During recession, many organisations expected that their employees performed beyond their pay grade. But the problem with going the extra mile at work is that it never works in anyone's favour.
While managers ask employees to go the extra mile, they do it with hopes that it will be beneficial for the organisation's output, thus indirectly benefiting them. However, there is no evidence to prove it.
What really happens is that the most conscientious, involved, courteous and sportsmanlike employees get assigned with more work - because they asked for it.
Professor Stephen Deery and his colleagues published a paper in which they argue that this kind of behavior often leads to emotional exhaustion as the employees have to put up a mask regularly to deal with work related issues and keep going. It impinges on their personal time, affects their relationships with their family or simply denies them time for personal growth projects.
The author says that these factors have an adverse impact on the employee's morale and engagement at work.
A study by the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal indicates that the difference in the amount of benefits received for going above and beyond versus simply delivering the promised results are very little.
Most of us are inspired to do so because the consequences of not keeping the promise can be extremely harsh, so we often overcompensate by doing a little extra every time.
The term workaholism is often used with positive connotations at the workplace and official performance reviews. However, research shows that compulsively spending an excessive amount of time on work, and neglecting family and relationships in the process is a negative behavioral pattern.
Researches have found that such work-related behavior often continues even after it has irreparably damaged a person's relationships at home and at work.
Employees who exhibit workaholic behavior often find it difficult to delegate work and demonstrate personality traits such as neuroticism, perfectionism and conscientiousness. They feel the urge to be busy all the time, while their ability to deliver actual results may or may not be as high as expected of them.
Research has clearly shown that the relationship between going the extra mile at work and subsequent rewards is flimsy at best. Apart from that, doing so has severely adverse impacted on your overall work performance, health and personal relationships. Yet most of us continue to tread the same path and put in a little extra effort at work because it is expected from us.
Courtesy: www.peoplematters.in
