The guy that does nothing at all and whines until he gets someone else to do it, is also paid the same as you. And will never get fired.
A lot of us “do the bare minimum” do the bare minimum because of all of the time in the past we spent going the extra mile only to be rewarded with ever greater expectations for identical compensation and opportunity.
They made us this way.
No sympathy for them. No mercy!
My rule at work has always been based around the bears and hikers analogy. You dont have to be the best at what you do. Just dont be the worst.
Also some jobs afford opportunities for non-conventional self-education. If you can learn useful personal or professional skills while at working, do it, and under the guise of work.
Or in my case, get singled out by a manager from another department for no reason, who then gaslights the other managers into thinking I don’t do shit when I’m the only person in my section that even does anything at all. Go through the whole “try to make them quit” playbook but never do anything wrong so they can’t fire me. I would have outlasted all those fuckers if circumstance hadn’t forced me to move out of state.
Pretty sure they just wanted to eliminate my full-time position to save money.
Been there
Isn’t this socialism? 😜
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(Joking! before anyone hurts me)
It depends on the company and how they treat your job, but mostly as a worker you are there to fulfill a company’s requirement. Unless there’s a position or incentive to go that extra mile, don’t, most companies will never see it. Even if you want to do the extra work for yourself, I’d recommend to find a way to do it as a hobby if it’s unrewarded, separate from work.
What they will see is the absence in case they do need it, and then they will be required to fulfill it, although they may not want to focus on better and more empowered workers with higher expectations and may instead just focus on quantity over quality by hiring more people to fill it. Even worse, don’t be the guy who makes his (and other’s) jobs obsolete to scummy bosses.
Open your eyes, you aren’t in school, you aren’t getting rewarded for better grades at work unless they make it part of the business and your bosses stick to it and not just plugging in friends, buddies, and associates.
The real payment is all the traumas we got along the overtimes
Hah! You got overtime? I just got trama and toxic managers.
In a better spot now, though
At my previous job they had a special term for unpaid overtime: “Professional time”
So glad I’m no longer working there.
“Professional time” sounds like a euphemism for wanking off on the clock.
Unpaid overtime probably (which would be a hard no from me)
We got straight banked time off in-lieu. It was bullshit.
True, but better than the places that expect it for nothing in return
Yeah, that’s a crock. My first corporates job did that to us, and then never approved the paid vacation requests, let-a-lone the banked time-off we were promised for being such good cubicle slaves working above and beyond, and it is all legal because “exempt salary employee”
Hah, cubicle. Not to shit on you, but that would have been much preferable to my situation. Seasonal environmental field work - 300ish hrs a month from May to November
One of my 1st employers had “extra mile” coupons. Originally worth 7.50 in store credit, then 5, then they disappeared. This was a company that was charging 6 dollars for asparagus water.
Asparagus water?
yea just throw some leftover asparagus in some water and see if yuppies buy it for 6 bucks (16oz).
Asparagus is expensive - I got a 6 pack of NoName hotdogs that’s been in my fridge for over a month- brb…
And neither gets enough to cover inflation.
Bro, I’m salaried and only really need to work six hours a day. So that’s exactly what I do. My coworkers put in 12-14 hours a day six days a week… We get the same paycheck.
Granted, I’m consistently rated at the bottom of my department by my supervisors, but I’m also the most highly requested employee by our customers. Literally no one else gets requested by name and I have to triage projects.
I’m consistently rated at the bottom of my department by my supervisors
Unless you miss out on raises or promotions because of this or lose your job, this is meaningless. It’s “this will go on your permanent record” but for adults. This is coming from somebody who is pretty proudly the quiet worker who stays around the middle of the pack and does just enough to keep things slightly better than just maintained, so both coworkers and bosses can objectively see that I’m neither making things worse nor just keeping things coasting. And I got a promotion last year, so I guess it’s the right strategy (here, anyway) lol.
