LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Eighty-five percent of US workers say they’ve worked closely with a coworker whose behavior consistently made their work life worse, and most say that coworker faced no real consequences for it, according to The Consequence Gap released today by GCheck, a modern, compliance-first hire-to-retire screening platform and FCRA-regulated consumer reporting agency (CRA). Based on a national survey of 1,500 US adults employed full-time, the report examines who absorbs workplace pressure, who escapes it, and what unaddressed behavior costs a team.
Asked what actually happened to that coworker, 38% of workers said the behavior was never addressed, and 23% said the coworker was rewarded, promoted, or protected instead. Taken together, in 61% of cases the coworker either faced no consequences or came out ahead. Only 36% said the coworker eventually left or was removed.
The consequence gap is the distance between how hard a workplace is on everyone and how hard it is on the specific person making it worse. That person is the coworker whose behavior goes unpunished, or rewarded, while the pressure lands on the people around them.
“The story we’ve been told is that work got tougher. What workers are describing is that it got tougher on everyone except the person it should have been tough on,” said Houman Akhavan, Founder and CEO of GCheck. “The people who didn’t cause the problem absorbed the pressure instead.”
Accountability Flows Downhill
The pattern also depends on rank. Managers and senior leaders whose behavior made work worse were rewarded or protected in 36% of cases and removed in just 21%. For more junior coworkers, the numbers nearly flipped: 24% rewarded or protected, 41% removed.
Most of this behavior doesn’t come from managers. In 47% of cases, the difficult coworker was a peer, and only 10% of workers pointed to their own manager or a leader above them. The problem usually sits at the next desk, not the corner office.
Everyone Else Pays the Price
Workers exposed to this kind of coworker report real changes in themselves: 55% say dread about the workday increased and 39% say they trust coworkers less than before.
Workers were four times more likely to quit before their toxic coworker did when that coworker was rewarded or protected (40%) than when the organization removed the coworker instead (10%). That tracks with what SHRM has documented more broadly: most workers say managers and supervisors have ignored bad behavior at work, and a meaningful share say witnessing or experiencing it makes them more likely to leave their job (SHRM, 2024).
Unaddressed Behavior Spreads
Left unaddressed, one difficult coworker is where workers say a toxic workplace often starts. The same divide shows up in behavior. Workers were more than twice as likely to start copying the coworker’s behavior when that coworker was rewarded or protected (36%) than when they were removed (14%). Overall, at least 21% of exposed workers admit they started acting like the coworker, and when asked about specific behaviors rather than a single yes-or-no question, 62% say they picked up at least one.
The reasons workers give point to self-protection: 94% of those who admit picking up the behavior cite a coping motive, not ambition.
Most fully recover. But among the 236 workers who admit picking up the behavior and later worked in jobs where that coworker never set foot, 43% say they still notice it in how they work today.
“One person’s behavior sets the tone for a team, and everyone watches what happens next. When there is no consequence, or the behavior gets rewarded, people learn the standard is negotiable. Accountability is not about being harsher. It is about resetting expectations, giving candid feedback, and putting the consequence on the person whose behavior earned it,” said Dr. Liane Davey, organizational psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of The Good Fight.
Workers Are Not Asking for a Softer Workplace
Asked what would help stop toxic behavior from spreading, workers ranked managers addressing it early first (61%), consistent consequences regardless of performance second (52%), and protecting good employees third (50%). None of these call for softer standards. If anything, the second-ranked fix, holding people accountable regardless of performance, asks for something stricter than most workplaces practice today.
“Workers already told us what would fix this, and it isn’t harsher rules for everyone,” said Akhavan. “Fixing that starts with aim: holding the person who caused the harm accountable, every time.”
Read the full findings from The Consequence Gap and explore the latest GCheck news and updates here.
About GCheck
GCheck is a modern, hire-to-retire screening platform dedicated to Compliance for Good®, helping organizations hire and retain with speed, accuracy, and fairness. We operate across the entire employee lifecycle, delivering background checks, identity verification, drug testing, employment and professional verifications, continuous monitoring, and compliance management through one unified platform.
Our Compliance for Good® framework is built on three pillars: Transparent Compliance, Fair Compliance, and Protective Compliance, ensuring every screening decision upholds dignity, reduces risk, and strengthens trust. GCheck serves enterprise HR teams, healthcare organizations, nonprofits, and regulated industries that need more than a fast check; they need a compliant, ethical, and audit-ready screening partner.
To learn more, visit gcheck.com.
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