Just because workplaces like it when you’re productive doesn’t mean that you are going to get rewarded for it.

I mean, there would not be so many people out there quiet quitting or figuring out how to work two remote roles at once if putting in a good effort at work was an absolute guarantee of career progress and satisfaction. It is an open secret that plenty of employees are simply trying to survive one day to the next, and do not feel like they have the energy or the willpower to bring their all to the office.

The reality is that many companies rely on productive employees to get results, but are not interested in compensating them fairly for this hard work. They just want to congratulate themselves on making a good investment and try to get the most out of it they can before said investment decides to job hop. If it eventually builds up to something that is worth it, putting extra effort into a job can be a sensible idea. However, it is only fair that the employee who engages with this gets some kind of recognition for what they have done at the same time.