Dreaming about
coworkers

You probably spend more waking hours with your coworkers than with your family, and dreams draw heavily on the people around you, so dreaming about coworkers is about as normal as dreams get.^[1] Most of these dreams are your working day continuing after dark, the same meeting, the same tension, the same jokes. That's worth knowing before you read anything strange into a dream about the person at the next desk.

But the dreams that stick with you usually have something odd in them. A colleague you barely know kisses you, a friendly one turns on you, the whole team turns up at your parents' house. Who the coworker was, what they did and how you felt about it point to what work, or that person, is stirring up.

What dreaming about coworkers means

The readings depend on whether the dream was about a person or about the job itself.

The working day, continued

When a dream simply replays work, it's a sign your mind hasn't left the building. Dreams tend to follow the concerns that fill your days,^[2] so a busy week, a reorganization or a difficult project brings more of them. If your colleagues were doing exactly what they do at work, that's probably all it is.

A quality the coworker has

A colleague can stand for a trait, the calm one, the ambitious one, the one who always speaks up in meetings. If a particular coworker keeps turning up, ask what they're known for and whether you want more of it in yourself, or less.

The coworker who gets under your skin

A colleague whose vanity or laziness drives you mad takes up room in your head for a reason, and the uncomfortable question is whether a little of it lives in you too. The Jung section below follows that thought.

Dreaming about a coworker romantically

This is the most searched version, and the one people worry about. A romantic or sexual dream about a coworker rarely means you want a relationship with them. It tends to reflect admiration (their confidence, their skill), closeness from working side by side, or a wish for more excitement than your routine gives you. If you are attracted to them, the dream just confirms it, and on its own it says nothing about your real relationship. Dreams about kissing go further into this.

Dreaming about arguing with a coworker

A fight in the dream usually means tension you haven't voiced, credit someone took, a comment you swallowed, a workload that isn't fair. It can also work as a rehearsal, so notice what you said in the dream that you'd never say at work, and whether some calmer version of it needs saying.

Dreaming about a coworker you don't like

Dreaming of the colleague you avoid all day is frustrating. It means they're taking up more room in your head than you'd like, often because something about them touches a nerve, and the question under "The coworker who gets under your skin" fits this one best.

Dreaming about a former coworker

An old colleague turning up years later usually brings back that job, or who you were then. Ask what's similar now, maybe a new manager who acts like the old one, or a team that feels the way that one did.

Dreaming about coworkers outside work

Colleagues at your home, a party or a family event mean the line between work and private life is blurring. It's common in people who work from home and in anyone who answers messages at night. The page on dreaming about your boss covers the same spill-over with authority added.

Dreaming about coworkers according to Jung and Freud

Jung: the shadow at the next desk, and the work mask

Jung gave the name shadow to everything in you that you'd prefer to disown, and he found it often walks into dreams as a person of your own sex who irritates you.^[3] A coworker you can't stand is a good candidate. His persona, the mask worn for other people,^[3] fits an office just as well, since a job is where you keep it on longest, and a colleague who turns up at your parents' house or in your bedroom may be the mask meeting the person underneath. Taking both ideas to the office is our step.

Freud: yesterday's leftovers

Freud noticed that dreams reach for the small leftovers of the day before, a remark in a meeting or a name on an email, and use them as cover for something weightier.^[4] A coworker is the most available leftover there is, which is why most of these dreams need no deeper reading. When a romantic one does come, he'd ask whether the colleague is the wish or only the day's leftover that a wish borrowed, a face for a longing for attention or excitement that has little to do with the office.

Questions to ask about your coworker dream

Which colleague it was matters less than what they were doing in your dream.

• Which coworker was it, and what are they like at work?
• Was the dream about them, or about the job?
• What did you feel toward them in the dream?
• How much of your evening does work take up these days?

Oniri asks which colleague it was and how you feel about them before giving its reading.