Would you work for free? I don’t mean volunteering, but actual work. Of course not. You don’t work for the benefit of your employer. You work for you; you work for entertainment funding, advancement, retirement, your family, or fill in the blank with hundreds of other reasons.
Not one of those reasons are for the benefit of your employer. Now don’t get me wrong; wherever you find yourself, do your best. Always strive for excellence. That being said, you don’t apply for a job based on what you’d like to do for them, but rather what they can offer you. Of course you say you wouldn’t work for free, but then why do you? Why do you sell your abilities short by giving away your knowledge and expertise for free, for the profit of others?
“I would never work for free,” you say. I’ve said it. I’ve also done it without realizing it, just like you do. Before I go further, let me explain. I am speaking to the salaried folks here. You don’t work on commission. You’re not building your own business. No matter how long you work in a week, that check will be the same.
For you, I’m going to say something very important. Your urge is going to be to deny it, because our society has nurtured you to sell yourself short for the gain of others. Read this carefully: Working extra hours day after day, week after week, and year after year, is not a quality characteristic. It’s a sign of poor time management on your part, inefficient delegation on your manager’s part, or someone padding their pockets through intentional under staffing.
Inefficient Work and Poor Time Management
During an interview and hire process with a new organization, you’re going to ask the hiring manager an average amount of hours you are expected to work. If they say, “as many as it takes to get the job done,” and the position is salaried, run. Don’t sell yourself short. Employment is a contract of sorts, and vague terms are always beneficial for one party while detracting from the other.
If you are working 50, 55, 60 or more hours a week while your coworkers are working 40 to 45, please don’t think this makes you valuable to your company. Why does it take you so much extra time to get the job done? You’re working inefficiently. Taking longer does not mean you’re more thorough, often it’s an indicator of poor time management skills.
It’s not taking longer, you’re doing extra work, you say? Why? Unless you feel it will get you promoted, which I’ll come back to, you’re simply working for free. You were hired to do a specific job. Anything beyond that job outside of your normal hours you are working on your dime for someone else’s gain.
Money can be made and lost, but once your time is spent, that’s it. Don’t spend your most valuable commodity on someone else’s gain.
Back to the possibility of getting promoted… you are not making yourself appear more valuable by doing extra work on your own time. You’re undercutting better candidates with the offer of free labor; stop. You want to make yourself appear more valuable? Manage your time better to where you get the job done in less than the required time, allowing you the ability to do extra work on company time. That, my friends, shows true value.
Inefficient Delegation and Under Staffing
When I took a general manager position at a national retail chain a decade ago, I was told the expectation was 43 – 45 hours per week; obviously some weeks would have more due to holidays and such. It is retail, after all. Within a few years, the company went into a downward spiral and stores were closing by the hundreds.
The amount of work not related to operation of the store was placed on the manager was increased, while the labor budget was decreased. I was working 55 plus hours per week to get the job done, as were the other managers. We sold ourselves short. We thought we were working for the good of the company, and so do you. The only thing we were working for was the reduced losses in the wallets of executive management. What did the managers get in return? Nothing. Severance packages were thrown into the bankruptcy. Please don’t think this doesn’t relate to you if your employer is doing well. It applies even more. Why do you have to do the extra work while someone else keeps all the gains? Why would you want to? I’ll say it again: stop selling yourself short.
Know Your Worth
I can’t say enough to try to convince you of this: know your value. Is a wedding photographer going to give twenty extra edited prints away? Is a masseuse going to give ten extra minutes on each massage? Is an UBER driver going to give you the last mile for free? Unless these are part of a sales promotion, the answer is no.
You are valuable. Your education, your experience, your expertise, your mind; everything that makes you an individual vastly different from anyone else makes you valuable. You’re one of a kind. Stop selling yourself short.
Contemporary Leadership 
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