Hacker News Reader

>making an effort to do the minimum

It's worth making a distinction between "making an effort" to do the minimum, and simply doing the minimum; doing the minimum does not necessarily require additional effort as you have implied.

Possibly one could argue that if additional effort _is_ required, for either achieving the minimum or achieving more than the minimum, the employer pays only for the minimum, so the choice of whether to expend that effort to achieve the minimum or more belongs to the employee.

It's not about "making an effort to do the minimum". It's about doing exactly what's in your job description, no unpaid overtime or extra work.

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em and hurt 'em by beating yourself".