To think every workplace has at least one eager beaver who lives for work and has nothing else going on?

Academics do even work while they sleep LOL
But they love it. And tgey are right. There is much to love in the job.

I think every place that I've ever worked has had one of these people!

I think OP must be talking about fairly routine jobs, perhaps jobs where people clock in, clock out and there is a concept of paid overtime? Not my world.

My first thought, perhaps like yours, was that she is talking about sticklers for rules rather than people for whom long hours in demanding professional jobs are routine.

I think a person like this is just not good at their job. They are struggling with task and time management. Particularly, time management. They need extra time to do the same job as others, like hours! And cannot assess how long something will take properly, so they miss breaks.....
I would not expect a worker like this to influence her workplace colleagues to work extra time or go any extra mile...

I agree. It can also be a problem when the eager beaver leaves. I once saw someone really struggle as she’d been recruited to replace someone who worked way over their hours virtually every day, going ‘above and beyond’ all the time.

As her predecessor had coped with the job it was assumed to be a manageable workload, and it was only after months of stress and unhappiness she realised what had happened. So yes - it’s everyone’s right to be eager, work ridiculous hours etc - but I do think these people need to acknowledge the impact on others.

In teaching most people are like this before they have kids.

The ones who continue like this after they have kids tend to be the men, who in my (vast, I'm old) experience carry on after fatherhood in exactly the same way as they did before, usually getting promoted to leadership while a woman elsewhere picks up the domestic pieces for them.

The female teaching parents tend to be the ones desperately trying to balance being the professionals they were before, with the fact that breakfast club doesn't start until 7.30 and ASC closes at 6. And no, they can't volunteer for all the additional things that they could before they were parents.

There's only one person in my workplace who is a bit like that. They generally do a great job but sometimes overstep the mark, as if they don't have enough actual work to do, which I think is possibly the case but also probably relates to spending a lot of their own time on work. I value their efficiency though and enjoy their company - good sense of humour. I know they do have a social life, but they don't have much of what you'd call a personal life.

Yes totally agree. Frankly I have had enough of the expectation of going above and beyond in my workplace. You can set boundaries but face people talking about you behind your back. I used to work mornings only as a TA a couple of years ago. A lady joined as a TA, having being made redundant from another job. She was really keen to prove herself so hung around in the afternoon, doing extra jobs for her teacher. MY class teacher then started slagging me off in the staff room for not doing the same. I only found this out when she left.

They've been doing that work all their life and after retirement because they absolutely love it and it's part of them.

Whereas some people are stuck in a job they hate for their entire life and can't wait to get out of it. A third of their life wasted.

Who's the loser now ?

Its the not having boundaries with work that can be a detriment to that person and others in the workplace. If one person is willing to live and breath work that can change the expectations on others. That's not healthy for anyone and can lead to burnout.

That’s ridiculous. They care about their research and about furthering the field, and expertise they’ve spent decades building up. That’s not ‘loser’ behaviour.

I don't think this is so much division and hate, it's a hoary old trope which comes up periodically that says people who like their jobs are stupid corporate automatons who can't think of anything better to do with their lives.

All incredibly predictable and very thinly driven by jealousy.

Why are there daily threads encouraging division and hate?

Edit: Hourly.

@CowboyFromHell

I work hard, do my job well, to a high standard, and don’t mind doing an extra hour or two here and there. But when I log off work, that’s it until the next day. A few weeks back a colleague sent a non-urgent email to me and five others around 6.30pm (just after I’d logged off). By the time I’d opened my emails at 9am the next day everyone else on the email thread had replied, and they’d all got into a quite detailed back and forth discussion.

I then felt a bit on the back foot and as though I’d done something wrong and would appear lazy. Though I knew they were all going above and beyond and my approach was absolutely fine - the danger is there’s a tipping point when enough members of a team are doing this ‘eager beaver’ behaviour that it becomes the norm, and others feel pressured to join in.

Honestly, this thread is a bit of an eye opener and honestly it makes me understand partly why the UK has such a huge productivity gap. If you really regard having to open an email after 6.30pm as a great violation then you should try spending some time in a developing country where there's no safety net.

if I didn't do what some of you people describe as "eager beaver" behaviour I'd be fired. Occasionally having to respond to emails at 6.30pm isn't the greatest hardship. Some of you should try spending some time in places where there is serious underemployment.

I'm a single parent and sole breadwinner. I don't have the luxury of sneering at people who try to do their jobs well because I have to be one of those people to survive. Presumably most of you can fall back on a partner's income if you get bored of your jobs. But worth giving a thought to the fact that some of us actually need to work.