Yep, they’re only middle management as far as the company is concerned I’m still competitive for corporate level promotions and my “bad” reputation will stay back in my current office. I’m gunning for a promotion next summer, so hopefully these dingbats will be in my rearview mirror next year.
See I’m salary but I’m forced to put in 8 hrs a day. Even if I have no work to do. It sucks.
That’s horrible. What’s the point of salary if you have an hourly requirement? That sounds like fake hourly.
The point of Salary is so they don’t have to pay for overtime. The slave labor is the purpose, forcing people to work more than 8 is just a nice little cherry on top ☺️.
Having a one way street that can only work for them seems like some serious bullshit. I’m glad we don’t track our time where I work. If I had mandatory hours I’d insist on hourly rates.
Why do you think there is so much disparity between your bosses and your clients?
I show up late and leave early and don’t participate in the “work culture” stuff, this makes my employer upset.
I get requested because I’m the best at my job and the customers talk to each other. I’ve had clients from other employees ask to switch to me but that’s not allowed by policy. The best I can do is look at the work they’re receiving and give feedback.
Sounds like shitty management.
It’s crabs in a bucket and they’re mad I won’t get in the water. I’m paid well and they mostly leave me alone. They’ve only once fucked up my career once by bad-mouthing me to a department I tried to transfer to in order to learn a new skill.
Crabs in a bucket makes sense for the staff, but not the management. Management should be judging with outputs in mind.
I get paid way more than my coworkers, and even my supervisor, because when I got hired I immediately made a bunch of random tools in google sheets that only I know how to maintain, and spread them around until everyone was using them. Before long, I was essential to my department, and praised for going “above and beyond” even though I was mostly just dicking around making the tools rather than doing my actual job.
I have 0 coding experience, so the tools are absolutely horrendous behind the scenes, but that just means that they break pretty often, and people are reminded that only I know how to fix them. So, when I went looking around on LinkedIn for other offers after a few years, I eventually got one that was paying way more since it was in a major metro area, and I took it back to my manager to negotiate a 50% raise and a full-remote designation that virtually nobody else in my office is given.
You don’t get ahead by working hard, and you don’t get ahead by working smart to benefit the company, you get ahead by working smart to benefit yourself. Think about it this way - if you’re at the store to buy bananas, and you see that they’re selling bananas for $0.05 ea, you’ll likely think “Wow, that’s a great deal!” and buy a bunch of those bananas at the $0.05 price. You’re not going to pay them the price you think would be fair for a banana, you’re going to take advantage of the price you’re allowed to pay so that you can save money. Your employer sees you - working for less than you’re worth - as a $0.05 banana. You’re nothing more than a cheap commodity they were lucky to snag on sale.
You don’t get ahead by working hard, and you don’t get ahead by working smart to benefit the company, you get ahead by working smart to benefit yourself.
There is a bit too much “my situation fits all” here. Startup vs big corp, private vs government, thoughtful management vs not, etc. Other people will also recognize this mentality. Can’t say “eat the rich” because they only do what’s good for them, then do the same (yes, that’s extreme).
You should benefit the company, and they should benefit you. I take your point to mean this equation should be balanced (which unfortunately it usually isn’t), vs the specific words above.
That’s a fair point. You’re correct that my point is that the equation should be balanced, but you’re understating the reality with the statement “unfortunately it usually isn’t.”
I put in 4 hours of work last week, though my employer thinks I put in 40. In those 4 hours of work I started and finished a project for the company that will earn over $100k in gross profit. It ended up being almost exactly 1.5x my yearly salary. Just by putting in the absolute minimum effort I’m already earning my company more in a week than they pay me in a year. And I don’t even work for a large company. I’d imagine corporate giants have an even greater divide.
I’m not responsible for worrying about whether I benefit the company; most companies have gotten so good at maximizing profits while minimizing costs that even the most layabout worker earns them significantly more money than they cost to employ. My only thought is about how I can do as little as possible while still ensuring management continues to think I’m being productive.
Making yourself indispensable is a great way to never get promoted.
