Why do people just do the bare minimum and never work harder than they could?

[MusicTokuXX]

Why do people just do the bare minimum? Don’t you want to get promoted or get a raise? Why are you even working then? It’s really lazy if you ask me.

[Xoxocutekitty]

I work with a lot of senior managers and get to see "behind the curtain" of who and how promotions, compensation etc happens.

Basically, everything is zero sum across the department. You want to reward that high achieving go-getter? Well too bad it means you would have to give less money to the mediocre family man who coasts in and out of the job. Sure that sounds great in theory, but you can't give an employee less than they made the year before without expecting them to quit. And hiring is long, and training somebody to be mediocre takes ages.

It's better to lose one all star, than upset 10 mediocre employees because it's must easier to replace one person than 10 if they decide to quit.

[MusicTokuXX]

@Xoxocutekitty what are you talking about? Just get a job you like? I don’t understand why people hate their job so much? Money makes people greedy and lazy, it’s ridiculous!

[Darkest-Knight]

Where I work you don't get rewarded for hard work. But you certainly get in trouble for making a mistake. Unfortunately we are unionized so people have the attitude why work hard? Let someone else take up the slack.

[Astarlessnightsky]

I get paid the bare minimum, so i do the bare minimum

[MusicTokuXX]

@Astarlessnightsky wdym you get paid the bare minimum? How much do you expect to get paid? And how much should you get paid? What type of job do you have?

[Astarlessnightsky]

Its a bit complicated. I am a nurse, specifically working in a home for people with impairments, preparing them for their own home.

First problem, a huge part of my salary is from boni (working nightshift, weekends, holidays...) which is fine as long as nothing happens. If i were to get sick for long time or loose my job, the money i would get being unemployed i calculated from the salary without the boni, so i would loose more than half of my usuall monthly income. Or more than in other jobs.

Second Problem, i never have a day totally free, even on my free days i could get a call, asking to step in for a coworker. There is now a small bonus fee to compensate alittle bit, but still.

Third problem is sleep schedule is broken, once you completed 5 nightshifts, and most importantly my back is ruined from lifting people from their bed to their their wheelchair. Something no salary can fix.

And there also is the thing when stuff gets more and more expensive, my salary stays the same. And something thats more common in other jobs, but while the average worker strikes for maybe 3% higher salary, ceos recieve millions to their already insanely high boni, and fire the staff.

[Astarlessnightsky]

And also when people talk about doing the bare minimum, it usually means they do exactly what they are supposed to do according to their contract.

[Ironic_Method]

... implying working hard guarantees a promotion/raise.

[MusicTokuXX]

@Ironic_Method No it doesn’t guarantee it, but it raises the chance. I never said it guarantees it! But if you don’t work hard, then what’s the point? And also what was the point of them hiring you then?

[Ironic_Method]

Because the work may not be worth the pay - but that doesn't mean you don't need money.

You know what guarantees higher pay? Changing to a job with higher pay.

[MusicTokuXX]

@Ironic_Method yea but you need qualifications for that! You think it’s that easy to get a high paying job? You sound naive! If it was so easy then people wouldn’t complain about pay

[Ironic_Method]

I know how it works because I've been an Ops Manager and Business Analyst for coming up on 2 decades now.

Companies that promote from within offer far less than hiring from outside. The best thing you can do for your career is work at a place for a few years and move to a higher position elsewhere. Rinse and repeat.

[ProbablyClueless]

A lot of people have experiences with putting in effort but never getting rewarded for it.