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

I think your tone is a bit derogatory. I appreciate my co workers who can be a bit more flexible and lend a hand esp when mu kids were small. Now mine are older I repay the favours as much as I can

You do you and let them do them.

Or alternatively, you do you and force them to do you as well.

I don't mind people being super keen at work. But I do mind people being super keen at work, doing way more than they need to, and then complaining about being stressed and overworked.

There is someone at my workplace who consistently complains about how busy and stressed she is, never misses an opportunity to tell us in a 4pm meeting that she's sorry she's eating a sandwich but she hasn't had time until now to eat anything all day, is always still in the office at 7pm, sends emails at all hours etc. Constantly goes on about this. But the fact is that she doesn't have to do any of this. All the other people at her level work like normal people - busy days, sure, but not consistently and obsessively putting in loads of extra hours. And when she was on secondment and her role was backfilled for a year, the temporary person managed to do the job every bit as well without all the extra hours. Basically the only reason this person works the way she does is because she obsessively micromanages almost to the point of bullying her team - and yes (as she freely admits) she has very little else going on in her life other than work.

Ok, if they are trying to shame others..... then just plain ignore. Any attention or acknowledgement gives them just what they want.

Me. I usually start early and finish late because I work in a job involving vulnerable people and they don't neatly fit into a nice box re time!
However I don't work weekends or whilst on leave.
I have a life but I'm also really diligent and just want to do a good job. You don't join caring professions if you don't care.

My point was that your attack on their life outside of work is equally imaginary.

Ultimately their commitment at work makes you look bad and you don’t like thst.

@soupyspoon

Although, out of interest how does that tally with other countries where there is much more of a work life balance because people havent taken the american style approach of push push push.

National approaches to work and work culture are all national averages, though. There will always be outliers in all cultures. Some cultures encourage dynamism over family life, some encourage work/life balance. Some people in all cultures will be dossers and some will be push, push push.

But the bottom line is all societies require some people to go above and beyond. Whether that's working all hours to keep a business running, voluntary work or training to be a musician or elite sportsperson. You can't achieve this without some push and some sacrifice.

Obviously not everyone is going to be like that (probably most people aren't) and that's fine: it takes all sorts. But anyone who sneers at people who have passion and drive to go above and beyond is obviously jealous and a bit insecure.

In view of my personal experience, I find your post incredibly crass and self-absorbed.

Ee had one such woman in my old workplace. A secretary (I’m old), conscientious in the extreme. In early, home late, took all the overtime going. Single, childless, no immediate family.

She committed suicide after she was let go in a round of redundancies.

You have NO idea what’s going on in the lives of people who happen to work where you also work. None. Get over yourself and how such people’s private and personal choices for their own lives might make you look or feel. You are not the center of the universe.

I mean, sure, people who have no kids and decide to really dedicate themselves to a career are a thing.

And tbh I think they deserve to have that recognised with things like promotion. I go home, for the most part, at the end of my workday, on ocassion I will end up staying longer because i'm a manager and that's part of the job, but I have four kids and other things I like to do too, I'm not spending a ton of extra hours at work.

I don't expect my team to stay late either, they aren't that well paid and also have lives. I try hard to manage their time so they can take care of their other responsibilities too. However - I do recognise that some of them do go above and beyond and have special dedication - most (not all) of those do not in fact have kids.

I think sometimes that can come off as unfair when these people get promoted or special jobs or courses, and there is a balance to be had. Before I was a manager, there was a woman on the team I was working on who had been in the job many years. She wan't to move into a differernt position - almost a lateral move although pay was a bit more, but she wanted to go from working with the public to a behind the scenes job, in large part because the clientele had changed and she wasn't really keen on man of the new people who were a more challenging population.

She didn't get the position, it went to another internal applicant who hadn't been there as long, and caused some bad feeling, including amng some of the other older team members.

I think the differernce was, the older woman, although conscientious and competent, had always treated it as just a job, and had been clear she stayed mainly for extra health insurance as she had a family member with a serious health condition - (a family member who wouldn't need that insurance for many more years.) All perfectly good reasons to have a job.

