Coworker does the job of 4-5 people, colleagues worry she's making them look bad: 'I'm genuinely concerned. she's going to burn herself out'

JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor

Sep 25, 2026 10:00 AM EDT

What does going above and beyond at your job really do?

We're always told to give all of our effort whenever we can. And this is generally a good rule of thumb to follow whenever you can. But what does this get you in the end? It might not get you as far as you're hoping it will. Sometimes effort goes completely unappreciated, and you end up on the fast track to burnout before you know it. Sometimes doing a lot of work is only rewarded with more work. The higher-ups only see the bottom line, and they don't always connect that to the effort you're putting in on the ground. They see that you can handle a high workload, so they just give you more of it. The ones who managed expectations early on and set a reasonable workload are then singled out when they do something above and beyond. If you're always going above and beyond, then it's hard to tell.

This is one of the catch-22s of the professional workplace. This is where politics and self-management come in. There are so many unwritten rules that go into this kind of thing, and it can be difficult to always know whether or not you're in the right. Sometimes you need an outside perspective to let you know whether or not you're doing the right thing. That's where the employee in this story was when they shared their question with the internet.

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A stressed out coworker puts her head in her hands at her desk
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What can a team do when one coworker is doing the work of 4-5 people?

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You don't have much control over your coworkers. If you're on the same level, you might not feel that you have any grounds to criticize them. You might be directly affected by their actions, but you don't get much say over them. This can be a frustrating position to be in, and that's exactly where this employee was when they reached out to the internet for a little help. They wanted to intervene in a coworker's life, but they weren't sure how to do it. Keep scrolling to see what happened and let us know what you think.
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A cluttered desk at an office with tired workers at their desks
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