The Fallacy of “Extra” Work

I worked at a company that gave people “bonuses” for working on internal committees and doing other things to help the company that were not officially part of their job description. They joined the culture committee, or the DEI working group, or acted as a new employee buddy because they genuinely cared about making the company a place they wanted to work, and one that was welcoming to others. Putting a dollar figure on that passion did a few things that really didn’t sit well with me and I quickly got rid of this model: 

- It told these people that their time spent on these efforts wasn’t equivalent to time spent on their “jobs” as the rate of pay was far less than what their hourly rate worked out to be
- It encouraged people who were looking to augment their earnings to join a committee or activity, even if they didn’t care about the cause
- It relieved everyone else of the obligation to care about these activities. They became someone else’s problem to solve. 

I do not think that this kind of work (and it is WORK) should be extra or unpaid. I strongly believe that evaluation and compensation systems should recognize and reward these activities, that everyone’s job descriptions should be expanded to include these tasks that make the organization thrive. 

Roles and workloads should be designed in such a way that there’s time and energy for this work. People should have choice in which committees or tasks they take on, but they should be expected to do something that contributes to the culture and the business.  

I’ve helped numerous companies build job ladders and performance management systems that include this kind of thinking, aligned with their values and objectives. It can be done, and it can create cultures where people put their passions into action resulting in healthy communities and strong, sustainable businesses.