One of the most common gripes among young new hires is feeling taken advantage of. Sometimes you’re doing your boss’ job for half her salary (and none of the accolades), and sometimes it’s the opposite, doing all the grunt work with no opportunities for improvement.
But working your way up from the bottom rung is a celebrated bit of American folklore, something most professionals endure early in a career and pass on to their own interns and inferiors later in life. Still, there’s a difference between being stuck with “new guy work” and being disrespected.
If you’ve ever wondered, “My boss treats me differently, am I being taken advantage of?” here are five signs you might be getting the short-end of the stick.
- You’re always working last-minute overtime. It’s one thing to work long hours with plenty of notice (or because you’re choosing to), but if your boss is frequently sticking you with last-minute weekend or unscheduled work, it’s a sign that s/he isn’t valuing your time and well-being. Being a team-player and working extra hours can give you a leg up, but it’s important that you’re work is being appropriately valued and appreciated.
- You’re expected to work more and harder than your similarly-paid peers. You don’t want to get stuck in a game of resentful comparisons, but it’s important to be self-aware in the workplace. Not all industries reward the best team-members like a career in sales might, but there’s nothing wrong with feeling like you deserve a pay-bump or promotion over one of your co-workers if you’re doing a good job. If you feel like your work is head-and-shoulders above your peers but you’re never getting credit or traction from the superior performance, it’s worth thinking about what’s happening. Is your work being overlooked or are you being willfully stagnated or taken advantage of?
- You don’t get the support you need or ask for. If your boss isn’t receptive to your calls for support or requests for resources, it might show that s/he isn’t sympathetic to your workload. Even worse, it might be that your boss doesn’t realize how hard you are working or understand the intricacies of what’s required of your job. Nobody should be left out on an island by their boss.
- You don’t get feedback on any of your work. You shouldn’t expect constant feedback, but if you feel like you’re consistently pouring out good work and never getting any reaction from your superiors, maybe something is up. Try a gentle prodding at first by checking in with a boss to see if there’s anything you can do differently.
- You’re accomplishing work generally reserved for your superiors. This is a tough one to balance out. On the one hand, bosses pass off their employees’ work as their own all the time. On the other hand, because it’s such a regular feature in the work lives of upwardly mobile young professionals, having a superior’s name slapped on your work can definitely constitute exploitation. We all have to pay our dues, but not forever.