status.

How to prevent malignant envy as a manager

In a workplace, not everyone has the same outcomes. And, if everyone did have the exact same outcomes, that still wouldn't feel fair, since people add different resources to the workplace. As a manager, be clear and open about the processes by which different outcomes, pay scales, and benefits are obtained can create a sense of control in workers. They may still be unhappy that they receive less than someone else, but if they feel they have a path towards higher status, they can experience benign rather than malignant envy.