Being a top performer in your job should be a ticket to better opportunities, greater rewards, and more fulfilling work. But what happens when instead of being celebrated, your dedication is treated as a free pass for more work, higher pressure and relentless expectations?
The issue is simple, a severe lack of fairness and consistency is driving employees straight to exhaustion.
Research from CIPHR indicates that around one in six employees feel their company fails to apply key policies, like those governing reward and discipline, in a consistent way. When rules feel arbitrary, it quickly creates a culture where overwork isn’t just common, it’s the norm.
The problem seems to be a growing one, as dozens of employees on social media platforms have been sharing their stories of being given extra work for being consistent workers, this has led to the term “Performance Punishment” being used to label the practice.
To understand the impact of performance punishment from someone who has experienced this firsthand, we sat down with a former lawyer, Gemma Ellison, who shared a powerful, yet increasingly common, story of how her high performance ultimately led to her career’s breaking point.
Gemma: “I guess the first thing to say is that at first, I didn’t feel like I was punished, in fact it was quite the opposite. When I was a young lawyer, I had a significant family bereavement. My tool of grief was to work, relentlessly. I was already in an industry where I felt like an imposter, so I worked harder than maybe others to try to feel like I was as worthy as them to be in the industry I was. I then started to be recognised for my high performance. I received citywide and national awards, and promotions and opportunities came my way.
“But there was another side to it. Because I was willing, because I worked hard and because I was a high performer, I was given extra work, and higher expectations. There was an occasion where someone who was sitting next to me was asked to go out to a client, and she refused. The instruction came to me next and there was an expectation that I would just do it – so I did. If I met my target before year end (which often I did), instead of being rewarded, my target would just be increased. The first time I took a two week holiday in my career was after I’d left the law because the pressure and the caseload left behind just wasn’t worth it.”
Gemma: “It impacted my morale for sure. I felt that my nature was taken advantage of but then I equally was made to feel that I should be grateful for the opportunities that were coming my way.
“The financial reward impacted my morale. I was always a very target driven person so for me to hit a target and the reward not being forthcoming, instead the reward being an even higher target made me feel undervalued. Despite being one of the highest performers, I was always one of the lowest paid in my team.”
Gemma: “Yes, particularly my manager. It wasn’t taken seriously because that was the industry we were in. There seemed to be an expectation that we would just work relentlessly with no recognition. Sadly in a lot of law firms, that is very much still the case.”
Gemma:“It ended with me leaving law!”
Gemma: “I don’t think people who are more capable should carry more of a work load. I do think people are punished for working harder. That’s not always obvious but I think it shows up in how organisations reward visibility over value. People who quietly take on more without complaining often end up carrying other people’s slack.
“The other issue here is burnout. In workplaces that lack psychological safety or good leadership, hard work isn’t balanced with recognition or rest. I think we need to get better at distinguishing between effort and output, and we need to create systems where contribution is actually sustainable. Working hard shouldn’t mean paying a personal cost to the extent that it seems to.”
Gemma: “I think for managers, I’d say pay close attention to your team. You’ll notice if there is a person who is holding things together, keeping things running smoothly, and maybe someone you constantly rely on. Don’t make the mistake of waiting until they burn out before you thank them. I also think looking at distributing the load before exhaustion happens is key. A lot of managers don’t really spend time looking at how their team actually works and the pain points (often because they have another day job too), but watching, noticing and taking action is key here.
“The other big thing is to model boundaries yourself. I used to have a manager who would say “do as I say, not as I do”, but that’s just not how things work. If you’re constantly cancelling or working on your holidays, or responding to emails at 1am, your actions will be showing a lot more than your words.
“For employees in this situation, start by calling out and naming what’s happening. Notice when ‘just doing this one thing extra’ becomes your default position, and ask yourself whether it’s sustainable. This is all about being clear about your limits. Speaking up is hard, but worth it. Remember your boundaries and limits are important.“
Thank you to our interviewee for sharing such a candid and important perspective on a problem that plagues so many modern workplaces.
For employers looking to gain insight and better understand employee frustrations, take a look at Stribe pulse surveys.
Gemma is a former lawyer and current Culture Director who is passionate about promoting sustainable work practices and healthy corporate cultures. She uses her experience to coach leaders and teams on avoiding burnout and ensuring fair compensation for high performance.
