Tears at work not recommended

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2008 | by Stephanie Armour

Sen. Hillary Clinton may or may not have been on the brink of tears in a highly publicized moment on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. And that moment of emotion may or may not have helped her to a come-from-behind win at the polls.

But among workplace experts, there is no dispute: Think twice before letting go at work.

"Tears don't work in the workplace," says Nancy Albertini, chairwoman of Patterson & Blackstone, an executive search firm in San Jose, Calif. "People view tears as manipulative. When a person cries, people around them don't know what to do."

Research shows that crying on the job can be far more damaging to a woman's career than to a man's. A study at Penn State on gender and the perception of crying found that both women and men...