How Being a 'Good Guy' at Work Might be Decreasing Your Perceived Value.
I am certain that if you stick around for a while on my blog, you will find that I am a principled person. One of the principles I operate by is integrity. I am very big on integrity. How does this translate in the workplace? I will never defraud my boss of my working hours. Even when I am alone at work, I do my job. I am not sloppy; I do my job to perfection. I take pride in what I do, and I do it to standards that I can take pride in-which for a perfectionist are very high and sometimes unreasonable standards. I believe in doing my absolute best, no matter the situation, and I do this at work. It reflects in the way my boss is comfortable to increase my responsibilities and rely increasingly on me.
But what do I get in return?
-No appreciation.
-No pay rise.
-More responsibilities.
-More demands (of the unnecessary
In a situation like this, the tendency may be to flip the table and begin to put in less time at work, reduce the quality of your work and productivity, be less flexible and amenable, and a host of other things one can do to passively fight back against the unfair treatment one is getting. However, I am who I am irrespective and independent of another's treatment of me. It is difficult, but I insist on holding myself to the standards that I profess to hold myself to. What this means is that I do not reduce the quality of my output or the quantity of my hours; I do my job as though I have an audience even when I am alone. I will eventually leave the job, and when I do, it will be in good faith knowing that I did my best in a difficult situation, and I am better for it.
However, I will extract as much lessons from this experience as possible. Some of the key lessons are:
- Never undersell yourself.
- Learn the skills of negotiation.
- Let your employer 'bargain' for you. In doing this, they have an idea of how you value your services, and even if they do not end up paying that, they view you as the employee who thinks they are worthy of earning xxx! In a society where value is often calculated monetarily, that increases your value in the estimation of your employer!
- Come in with expectations and make them known. Sometimes even when you have no demands that matter to you, make up one or two to let your employer know that you are a person who knows your own value, and are not afraid to leverage that value for what you want. This cements your sense of value to your employer and creates a precedent for you to make demands that matter to you nin the future.
- The minute something is not right with you, speak up about it and continue to speak up until adequate attention is paid to it.
There are a lot more lessons to be extracted from my painful experience, but I will let you do that by yourself.
I hope you are valued and respected in whatever work station you occupy.
Bon Chance!
But what do I get in return?
-No appreciation.
-No pay rise.
-More responsibilities.
-More demands (of the unnecessary
In a situation like this, the tendency may be to flip the table and begin to put in less time at work, reduce the quality of your work and productivity, be less flexible and amenable, and a host of other things one can do to passively fight back against the unfair treatment one is getting. However, I am who I am irrespective and independent of another's treatment of me. It is difficult, but I insist on holding myself to the standards that I profess to hold myself to. What this means is that I do not reduce the quality of my output or the quantity of my hours; I do my job as though I have an audience even when I am alone. I will eventually leave the job, and when I do, it will be in good faith knowing that I did my best in a difficult situation, and I am better for it.
However, I will extract as much lessons from this experience as possible. Some of the key lessons are:
- Never undersell yourself.
- Learn the skills of negotiation.
- Let your employer 'bargain' for you. In doing this, they have an idea of how you value your services, and even if they do not end up paying that, they view you as the employee who thinks they are worthy of earning xxx! In a society where value is often calculated monetarily, that increases your value in the estimation of your employer!
- Come in with expectations and make them known. Sometimes even when you have no demands that matter to you, make up one or two to let your employer know that you are a person who knows your own value, and are not afraid to leverage that value for what you want. This cements your sense of value to your employer and creates a precedent for you to make demands that matter to you nin the future.
- The minute something is not right with you, speak up about it and continue to speak up until adequate attention is paid to it.
There are a lot more lessons to be extracted from my painful experience, but I will let you do that by yourself.
I hope you are valued and respected in whatever work station you occupy.
Bon Chance!
Understand what your time is worth, and charge for it!! let your employer know how valuable you time is..
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