As long as you can get constant raises who cares about a promotion? If you got your job nailed down so much you only need to work like 5 hours a week and from home while getting raises I would turn down any promotion.
It looks good on your resume when you apply for the next company, and that’s how you keep getting raises in today’s business environment.
Promotion are almost always a trap. If you want a better job change companies!
I turned down the promotion they offered me. It was significantly more work, required me to come back to the office, and only offered a 10% pay raise. It doesn’t matter where your “standing” in the company is - if you’re indispensable, you can fight for good pay even outside of managerial roles.
Eh, going the extra mile is how I went from customer service agent to senior server engineer in 5 years (with the same company).
There’s always a balance between the two, but the most important thing is knowing how to say no without sounding like you’re saying no.
I’ve been in this game for a good bit now and while I’ve seen a bunch of go getters put in ridiculous hours and slave away and actually get promoted, I have seen faaaaaaar more just get promoted for being in the right place at the right time or, most times, being the child, spouse, in-law, or friend of someone high up in the company. In my experience your social standing or just plain luck accounts for about 90% of it. The other 10% isn’t the work you do, it’s the work they think you do.
but the most important thing is knowing how to say no without sounding like you’re saying no.
Yeah it’s a lot about how to market yourself to your higher ups. An employee is a commodity and selling commodites is more about marketing than the actual quality of the product. The biggest victims of that system are the introvert ones who do six extra miles but don’t get any recognition
Tell me about it, my inability to recognize my own achievements is almost pathological. Work extra to get a difficult but interesting project out on time then deflect any praise provided after is a sure fire way to never get noticed.
Eh going the extra mile is how I got so burned out I had to quit a job for the sake of my physical and mental health.
Did I get promoted? Hell no. Never did. The boss’s wife sure did though.
Yes I’m aware you said balance but I just had to share why I’m currently trying not to care anymore. Note I said trying, I’m really terrible at not giving everything to every project I’m in.
My career has also gone very well in this time period by slacking on my previous job and using the extra time to get my current job. Per minute spent, I think it’s more cost effective to look for a new job. Companies hate loyalty now.
I don’t even sugar coat the “no” anymore. When the next company calls, all they’re going to share is how long I worked there.
Here’s a Venn Diagram:
(me) [alienation] (my labor)
It is entirely job dependent. I have been in jobs where it was just a grind and going the extra mile simply put a smile on my boss’s face. In jobs like these the best thing you can do is carve out as many hours as possible during the work week to build new skills or apply to other jobs. I’ve also been in jobs where going the extra mile directly contributed meaningful skills to my resume/portfolio and helped me get a new job with way better pay.
that’s capitalist bullshit
…and the one that puts in the unrecognized effort will eventually punch a hole through several people’s chests…
I don’t go the extra mile for the company. I do it to help make things easier for my coworkers and the people who depend on us in the hope that I can make life a little less shitty for everyone.
The thing is, it is not your job to make things easier for others.
It’s the company’s job to keep their employees happy by providing enough workforce for the amount of work that needs to be done.
You are doing exactly what the company wants you to do, by playing into your emotions.
Just so they don’t have to.
This is exactly the kind of moronic attitude that is making life shittier and shittier for everyone on the fucking planet.
I am not talking about just cranking out extra widgets or whatever. I’m talking about looking for problems and taking steps to resolve them before they escalate into something worse instead of just leaving it for someone else to do, I’m talking about taking time to answer questions for my coworkers so they don’t waste an hour trying to figure things out on their own, I’m talking about collecting data on issues we’re having so that when I take it to the boss I have numbers to back up what I’m saying instead of just generic bitching about the job so that they will actually take it into account and look for solutions.
I do a little extra because I know my other coworkers fuckin’ won’t. I tell my new hires that you’re not working for the other shift but rather for when it’s your shift again.
If you see me going the extra mile, it’s probably the side-effects of me using the company’s resources to learn and do crazy experiments for my own gain.
