Exploited

This exists when the employee, for a number of reasons, works beyond the contracted hours – but does so resentfully. The employee feels exploited – almost compelled to work longer hours for none of the additional benefits described above. On the face of it, the employee must be working beyond their contracted hours voluntarily – otherwise, why do it? Of course there are a number of reasons: foremost is fear. Many fear that if they don’t meet increasing demands, they will put themselves at risk – being judged as lacking the necessary motivation or skill. Some resent the impact the additional hours have on the rest of their life – there are only so many hours in the day, so something has to give. A third factor may be lack of assertiveness: individuals do not have the skills or confidence to speak up. And there is also the view that “someone’s got to do it” – a particular problem for teams with low numbers or scarce specialist expertise.

Working in this way may have three unintended consequences. The first is that the employer can say it’s down to the employee: whether they work beyond their contracted hours is their call. Secondly, it sets a performance level which others may then feel compelled to match – or suffer the consequences (as in ‘she’s doing it, so I’d better do it too’). And thirdly – because exploited people are still committed to the work – performance doesn’t suffer. This is the irony of exploitation: the relationship is degraded, not the work.

So what can be done to prevent this happening? Some of the solutions lie with management, and some with the employee…