“Pitching In” — The “Value” of a Woman’s Extra Effort in the Workplace

We’ve always understood a few basic things to be true about how our effort in the workplace is perceived and what being a real team-player looks like. You volunteer for extra tasks, you work hard until the job is done, you help others so the whole team can succeed. These are the things you do to show you care about your job, and that you want to succeed and grow. These are tenets of any great employee, and they’re expected of both men and women who want to move up their respective career paths.

Let me repeat that: being a hard-working, self-sacrificing team-player is expected of both men and women in order for them to succeed in the workplace. But is it valued the same way? The extra lengths that men and women go to to demonstrate their commitment and drive: are they perceived in the same way? Women who’ve spent long in the world of business will tell you from experience that no — often times the extra efforts they put in are not appreciated in the same way that their male peers’ efforts are appreciated. And unfortunately, experts are corroborating this same truth with research that proves: the value of a man’s “effort” is seen as greater in the American working world of today than the value of a woman’s effort. So what gives?

First, let’s understand the evidence. NYU Psychologist Madeline Heilman ran a study not long ago analyzing the perceived benefits of an employees’ willingness to stay late and mentor co-workers. The value of that “extra-mile” effort was then assessed by a third party. When the employee was male, the value of his volunteered effort was rated 14 percent more favorably than when the employee was female. However, when both the male and the female employee refused to work the extra hours to mentor their co-workers, the female employee was rated by onlookers as being 12 percent less helpful or willing to cooperate than the male co-worker. Summarily then, when a man volunteers to do extra work in the office, it’s appreciated at a greater level, but when a man refuses to do the extra work, he’s “dinged” to a lesser degree than his female co-worker. Multiple studies have since reinforced what Heilman found to be true: that the value of the woman’s extra effort in the workplace is, put simply, just seen as less.

Ladies, this sucks. What is going on here — why are my long hours and weekend shifts perceived to be less valuable than what Frank over in accounting does? Isn’t my commitment just as valuable as Frank’s?

Experts suggest that two big things are going on here. First, we as a society have got an underlying social expectation (that we’ve had for hundreds of years), that stipulates that a woman’s role is in caring, nurturing, and “helping.” Women are supposed to “care for” the team, the office, the co-workers. Going the extra mile by working late to meet deadlines, but mentoring newer staff, by cleaning up after the office Christmas party, is what we’re supposed to do as outlined by our role in society. This expectation is not the same for men: men are the innovators and the “do-ers.” So if Keith from marketing also hangs around post-Christmas party to help clean up, he’s going above and beyond, outside the societal norms that we expect from him, which is really going above and beyond — thanks Keith! Thanks so much for making the same effort that I’m making!

It’s horrifically unfair. Here’s the second thing that’s going on: Heilman and other experts suggest that the way women go about their extra effort is “quieter” than the way men do it. That’s not to say that we’re intentionally “hush-hush” when we mentor our co-workers or work late into the night. But oftentimes the extra work we take on or the way in which we go about our extra effort is not made widely known. An example: the last time your supervisor asked you to stay late to re-organize the file cabinets, who knew about it? Your supervisor, yourself, and maybe your girlfriend at work that you tell everything to. But men are typically and inherently vocal in their accomplishments and their efforts. When studied, Heilman found that men make extra efforts in ways that are known throughout an office — they’ll organize larger training sessions with communicated meeting times and places, rather than meet with individuals in their own offices to train on a one-on-one basis. They may not be doing this with any particular intention, but it’s the truth — the way men put in extra effort in the workplace is just more… “public,” then the way we women do it.

So, in the face of centuries-old social constructs, what can we female employees do to make sure our extra effort is appreciated for being as valuable as it is? We can’t change the social expectation on our own (unfortunately): that “mothering,” “nurturing,” “helper” label is going to take a lot of time and energy to wash from society overall. But we can definitely do something about issue two.

We need to get louder about the way in which we make extra efforts. The next time a co-worker asks for one-on-one training, make sure it happens within the hours of 9:00 to 5:00, and publicize it! Send an intra-office email “Hey gang, I’m conducting a training this afternoon at 2:00, if anyone else wants to come along please let me know.” The other thing we can do is be loud with our supervisors and bosses about why we can’t take on extra work. If your manager asks you to take on an extra presentation that you just don’t have time for, be honest about your commitments to your other tasks. “I’ve already volunteered to do this presentation for XYZ, and I really want to make sure it’s the best that it can be, so I don’t want to stretch myself thin here.” Make sure it’s known: the work you’re doing already is valuable. If you take on more, you TOO are going above and beyond, because you already provide so much value to your company.

Finally, when it comes to performance review time, be really, really loud with your superiors about all that you’ve done. This is your time to make them aware of the extra efforts they may not know of: the late-night brainstorming sessions with co-workers or the early-morning meetings they weren’t present for. Keep records of these occasions and these efforts, and be upfront with what was accomplished: “We were able to clinch this detail because of the presentation I worked on for several weekends in a row.” This is the right and appropriate time to brag about yourself — to make it clear that you’ve brought real, significant value to the team, and that you’re not a “helper” because society tells you you are: you’re a helper in the office because you’re a great employee.