Boss announces mandatory overtime — then gets swamped with work after hardworking employee backs out

Overworking employees has always been standard practice in corporate companies. However, when one helpful employee decided to pull away due to stress and exhaustion, the leadership team got swamped with more work, which, the employee was surprised to note, was the amount of work they were used to doing on a regular basis. Sharing the story on December 8, u/martial_snarky-7a's Reddit post has gained over 900 upvotes so far.

u/martial_snarky-7a works as a junior specialist in a team of 28 employees. While the team receives many requests from different internal departments, some of these tasks were not part of their core responsibilities. Hence, when no one took it over, the leadership team, which comprised the managers, would take it up. However, over the past 18 months, the employee had been consistently taking up additional tasks, which also earned them an opportunity to be selected for a higher position. "I was almost the only one on my team doing so," the post read. Although they weren't selected due to limited spots, they were happy to be nominated. A month ago, the company announced mandatory overtime hours due to increased workload.

"But honestly, it's poor planning from leadership and a lack of staff that's causing this chaos. I was extremely stressed, so I decided to stop helping with these additional tasks entirely," they wrote. After the employee backed out, they witnessed the managers from the leadership team struggling to keep up with the workload. "I truly hadn't realized how much I was doing, because now the leadership team (managers) is completely overwhelmed by them. They are really struggling to keep up. Historically, they barely touched these tasks because I and a few other colleagues always handled them," they wrote.

They also said, "Now that I've withdrawn myself (and a few others who were helping have also withdrawn), they are completely swamped and dedicating most of their day to these things," adding that it’s been "truly satisfying to see," and that they doubt they'll ever "volunteer to carry the entire department's burden again." The employee now plans to quit the job and look for other opportunities due to the work environment. It’s the kind of situation that wears people down far beyond the office.

A 2024 study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine used data from the Midlife in the United States to explore psychosocial stress at work. The study found that U.S. workers with higher effort combined with lower reward at baseline had a significantly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The research also showcased that an imbalance in efforts and rewards resulted in effects on physical health in an American working population.

Soon after the post went viral, many users shared their thoughts on the issue. u/voids-anode4s wrote, "That’s lovely! Well done! Maybe they'll wake up and recognize your value of one of these days." u/varniggma wrote, "You were nominated for the advancement but honestly you were never going to get it. You do to much in your current role. Sadly you made yourself 'unreplaceable'." u/Zoreb1 wrote, "At least you know that they'll be doing work related stuff on their overtime."

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