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Comment by filmgirlcw | Hacker News Reader

Absolutely. Even if you love where you work, the corporation is always going to look out for itself first and foremost. It’s a lesson that can be especially hard to learn if you’re an early employee that grows or at a startup that claims to be different, but as cynical as it may be, the sooner workers realize that they are expendable, the better.

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I would also add that it’s not just corporations. A startup that goes from 9 to 300 people in your tenure doesn’t have your best interest at heart either. Before going to corporate America, I put my health, relationships, and personal life aside in place of the places I worked. For whatever reason, I thought I needed to do that and I thought it would pay off.

Narrator: it didn’t.

Now, that’s on me. My employers didn’t force that on me and my inability to say “no” is my fault, not theirs. But it taught me that I’m never not taking vacation ever again. I’m never making two connections to save the company $200 on a flight ever again (when others don’t and I’d still be in budget). I’m never staying late to do a job that isn’t mine because I’m afraid it won’t get done otherwise (it will. And if it doesn’t, it’s above my paygrade).

That doesn’t mean I don’t work my ass off or give 100% (if not more), but it took me until my early 30s to realize that the company wont reciprocate my loyalty.

Can agree with some point -- but by definition, you are explaining exactly why you are definitely not giving 100% and then claiming you are giving more than 100%... lol.

I would say there is "doing your job" and "overdoing" if you work 8 hours productively that should be the deal with your employer. Sure, if there is some crisis maybe stay a bit longer to help the team.

But going out of your way to save the company money in transportation is a different kind of issue, and so is regularly overworking.

I get what you are saying - could do more, doesn't.

But but but - here's the thing - health, relationships and career. There is a boundary which you can push past for your company which destroys your capabilities very quickly. You are doing more now, but will be doing less in a couple of months. Often people underestimate how much less, and they think that they will get a holiday to get over what they are doing, and they also think that things can be patched up, I'll get better, we'll get over this.

News just in - they can't. you won't. divorce. All promptly followed by dismissal due to underperformance or just not being as positive as management expects.

Choosing not to give everything to a job doesn’t mean you aren’t doing enough. And giving everything to your job very rarely pays off. Even if it’s your own company, choosing to kill yourself for a business rarely ends with a better business — it just leads to a sick founder of the person is pushed to exhaustion.

We have different definitions of 100%. Staying late, working (unpaid) overtime, doing your bosses jobs... This is well above and beyond your responsibilities. When you hire a plumber to unclog your drain, do you also expect them to give their 100% by also cleaning your toilet, fixing that squeaky door, and doing the dishes? No, you hired them to fix a clogged drain and fixing it is 100% of the job. The rest is thing you'd like done (for free, preferably!) but it's in no way part of the 100%.

You are confusing 200% with 100%

Yeah. No.

I don’t do five people’s jobs anymore —- which is what I did at past companies. But I do my job —- and more —- and I voluntarily take on more projects all the time. The difference is, I no longer put my job ahead of my health. I no longer go 18 months without vacation (I took my honeymoon 17 months after I got married. And when I got married, it was 3 days after speaking in Vegas — I was on a red—eye two days before my wedding — and I spoke at another conference two day after my wedding) and I no longer allow myself to be on-call at all hours of the day/night. The nature of my work has changed too — but even if it hadn’t, I still would have stopped.

The stuff I used to do didn’t make me a “better” employee. It’s not some badge of honor.

You don’t know me or my work ethic; to imply that because I no longer kill myself for a business that won’t kill itself in return, I’m not still a hard worker —- kindly fuck off.

Giving 100% != giving all of yourself to your job and employer.

IMHO to climb the corpo ladder you have to do your job and your bosses job but only get paid for your job. That aint for me.

Sometimes. And sometimes never saying no and pushing back just means you’ll always be asked to do more without promotion.

Honestly, climbing the corporate ladder is often about how good you are at politicking and working relationships as it is about anything else.

That might be one way to do it. But that alone certainly is not enough. One will also have to have the political acumen to take credit and make sure the others' interests are taken care of as well. It's really a complicated game to play for sure.

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