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I always did because it made me feel good and gave me the opportunity to learn more and become an expert at my job. But it's only worth it if you can leverage exceptional performance into a better job or more money.
Here's an example of a serious mistake I made decades ago. I worked in a call center. Crappy job! But it was really easy. I could literally take hundreds of calls a day without even turning on my brain. It was just automatic. This job taught me that hard work just brought me more work and higher expectations. There was no reward. So I learned to just do a little more than what was expected of the average employee. I used my extra time to study for tests to get a better job!!! And it worked.
This is the key, if the extra work results in extra certs, skills or profound expereinces worthy of adding to your resume it is totally worth it if it can be leveraged to find a new job if need be. If its just extra work for works sake then not so much, at least for me.
Great post. IF your not partial owner in the company and/or you can put the expereince on your resume and have it stand out then its really wasted energy.
There is always the fear of lay off but these days people should be scrimping and saving constantly because companies are fickle. Get the passive income flow going as soon as you can so you dont HAVE to work.
If you do so, it's best to go above and beyond at the parts of your job that you're the best at, that are in demand and needed and noticed by your employer, that may be able to help you out in future income (as others have mentioned), and that you enjoy.
Yes, you can and should focus on sharpening your skills on the parts that are more of a struggle, to at least get up to a better level of competence and comfort, but try to pick the areas you naturally excel at to go above and beyond. Better yet, try to find those areas where other people you work with don't excel but you do to go above and beyond in, so there won't be this competition.
In the career choice...I find going the extra gives off the whipping boy approach.
Met my fair share of ppl in varying professions go the extra mile....weeks/months later they are on to better positions. And not with the company that whipped them.
Do what is required and enjoy it.
Between nepotism and budget cuts...The extra has zero consideration.
at my work, going the extra mile and being voted employee of the month/year meant you're supremely friendly and outgoing. it doesn't matter if you get down and dirty to meet productivity and micromanagement standards if you're not seen out and about being friendly and such.
Well, you shouldn't if this specific job is the only one you want, ever. (Beware the layoff, though, as you'll be at the top of the list.)
But, if you ever want to advance, or show other employers that you have drive and initiative, you certainly should.
Careful, as this can backfire on you.... when they lay off the others without drive nor initiative, the folks with those are left picking up the slack. You're now doing your own work, as well as the work of others that should've been stuck to you, but they company wanted to save money by laying people off. If it's THAT much work and they don't find new employees to take the load off, you'll have to quit anyways, unless you're super human and can work 60 to 80 hour weeks
Bottom line going "above and beyond" is a SUCKER'S GAME. Companies like to provide the narrative that if you bust your rear end the sky is the limit and this leads to advancement/promotions. When in fact, this can't be any further from the truth. At best, you will just avoid layoff when the Company decides to "trim its workforce to stay competitive (Whatever the hell that means. You trim your workforce and get rid of valuable assets that doesn't sound like remaining "competitive" to me) and you'll be stuck cleaning up the mess the morons/butt kissers/ cronies have made.
Promotions don't go to the best. They go to the idiots who were recommended by some other idiot. (Friend, Family Member etc). A few months back someone got a promotion over me (Some clueless kid completely inept for the job with NO CLUE what hes doing) I found out because he was recommended by some guy who was actually previously fired from the company and recommended by another family member who had worked for the freaking competitors while Ive been with the company for 5 years and have received multiple performance recommendation awards. ROFLMAO!!!
The private sector is not some place where merit exists leading to promotions. Not these days at least.
I wonder what the results would be if we surveyed the average salary and general happiness level of the folks who are saying "Absolutely go above and beyond" and those who are saying it would be a waste of time...
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