Have you ever thought about “acting your wage” at work? A few years ago, I was working 60-hour weeks, saying yes to everything, and constantly chasing approval. My raise that year? 2.8%—less than inflation. That was my wake-up call. I started working closer to 9–5, stopped volunteering for every stretch project, and focused on doing my actual job really well. It hasn’t gotten me a fast-track promotion, but my stress is down and I sleep better. Have you ever made a shift like this? How did it affect your career—or your sanity?
https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/articles/what-is-the-act-your-wage-trend
Absolutely—if they’re paying me for 40 hours, that’s what they get. I'm done doing "above and beyond" for free while the C-suite cashes bonuses. Acting your wage isn’t laziness, it’s self-respect.
This is kind of what I think of when people throw around ‘quiet quitting’. The vast majority of companies will gladly take all the work you’ll give them and then MAYBE give you the comp to match. I’ve pushed myself a lot to work hard and it just hasn't had the results so why keep doing it?
Yep, started doing this last year after my year end review in 2023 got an “Exceptional” rating but a 2% raise and a shitty bonus. I decided I was done killing myself for zero benefit. So last year I did exactly what I was paid to do and nothing more and got a “Successful” rating, a 3% raise, and the same craptacular bonus I got the year before. But with WAY less stress and much better work life balance. So that was kind of like giving myself a raise for all practical purposes.
Absolutely. I think everyone has this experience early on in their career, where they're so eager to prove themselves that they consistently go above and beyond just to get pitiful "raises" in return. I've reined that in a lot over the years and my WLB is 10x better as a result.
Pro
That sounds like a really healthy shift. It's so easy to get caught up in overworking without much reward. I've been pretty good about keeping my workweek at or under 40 hours unless it's absolutely necessary.