Employee gets 15% raise once he stops working 24/7 and only works from 9-5: 'Now that I've stopped trying so hard, suddenly I'm promotion material? Corporate logic makes zero sense.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Sep 23, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

A lot of us were raised with the idea that hard work is something admirable to aspire to. If you constantly saw your parents working hard throughout your childhood, it's not surprising that you'd view that as a positive virtue to emulate. The idea that hard work can get you anywhere you want to go is deeply ingrained in our culture. Because it's so valued, some people prioritize appearing to be working hard over actually doing the work.

If you wake up at 4 AM every morning after getting only 4 hours of sleep to get a head-start on work, it might not actually optimize your productivity. I'd rather have 8 hours of work after resting well than 12 hours of work where I'm falling asleep half the time, but getting slightly more done. When you're young, you think that working at all hours of the day means you're a hard worker, but as you mature, you learn that that's not sustainable, and shorter periods of intense focus are preferable to constant grinding. 

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  • The dude in this story is shocked that his boss prefers him to work from 9-5, rather than from 7 AM to 6 PM. His boss thinks he has gotten much more efficient with his time management, which makes me think that this overworking was giving off the wrong impression.

  • Business person use smartphones to conduct business transactions
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I got a raise after I started leaving exactly at 5pm and my boss is acting like I've "stepped up my game"

    For years I was the office try-hard - first one in, last to leave, answering emails at midnight, and taking on everyone else's problems. I asked for a promotion three times and kept getting the "we see your potential, just need to wait for the right timing" speech.
    via u/Lanky_Use4073
  • Last month I hit my breaking point after being passed over again for someone who'd been there half as long but played golf with the VP. I decided I was done killing myself for this place. I started working strictly 9-5, turning off email notifications after hours, and saying "no" to last-minute requests that weren't my responsibility.
    via u/Lanky_Use4073
  • Business people use smartphones to conduct business transactions
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The weirdest thing happened. My boss called me in yesterday and gave me a 15% raise "for showing such impressive growth in prioritization and efficiency." He actually said I'm "more focused and delivering higher quality work" than ever before.
    via u/Lanky_Use4073
  • Handsome architect checking plans and blueprints in the office
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I'm completely baffled. Everything I thought would get me ahead (overworking, being available 24/7) actually worked against me, and now that I've stopped trying so hard, suddenly I'm promotion material? Corporate logic makes zero sense.
    via u/Lanky_Use4073
  • Wonderful_Author9452 Ive seen this before. My theory is sometimes people who are over working, staying late, always hustling give the mistaken appearance they are always behind, catching up at last minute, overwhelmed, can't keep up.
    via u/Wonderful_Author9452
  • nospamkhanman Similar happened to me at a previous job. Used to come in at 7am, leave at 6pm. Was the first one to volunteer to do extra stuff on the weekends. Got a got mediocre mid-year review, mediocre end of year review, mediocre mid year review again. Got burned out a bit, lost motivation.
    via u/nospamkhanman
  • Started getting into work at 8:45am, left at 5pm. Stopped volunteering for extra work. When unavoidable straight up said stuff like "Sure, I'll work Saturday night but I'm going to be emergencies only for Monday. No, I won't be in the standup." All the sudden: Promotion. Raise. Glowing reviews. Stopped getting treated like trash. My boss later admitted that they were sure I was getting ready to quit and didn't want to me to leave.
    via u/nospamkhanman
  • jordichin320 Such is business as is dating, why would they need to give you an incentive to stay when youre already demonstrating your willingness to stay. But if they sniff someone else wants you, suddenly they want you too. Pre-selection at its finest.
    via u/jordichin320
  • StunningOrange2258 Yes, it's how corporate works. I've set my boundary since day 1. Clock in clock out on time. Never come too early, never stayback late.. I even asked my team not to bring back laptop if there are no urgency.. because it shows that you are not able to manage your time and when people know you are still working after office hours, they will keep that mentality and ask you for nonsense last minute favour every single time...
    via u/StunningOrange2258
  • Qkumbazoo The act of prioritisation is giving the appearance of being more strategic, which is more valuable than having high output/productivity when looking to move someone up.
    via u/Qkumbazoo
  • Qalia69 I suspect they fear you were on your way out, so finally someone woke up and decided to "reward" you, so you will stay. Time to be looking anyway perhaps.
    via u/Qalia69
  • Darkjebus Yeah u probably are more focused after starting to say no and prioritization boundaries. The opposite is a great way to burn out and be bitter. And it probably showed at least a little bl d through from a facade I'd imagine
    via u/Darkjebus
  • DrySolution 1366 Is it possible you are actually more effective when you work less? We can all agree that no one can work 20 hours a day and be effective in a sustainable way. Maybe your limit before your performance gets worse is 9 hours rather than 12 hours. Signing up for more, but being over stretched with - worse average outcomes — is also not necessarily a good things. Depends what the business needs.
    via u/DrySolution1366
  • xcaliblur2 I obviously don't know anything about you or your job, so my comment is more an "in general" one. Just putting out the other side of the coin for consideration: Sometimes it's not about hard work or how many hours you're willing to work. At a certain level, managers also look at how employees manage their tasks and time. Which may involve making decisions on what tasks would be your priority and what you are willing to let go.
    via u/xcaliblur2
  • I know I'll probably get down voted by the many who will say that there's no such thing as "letting go" and that you're forced to do everything. That's generally only true if you work in a very toxic environment. Your boss may be recognizing that you're making higher level decisions as to how your time is best managed and shifting your focus to the high priority tasks. Again, everything I say is in general only. May be applicable to your current job. May not be.
    via u/xcaliblur2
  • Tarky Mlarky420 Respect yourself and others will do the same
    via u/TarkyMlarky420
  • Sea_Surprise716 I got some really helpful early career advice: "Never work on the wiki.” Contributing over and above to the company actually makes it look like you aren't getting your "real" work done, and somehow also aren't in demand for the real work. I immediately started saying no to anything I thought might take up time that could otherwise be spent on my top 2-3 priorities. The result was they all thought that I was so busy I must be the top performer. I used the "no" time to keep up with
    via u/Sea_Surprise716
  • zappahey One of my team would work all hours of the day and night and I had to challenge him on it. His response was that he wanted promotion and had to be seen as a hard worker. His jaw dropped when I suggested that "working hard" would only bring him more work and what I needed was someone I could depend upon to be doing the right things, not everything that came across his desk. All that happens is that people will take advantage unless you learn to constructively say no e.g. let me help you
    via u/zappahey
  • Distinct-Ferret7075 Depending on the job, doing more work can inherently create extra work for other people.
    via u/Distinct-Ferret7075

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