The hidden overwork that creeps into so many jobs

Working overtime 

Hidden overwork is different to working long hours in the office or on the clock at home – instead, it’s the time an employee puts into tasks on top of their brief. There are plenty of reasons people take on this extra work: to be up to speed in meetings; appear ‘across issues’ when asked about industry developments; or seem sharp in an environment in which a worker is still trying to establish themselves. 

There are myriad ways a person’s day job can slip into their non-working hours: think a worker chatting to someone from their industry at their child’s birthday party, and suddenly slipping into networking mode. Or perhaps an employee hears their boss mention a book in a meeting, so they download and listen to it on evening walks for a week, stopping occasionally to jot down some notes. 

Anyone can be susceptible to hidden overwork – from IT workers, a large percentage of whom spend their free time upskilling, to women who often rely on overpreparation to fight imposter syndrome at work. 

For many employees, it’s easy to fall into these hidden overwork patterns. For one, some of these tasks have simply become baked into office-job culture. As going above and beyond has increasingly become a tacit employer expectation for workers who want to advance, under-the-radar tasks like this seamlessly slip into some workers’ job descriptions – whether employees realise it or not. 

“There does seem to be a gap between what employees versus employers feel is the bare minimum required at work,” says Alexia Cambon, director of research at workplace-consultancy Gartner’s HR practice. While some employees may see their official job requirements as the maximum they should be doing, many employers view that as the bare minimum, she says, so they’ll only see workers as high performers if they make additional contributions. 

So, although a large portion of these tasks are invisible to bosses, many employees feel compelled to perform them anyway, since they can potentially help the worker perform better and stand out. Allison Weinhaas, associate professor in the communications department at Rider University, US, says marginalised workers may especially jump to do this work to give them an “opportunity to shine”. 

The mixed impact 

This extra effort isn’t all bad. In some cases, says Cambon, “when you’re choosing to do these quiet overwork tasks because you are passionate about your work – or think you can gain something from it – they aren’t necessarily a negative addition to your life”. 

It all depends on the context, she adds: “It’s really important to distinguish between two types of work – the work that gives you energy and the work that takes energy away from you.”