I Refuse to Do Extra Unpaid Work Just Because My Coworkers Are Incompetent

Workplace drama can escalate fast when productivity, fairness, and office expectations collide. From unpaid extra work to toxic workplace culture, many employees feel pressured to do more while others coast. These situations can impact mental health, career growth, and even job security. One reader recently wrote to Bright Side about a conflict like this at work.

The letter:

Dear Bright Side,

I finished my workload earlier than my colleagues. While they struggled to keep up, HR told me that once I was done, I should take on their tasks too. I answered, “I won’t do unpaid work!”

HR shot back, “We pay you from 9 to 5 to do what we want. You’re here to work, not whine.”
I stayed polite and smiled.

But what no one knows is that I’ve been secretly paying attention to how my colleagues used their work hours, and I’d been taking notes.

The next day, everybody froze in horror when I revealed my notes: the extra breaks, the websites they browsed instead of working, the long, unnecessary phone calls.

Then I told HR, clearly and calmly, that I wasn’t going to do other people’s jobs while they spent time avoiding theirs. I also added, “If you were doing your job properly, you would’ve noticed this yourself. If you want me to leave, I can.”

I know I won’t be fired because the team relies heavily on me. But now I’ve also earned a new label: the “company snitch.”

I didn’t want it to come to this, but I felt backed into a corner. If I stayed quiet, I’d be stuck doing free work for people who weren’t pulling their weight.

Was I wrong?

— Alana

Thank you, Alana, for trusting us with your letter. You’re not alone in this workplace conflict, and we’ve put together practical career advice for navigating unfair workload, office politics, and HR pressure. Here’s our advice.

Ask for a “capacity receipt”.

Email HR: list your finished duties, the extra tasks they demanded, and ask them to confirm which of your responsibilities will be deprioritized while you cover others.

This forces a written trade-off (not “free extra”) and makes “we pay you 9–5” translate into an actual workload map. If they refuse to choose, that’s your proof the request was unreasonable.

Turn notes into a process audit.

Stop naming coworkers and reframe what you tracked into categories: “non-work browsing,” “extended breaks,” “personal calls,” with time totals and impact on deadlines. Share it as a one-page “workflow leak” report: what’s slowing output and how to measure it weekly.

You keep the facts, ditch the “snitch” storyline, and redirect the heat onto systems HR should’ve monitored.

Create a visible work scoreboard.

Set up a simple shared tracker (ticket board or spreadsheet) where every task has an owner, timestamp, and “done” definition.

When HR says “take their tasks,” you move items into the board and assign owners publicly, including yourself only for agreed swaps. It quietly makes hiding impossible without you policing anyone again.

Use your speed ethically.

Use your early finish time only on “high-leverage work” that makes you harder to replace: documentation, automations/templates, training notes, or a mini playbook that reduces future handoffs to you. Then announce, “I’m investing spare time into reducing team dependency on me,” not “I’m available for extra.”

It protects you against retaliation and flips your pacing into professional advantage, not extra unpaid labor.

Jane was offered double pay at a competitive company. When she decided to give her resignation, HR reacted in an unexpected way. Check out her story.