Company demands employee take on coworker's workload after she quits, employee refuses without a pay raise, only to be denied: ‘Let's see who breaks first’

Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor

Jan 2, 2026 6:00 PM EST

You only need to do what you were hired for.

When an employee quits their job, a company usually has two choices: Either hire someone new to take on the workload or find an existing employee willing to take on the extra responsibilities.

It comes as a surprise to no one that many companies would do anything to avoid the former option, since they can save a whole paycheck if they first try the latter. That leads employers to go on a campaign to convince an existing employee to essentially do the work of two people. Some employers succeed, making it seem like a good career opportunity for their hardworking employees to work even harder without any reward. Other employers are met with pushback, since their employees understand the situation and who has the upper hand.

If your employer comes to you with the offer to take on the workload of an employee who quit, it's important to remember that you don't have to say yes, and that you can have terms of your own. For example, if your manager hands you extra responsibilities, that's the perfect opportunity to ask for a pay raise. If everyone in the company worked their brains, they would understand that a pay raise is much more profitable than hiring a new employee, and it shouldn't be a difficult decision to reward an already hardworking employee willing to do more work for a bit more money.

Unfortunately, as we mentioned earlier, most companies prioritize the cheapest way to achieve their goals, often resulting in no pay raises, even for those who deserve them. So they would rather find an employee who would do the work for nothing in return than to spend a little extra on actually rewarding them for it.

When the employee in the story below asked for a raise after their employer told them about the extra workload, they were unsurprisingly denied. Luckily, this employee knew that they were not obligated to agree to the extra workload and told their employer that they would only do the work they were hired for. When the employer asked other employees for the same thing, they all said the same–either give us a raise for the extra workload, or hire someone new.

Keep scrolling to read the rest of the story…

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Seeing who breaks first me or work, after I asked for a payrise to reflect extra roles/responsibilties, they said no ofcourse. So i told HR and my manager id only perform to the letter of my contracted roles from now on.

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Company demands employee take on coworker's workload after she quits, employee refuses without a pay raise, only to be denied: ‘Let's see who breaks first’

You only need to do what you were hired for.

Seeing who breaks first me or work, after I asked for a payrise to reflect extra roles/responsibilties, they said no ofcourse. So i told HR and my manager id only perform to the letter of my contracted roles from now on.

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