How to Stop Saying “Yes” All the Time and Avoid Burnout:-
If you’re like most women, you’re quick to help or volunteer for something at work. Your intentions are to be a helpful team player—a great quality! But what often happens is that you become the “Jill of all trades,” taking on new responsibilities and tasks outside your role.
This often leads to stress and burnout. Burnout is a serious problem in the workplace—research by Indeed found that 52% of survey respondents experienced burnout in 2021. While burnout should be avoided in and of itself, the other challenge here is that extra tasks often don’t come with a raise, new title, or promotion.
Let’s dive in a bit deeper and see what some options are so you can stop automatically saying “yes” and burning out on extra tasks.
Click on the video below to learn more about “Feeling Burnt Out At Work From Saying “Yes” With No Additional Compensation”
Step 1: Evaluate the Opportunity
If your boss comes to you with a new responsibility, it’s okay to pause and get clarification before taking it on. You may also need to work on developing self-awareness, so you know when and why you say “yes” to opportunities that lead to burnout.
Here are some things to consider:
- Is this a short-term or long-term responsibility? This is most impacted by why there are additional tasks. A recent study recorded 83% of respondents taking on up to six additional tasks due to coworkers resigning—a prime situation for burnout!
- What’s your capacity like right now to take this on? Will it take away from other responsibilities?
- Does this opportunity align with your future career goals? Or is it just “busy work” that’s not related to your future plans?
Step 2: Make a Plan
After evaluating the opportunity, you can make an informed decision to say “yes” or “no.”
If you don’t have the capacity, your other work will suffer, or it doesn’t align with your future goals… the answer should be no. There is no obligation to suffer burnout just to be seen as a team player.
But, if this is an opportunity that might align with future goals, plan for how you can incorporate it into your current workload. Things to consider:
- What you may need to offload to someone else to take this on.
- How long you’d be able to manage it in your workload?
- Who do you need support from, or will you be working with?
- What pay raise, promotion, or role change would be appropriate based on the additional responsibilities?
Step 3: Communicate with Your Boss
After thinking through all of these different things, you’re now ready to talk to your boss. Whether it’s “yes” or “no,” use the information, you collected to back up your response.
If you’re taking on a lot more responsibility, do your homework and be prepared to ask for a raise or promotion that matches the opportunity. Sometimes you will want to ask for a raise when given new tasks, but often it’s best to get a few months of the new tasks under your belt to show the results of your work.
This allows you to negotiate a salary increase for tasks you’re sure you want to continue, tasks you are good at, and it often will allow you to ask for more money. Since you can tie the value back to your results and not only on the work, you’ll be taking on.
Additionally, this method will ensure your boss doesn’t feel like they are being held hostage every time you are given additional work. The key is to properly evaluate the situation and scope of work to avoid loss of compensation long term.
I’m not going to sugar-coat it – these conversations can be tough, and advocating for your career takes preparation and practice. That’s why it’s so important to have a solid plan in place! Working with a career coach or mentor will empower you to make quality and timely decisions.
My Promotion Plan is my signature method to help women achieve the promotion of their dreams. It has seven tangible steps to complete and is designed to help women achieve career advancement, including how to talk to your boss! I’d love for you to join in and start working towards your career advancement goals today.
