I always say never work too hard. Managers don’t know how long things take because they don’t do any actual work. Set expectations accordingly.
complete task early, turn in results in the last day. never give them reason to up your workload
Around bonus time log lots of extra hours and turn in two products on the last day.
This is the way.
It’s a pretty damn sad thing having to do it if you’re a fair and honest person, but that’s just how the world works.
(There are a few managers out there whom you can be honest towards without them taking away your reward for being efficient of going the extra mile, but in my personal experience those are pretty rare).
I’ve pretty consistently seen the 1st level of management able to understand when you worked hard, and that it is not repeatable. Those problems tend to appear only when they report up what is happening.
What is to say that often (not always), you can be honest with your manager if both of you can keep a secret.
Well, sorta.
Plenty (maybe even most) of 1st level manages will see and understand, but are still unable or unwilling to push back on unrealistic expectations coming from outside (sometimes not even from above, just from customer) so from the point of view of those working under them the result is the same if they’re not doing their own internal time reporting averaging and and are honest towards them.
Further, they often fuck-up things, from planning to analysis and taking in account the dependencies on external providers and it’s the team that has to make up for it. Absolutelly, the managers will notice people going the extra mile … and do the same thing again next time around and it will be just as “unexpected” and “we have not other option” as all the previous times.
I would even go as far as saying that the “understanding” manager that fucks you up anyway (sometimes because they’ll always put themselves above those working for them and might even be fake, others because they’re not very good at playing the game that needs to be played to other stakeholders) is the most common of all.
Looking back (to almost 30 years of experience in several countries), some of my worst managers were “really nice” people but the team still suffered massivelly because they were not in fact good managers (they suffered alongside the team, for all the good that did to the rest) - essentially the team was holding the career of somebody who should probably be doing something else and at the end of the day, the managers rather than the rest were the ones getting more pay and bigger bonuses.
They are members of the cult of the line, and the line must go up.
Not just members, advocates of the line. Their compensation is a function of the surplus value workers create.
Exactly why you never give 100%. Never show them everything you got cause they’ll only want more
Give 95% and point out that you lack resources.
They’ll never give you those resources, but they will get off your ass because subpar work seems to be the goal.
I’m a god damn janitor and this is true even for my profession.
Our annual evaluation is a scale of 1 to 4 for a variety of categories. We’re supposed to show growth on the scales each year.
For 15 years, I’ve started each year at 3 and grown to a 4 so the boss can tell their boss that they’re helping us grow. I could just start at a 4, but I wouldhave to provide justification for each 4 and that’s not a good use of my time. Which I guess I could use to justify getting a 4 on time management.
Yep new boss comes along and has to find some things “wrong” with you so the next review after shows growth under their management which makes them look good. Not great for you because every other place asks for your last 3 reviews so now you have to justify some middle management bullshit in order to go anywhere else. Very fun.
This is why you under promise and barely deliver.
My work has been experimenting with a project for about 2 years now and this has been my life since then
Good to know, I have halved my output to keep up with your expectations.
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If you increase my workload but don’t give me a raise, I quit. Immediately.
Ah, good ole performance punishment.
Good work is rewarded with more work.
With year end reviews coming up… This hits hard
“Wouldn’t make your initial targets an example of your poor judgement?”
If targets are just nonsensical things then they’re pointless and should be ignored. The comic illustrates very poor management.
That’s why you always give 80% at work - so when shit hits the fan you can do 120%, impressing everyone while keeping a chill level of tasks for day to day stuff
Nah when shit hits the fan you do 81% never show your full potential until you reach the highest pay grade in the company. And the reality is you will never reach that pay grade, you will more likely switch jobs and go back to 80% input and cash bigger checks.
![[WorkChronicles] You are loathesome](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/9cfc62e7-b4fd-4b3b-a939-effe1efc695f.png){kind=link}