I think losers is a bit strong. They probably enjoy what they do and are actually among the fortunate people who have worked at something they loved. Having retired and still have access to the resources is probably a bonus. OH was in scientific research, if he still had access to a lab/workshop I suspect he'd be in there most of the time.

But I guess I’m talking about the ones where it feels performative, like they want to be seen as the most committed or subtly shame others who aren’t doing the same.

Worse one I had was my projects company sponsor - traveling a lot e-mail all hours or day and night -- (DH suggested he may have a script doing this hidden by time zones) - but got back very last minute and always wanted changes - meant lots of unpaid overtime and work done twice - IT project even code freezes he'd get undone with no concept of work and testing that then needed doing for even minor changes.

I move projects in my time there to one he wasn't involved in - huge difference planned out - no last minute drastic changes - could start at 9 finish at 5 hours I was paid for - so much less stress and I found I has so much more time.

It was USA firm - though he was Swiss I think - very charming - project was his baby and idea - he didn't care about time/work and while lower managment tried to push back he was adept at getting senior partners on side.

He was very good at looking really busy but most of the hard work wasn't his but he was very visible so people accepeted he was a hard worker. I think he had quite a busy social life - I suspect he was banging out e-mails and demands in odd quite moments while he was busy living his life outside work.

100% agree. I have got sick of this shit. Interestingly the original eager beaver quit because she felt SLT were expecting too much extra from her!!

I work in academia. Being an eager beaver with fuck all else in life is basically a competitive sport in my sector.

My mind boggles at the "emeritus" staff who formally retire but then continue to work basically full-time hours for shits and giggles. Absolute losers.

That’s for other people to hold their boundaries then.

IME when you have people often volunteering to do extra, the ‘extra’ becomes the norm which everyone is expected to do and then the eager beavers find something extra to do on top of that and then everyone else is expected to do it. For example, I work in a little village school. One eager beaver teacher decided she would man a stall at the village fete in the name of the school. Then progressively all the other teachers were expected to volunteer at the fete. Then an eager beaver TA decided she would volunteer too. So now all school staff are expected to give at least half a day at this fete.

I really don’t see the issue with a person being like that.

I used to do bloody everything in my last job, worked myself to the bone and made myself sick. I did the work of most of my team of 8 people. I got assigned a lot more work than most. I was there for 4 years and when I didnt get my promotion - again - I went on paid sick leave due to an exhaustion meltdown and got a new job.

On the few days after I left, people were still texting me asking for help, and they were blocked. Another few messaged saying the company treated me appallingly and gave me best wishes.

Ive been at a new company now for almost 3 years and I do the bare minimum, and log off. 2 pay rises later as well.

Ive come to the conclusion that working yourself to the bone isnt worth it.

I know what you mean OP. In my experience it only takes a few people like this to really change the dynamics, and unsaid expectations, in a team.

I work hard, do my job well, to a high standard, and don’t mind doing an extra hour or two here and there. But when I log off work, that’s it until the next day. A few weeks back a colleague sent a non-urgent email to me and five others around 6.30pm (just after I’d logged off). By the time I’d opened my emails at 9am the next day everyone else on the email thread had replied, and they’d all got into a quite detailed back and forth discussion.

I then felt a bit on the back foot and as though I’d done something wrong and would appear lazy. Though I knew they were all going above and beyond and my approach was absolutely fine - the danger is there’s a tipping point when enough members of a team are doing this ‘eager beaver’ behaviour that it becomes the norm, and others feel pressured to join in.

Ugh I've been accused of being this.

Firstly I'm detail-oriented and conscientious. When I do something I do it correctly and consistently. I'd rather not do something at all than half-arse it. This isn't about sucking up to bosses - I'm far from one of life's brown-nosers - this is because whatever I do has to be done well if not perfectly. This is the case outside of work too!

Secondly I tend to be good at the tasks I take on and can work very, very quickly. I'm not slogging away putting in overtime hours to get everything right. I WFH and manage my own time so sometimes people see me working on things at odd hours and assume I'm pulling a 15-hour day - but often I'll have taken a few hours out of the daytime to do my own things (obviously having told anyone who needs to know) and am returning to work when it suits me.

Thirdly I'm private with colleagues and don't tell them 99% of what I get up to out of work. I couldn't care less if they think I don't have a life, because they're not my friends.

"It makes us look worse" - well how about you do the work well and not in a slapdash way so I don't have to go back and correct it?

V glad I'm not in that environment any more.

A colleague who works all hours doesn't diminish the quality of anyone else's work or advice. In fact, it reflects badly if they can't manage their time and I'd be concerned that they weren't looking after themselves.

But I'd rather have an eager beaver than a stirrer, moaning about their colleague behind their back & sewing division in the team because they are insecure in their own abilities.