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Work can easily become an awkward social situation. You spend all day around people you kind of know, but you may not exactly consider them to be friends. You want to appear professional, but not rigid, and it all becomes pretty complex and hard to navigate. But what happens when your emotions get the best of you when you’re on the clock? What if you are just so overwhelmed that you start to cry? Suddenly, your colleagues see a more vulnerable side to you, and it isn’t exactly something you want to share.

Because of the complicated nature of how you’re perceived by others in the workplace, you may not feel comfortable being completely yourself. That doesn’t mean you’re acting fake, but it does mean you might feel the need to put some walls up. That’s not an easy thing to do, though. It can be exhausting to pretend everything is fine when it’s not. It seems like a majority of workers are finding that the pressure is just too much for them.

Up to 70% of workers are crying while on the clock.

Headspace, the meditation and mental health support app, recently conducted its 2025 Workforce State of Mind study. They found that quite a few employees are crying at work, both in-office and at home. Seventy percent of remote workers admitted to crying during work hours. Forty-eight percent of in-person employees did the same, as did 44% of hybrid workers.

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In an article for the non-profit The Conversation, written by Robyn Johns and Rowena Ditzell from the University of Technology Sydney, they noted that this is difficult on multiple levels. Work can be incredibly stressful, leading to tears, but employees also carry their personal problems with them to the office. They can’t just turn off what’s happening outside of work while they’re there (or, for remote workers, doing the work from the location of their choice). Still, if co-workers see you crying, there’s a good chance they won’t know how to react.

Gender stereotypes also make crying at work complicated. As Johns and Ditzell said, “Women are more likely to cry and suffer from the consequences of negative stereotypes, including being viewed as emotional, weak, or unprofessional. For men, crying is regarded as less acceptable and in violation of male stereotypes.”

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Crying is typically viewed as a bad thing, but it actually has a number of health benefits.

According to a Medical News Today article by Lana Burgess, while crying may feel uncomfortable in the moment, it can really help you. For example, when you cry because of stress, your tears have actual stress hormones in them. Some experts believe that getting them out of your body through your tears can be beneficial. Additionally, the act of crying releases endorphins and oxytocin.

Although it may seem like crying gets you all worked up, it’s actually a soothing activity, Burgess said. It helps you regulate your emotions and triggers your parasympathetic nervous system, according to a study published in Frontiers in Psychology. Unfortunately, crying is easily misunderstood as being something bad because it often happens when we’re sad, but that’s not true in every case.

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We can all support our co-workers when they’re feeling big emotions.

Johns and Ditzell had some suggestions, both for the person doing the crying at work and those witnessing it. If you’re the one crying, try to take a break and explain to your co-workers where this emotion is coming from so they understand whether it is work- or not.

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One of the best things to do if you’re a co-worker witnessing the crying is to be empathetic. Your colleague needs your support, not your prejudiced beliefs about crying. Also, understand that this is natural and going to happen sometimes. You can prepare yourself for it.

There’s no reason anyone should feel ashamed for crying at work. Crying is a part of life, just like work is. Sometimes the two will overlap. If you really need a good cry, feel free to let it out and step away for a minute to give yourself some space.

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.