10-06-2026
Many organizations encourage employees, especially those working closely with other people in teams, to share personal experiences to build trust, authenticity and connection. However, anyone who has been caught off guard by a colleague’s deeply personal story knows that such conversations can also feel uncomfortable or simply arrive at the wrong moment.
New research suggests that both reactions in a team context can be true. Personal self-disclosure, sharing non-work information such as family concerns, important life events, or personal values, can strengthen employees’ sense of connection and help them better understand teammates. But it can also create information overload, particularly in teams where personal sharing is not seen as normal.
A team of researchers from the University of Florida, Texas A&M, Auburn University, Zhejiang University and Shandong University conducted two three-wave studies involving 820 employees across 211 work teams. Participants came from management teams in a large retail organization and from research, engineering and marketing teams in two biotechnology companies. Their findings show why simple advice to “be more authentic” at work may be incomplete.
Specifically, employees who received more personal disclosures generally felt more connected to their teammates. That sense of relatedness, in turn, was associated with higher supervisor-rated job performance and stronger work engagement. Personal sharing also gave employees a richer understanding of colleagues, their perspectives, values, and concerns, which was linked to greater engagement with their work.
At the same time, however, personal sharing is not cost-free. In one study, receiving more personal information was associated with feeling overloaded, which was subsequently linked to lower job performance. Personal disclosures can demand attention and interpretation because recipients may need to determine how to respond appropriately, remember sensitive information, and shift their focus back to work tasks.
Team norms made an important difference. In teams where members generally viewed personal disclosure as appropriate, receiving personal information was not associated with greater social discomfort or information overload. In teams where such sharing was less accepted, however, employees who received more personal disclosures reported more discomfort and overload. Under these conditions, discomfort was also associated with lower work engagement.
The study does not suggest that employees should avoid personal conversation at work. Nor does it show that more disclosure automatically produces better or worse outcomes overall. Rather, its central message is that personal sharing is both relational and informational. It can strengthen connection and enhance understanding while also placing demands on the people receiving it. For leaders, the implication is less about encouraging constant openness and more about creating clarity. Teams may benefit from discussing what kinds of personal sharing feel welcome, how much is appropriate, and when such conversations fit the work context.
Leaders can also model thoughtful disclosure, sharing in ways that invite connection without pressuring others to reciprocate or making colleagues responsible for processing highly personal information. In an era when organizations increasingly encourage employees to show up as whole people, the research suggests that personal self-disclosure works best when it is accompanied by attention to the audience, the timing and the norms of the context.
Yifan Song is an Associate Professor of Management at the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and faculty affiliate of Purdue University's Center for Working Well.
The Center for Working Well (CWW) aims to be at the cutting edge of research when it comes to “working well.” Learn more about research at the Center for Working Well.
