Work is asking me why I won't work an extra hour or two after work when I already do the minimum of what they ask.
I throw myself at it–I'm new but by their core metrics, I'm already excelling, the one thing is I'm not working all the extra hours they're capping us at. Basically, I work an extra couple hours a week and they're coming to me asking me why I'm not working more.
So question–not hypothetical, I'd like an answer even if I think I have one. What do I get for working more than the bare minimum? What do I get for trying? What do I get from this? If I was to work up to the maximum what is the tangible benefit?
I've got three possible answers they might give:
- One, promotions.
- Two, more money from overtime.
- Three, it could be considered for bonus time at the end of the year.
One, promotions aren't a guarantee. You're basically telling me I'm buying a lottery ticket because (a) a position I'd actually be qualified for and actually want to work has to open up and believe me, I've seen the shit you do to your managers so leadership is not a route I'd ever want to go but that's the only one that's ever open, and (b) if it's that easy a bunch of other people are already doing that too so even if we were all equally good at interviewing, it'd be a line (queue). Worse, someone's probably better at interviewing than me or who's already got a relationship with the person doing the hiring.
Two, the money is fleeting. It's random, it's inconsistent and I can't rely on it. It's not enough money for me to do anything with it if I do this right away. It's not going to matter in the long run because I'll likely not cook meals because I'm too tired and then I'm spending all my money on eating out. And even then, if I do cook my own meals, aren't I more likely to spend money as a way to destress? After all, I'm stressed out, now I'm susceptible to targeted advertising and I don't have time to properly vet everything I buy anymore and, well, whatever, I have a few extra bucks.
Three, bonuses are again a straight up lottery ticket because I'm not guaranteed to get a high rating and get the full bonus. Actually, after working a shit load of overtime I'm likely to miss that rating. Studies since the end of time have shown that people who work more than 40 hours are less productive and more prone to costly errors. At warehouses, it's usually associated with more suicides and fatal incidents. This overtime shit, it's bad news and leads to absenteeism and sloppy work.
So if that's all long shots or not even really on the table, what do you actually get for doing more than the bare minimum?
More work. That's all it's ever been.