The young women who was chose instead, otoh, clearly intended it as a career or even a vocation and had pursued extra education to that end. She was likely to stay for many more years in the role and eventually would be a good candidate to lead her technical team. I later, as a manager, had an interesting discussion with one of the other team members who had felt this was an unfair decision. She hadn't actually even considered the longer term planning elements, or the fact that the younger woman likely would have left eventually without a chance to move up, in a place where her education wasn't especially common. So my team member had been quite annoyed because she wasn't really thinking about the bigger picture for the workplace.

Although, out of interest how does that tally with other countries where there is much more of a work life balance because people havent taken the american style approach of push push push. Even in public services in Spain, Italy, France etc. I dont know how much is 'performance driven' in the same way government is here.

I'd give up OP, you've riled the masses for some reason. It reminds me of the responses about performance parents, with half the site furiously claiming they don't exist and everybody who disagrees is neglecting their children. MN is weird sometimes.

@SnugShaker

But my post was more about the impact their work style can have on workplace culture, not on their personal worth or stamina.

But basically what you're saying is that anyone who puts in more than the exact contractual requirement of their job is a saddo who has no life outside work.

You can't really be surprised that some people who like their jobs and have lives outside work think maybe you're just a bit lame in your own job...

Every job I've ever done has always had one eager beaver, but I've never looked down my nose at them for it. I was the eager beaver when I first graduated, as I thought it'd help me move up the ladder, but it wasn't sustainable and now I work to live rather than live to work.

I agree with you OP, surprised at the polling

I dont mind too much the types you describe except the implication it then turns to, which is that others who are just doing their job, are no longer doing 'enough'

But worse is the type who want to make sure 'the team' are performing enough, doing enough, 'the team' may need new stategies to do that and 'hey guys, Ive thought of a new way to improve this and streamline that'

When actually, Im doing what I can, in the hours I have and Im not slogging my guts out for no extra pay.

YANBU

Not just one, usually at least 10% of work force. They're either brown nosers or having nothing better to do IME.

I know exactly the type you mean. It's not just being conscientious, it's that they've made work their whole personality and the centre of their world.

It seems to make them happy but I can't relate.

Maybe they have loads going on, but also lots of energy to fully engage in both? Maybe they’re feeling sorry for your sluggishness at work, and imagine you lolling weakly at home on the sofa because you can’t even cope with an ordinary workday, so you’re probably unlikely to have an exciting social life, fulfilling hobbies, be marathon training etc.?

I really hate this attitude. It's a lame way for people who hate their jobs to sneer at people who don't.

It's a bit like people sneering at very conventionally attractive women saying "they must be thick".

Stupid, reductive and nasty.

But I agree with PP, it doesn’t mean they don’t have anything else going on. I used to be like that at work, volunteer for two charities, have a long-term relationship and friendships and over-function in most of them (and was very tired!)

Mine was a childhood trauma response (and you’ll find that many of the eager beavers have childhood trauma or at the very least very critical or not particularly loving parents).

It results in a deep feeling of not being good enough which you then overcompensate for…

I’ve heard this said many times over the years about people who work hard. I don’t like the implication that just because someone is dedicated to their work, their life outside work is lacking in some way. It’s a put-down.

Some people do have rich lives outside work as well as a good work ethic. Some people just seem to have loads of energy and enthusiasm for all aspects of their lives.

I freely admit that I lean to the lazy, but I don’t try to make myself feel better about it by disparaging hard-workers.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are just trying to do our jobs and go home.

If everyone just wanted to "do our jobs and go home" you wouldn't have

• Entrepreneurs
• Successful creatives (of all kinds)
• Paramedics
• Politicians and activists
• Teachers
• Journalists
• Engineers

Etc etc.

If everyone had a clock in, clock out mentality and no one ever put in more than exactly what was required in their contract there would be no excellence of any kind in work.

The fact you can't be arsed with your job doesn't make people who do like their jobs boring. Maybe you should change jobs.

We have someone like this. On her annual leave she will always ALWAYS be online on teams and work when she should be out of office for two weeks. She's a loner and I personally have had many bitter interactions with her. She isn't pleasant to work with and I can only imagine what she is like outside of work (very belittling and rude) so I can imagine she doesn't get up to much anyway, therefore, works instead. It's weird.