Boss adds new job responsibilities that weren't in the job description every week, tells employee she should be grateful when she pushes back: 'I’m watching coworkers burn out left and right from the same creeping scope expansion.'

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Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Dec 8, 2025 8:00 PM EST

They're too cheap to hire another employee, so they have one employee doing the work of three.

It's normal for a job to increase in responsibilities over time, especially if the new responsibilities align with the primary ones. A manager or boss might want to see whether their employee can take on more responsibility; if they swim rather than sink, they might be eligible for promotion. 

There's nothing wrong with a gradual increase in responsibility over time, especially if that's what the employee is asking for. But if every week your boss asks you to do a different task without even giving you a chance to master the last new responsibility you took on, they're not setting you up for success. They're betting on the idea that you're a hard worker who is hard-wired to do everything you're asked to do, no matter how much time it takes or how much it stresses you out. And if you're a low-level employee who's just trying to put food on the table, you're not really in the position to turn down responsibilities at your job, even if they were never included in the job description. 

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  • Job seeker in job interview meeting with manager and interviewer at corporate office the young interviewee seeking for a professional career job opportunity human resources and recruitment
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  • The employee at this company knows that it's not a place she could stay long-term. All of her coworkers are getting burnt out by the ever-increasing list of responsibilities, and she doesn't know how she's going to keep up with every new thing her boss is asking her to do.

  • My job keeps adding “just one more thing” to my role and I’m starting to lose it

    I've hit that point where every week my boss hands me some new responsibility that was never in my job description, never comes with extra pay, and always gets framed as "it should only take a minute." Except it never takes a minute. Now I'm juggling
    via throwawayjaaay
  • pieces of three different roles, and somehow I'm still expected to finish everything on the same timeline as before. I tried pushing back last week and was told I should be "grateful" they trust me with more. Meanwhile I'm watching coworkers burn out left and right from the same creeping scope expansion. Look, It's wild
    via throwawayjaaay
  • Tired young Asian office employee feeling sick and having headache from a long working day at office.
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • how normalized it is for companies to just slowly absorb your free time and energy because it's cheaper than hiring another human being. I'm trying to figure out my next move here. Has anyone actually managed to set boundaries around this without it blowing up in their face, or is the only real solution to start planning an exit?
    via throwawayjaaay
  • Mike_hawk5959 "No problem boss. I just need you to tell me which of my other responsibilities you want me to push back so I can deal with this." There's only so much time in a day, let them prioritize any way they want and then start at the top and work your way down until quitting time. Then it's time to go home.
    via Mike_hawk5959
  • ZeBigD23 100% feel this. Now it's also, "oh it's too much? Be thankful you have a job in this market, others aren't so lucky"
    via ZeBigD23
  • Timely_Skill_7495 Do your job from 9-5, nothing more, nothing less.
    via Timely_Skill_7495
  • People sitting on chair in front of computer monitor
    via Sigmund

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

  • Organic_Start_420 Ask the boss to set a priority for the tasks. Then do the tasks at your pace, not theirs, during the normal working hours. If you can't finish it, well too bad so sad they need to hire enough people to get the job done.
    via Organic_Start_420
  • DespondentEyes My last job did that as well. Pure scope creep without end. I ended up sacrificing most of my lunches and many hours in the evening and weekends. Only to get fired after all. It's never going to get better so your only option is to jump ship.
    via DespondentEyes
  • epr-paradox Leave on time. Whatever else happens, leave on time. If you have too much to do, that is a management problem, not a you problem. When there is too much on your plate, ask your boss to prioritize your work load so they are the ones that you can blame when you're not getting "the right things" done. If they insist that everything needs to be done, then send them excessive email updates on everything about when you stop putting effort in to prioritize completion over correctness. Never
    via epr-paradox
  • NoelCanter This is the most infuriating thing about work culture. The constant push to reduce the human element of the bottom line and squeeze those that remain with more and more tasks and act like you're the problem if you aren't doing the work of three people. My job went through three rounds of layoffs recently on our contract. When it was all happening we were like, how are we going to do all the work that we already feel we struggle to achieve with so many less people? Our management was t
    via NoelCanter
  • actual_nonsense Exactly how I felt with my old job that would keep on adding things to do (learn new technology, train this person, relentless overtime) until we were at a breaking point. It lasted over a decade, and the job admin never considered the effects it was having on the employees, they would urge us to go faster (supervisors yelling) when we were already overwhelmed with work. It doesn't get better and you don't ask an abuser to stop abusing you. IMO if you aren't able to refuse the ex
    via actual_nonsense
  • Variant_Xero I've managed to set and keep boundaries with my current job, but it has been a struggle at times. Fortunately, my boss acts like a human being rather than a corporate goon, so while there have been times we've had to negotiate something (usually because it needed to be done and I was the only person with the skills to do it), he is generally understanding that giving me new responsibilities means something else has to slip. My advice is stick to your proverbial guns and keep pushing
    via Variant_Xero
  • ejrhonda79 Lately any role I can get is a 'jack- of-all trade's type job. My current one covers at least ten individual teams of people at any other company. Knowing this I purposely do the bare minimum of each and I refuse to trade my personal time to fill their 'business needs'. If they want a specialist then effing pay for it don't sit there and expect me to pick up all the work with no compensation.
    via ejrhonda79

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responsibility employee job description job grateful workplace Horrible Bosses reddit thread stressed burnt out weekly
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