Imagine you have a successful day at work. You have delivered to your boss’s expectations by completing a critical project or assignment well within the due date, winning a key sale; or wait, even much more than he expected of you.

While that should make you feel great, many star workers are subject to something known as performance punishment.

So, let us understand what exactly it is. It commonly happens when you outshine everyone at work and, in result, are rewarded with even more work or a challenging task.

Isn’t it true? Think about it. When our star performers at work get the job done, we ‘appreciate’ them with a colossal amount of work instead of a promotion, a bonus or even a simple “Kudos”. It’s not the incompetent jerks who get asked to do more work. In fact, they hardly manage their regular work. As someone rightly pointed out, “when you need something done, give it to a busiest person in the room.”

If we look at this with a different lens, It is also true that if you perform consistently, it means that you are ready for more responsibilities and, naturally, the managers would thrust additional work upon you. Although more work may spur most performers, and they take it as an opportunity to prove themselves, in the long run it may not be a healthy trend. Particularly, in a team environment, it can sound like one person is being overtasked. This could cause envy among team members and lead them to evade their own obligations at the work.

Mostly, work punishment is subtle. Until it’s too late, you won’t realize what hit you. The stress, pressure and the workload start to mount while the future growth prospects disappear. By this time, you would be disgruntled, exhausted, and overburdened.

Top performers themselves are somewhat to blame for this. They will usually say ‘yes’ to anything and everything being thrust upon them and work extended hours to get all done. Perhaps, they are at the mercy of their nature, or possibly they need opportunity or an acknowledgement of their work.

On the other hand, while good performance is mostly appreciated, a few bosses still don’t generally know the art of motivating their team members. It may not always be the case that bosses are handing over you more work to damage your career prospects or spirit. At times they are more concerned with the deadlines or quality of work and think you are the best fit to do a certain job. What they don’t realize unfortunately is the challenges the worker experiences with all this.

The truth of the matter is it occurs, and it sets your star workers up for fatigue – or worse, quitting your organization. How would you know whether you are responsible for ‘punishing good employees?

• You don’t mull over requesting your top employees to take on additional work – consistently
• They are frequently getting sick
• You exchange emails with your high performers late into the evening and on weekends and expect them to respond immediately
• They don’t use their paid time off (PTO) due to busy schedules

So what would be advisable for you to do? If above matches your management style, here are some of the options to prevent ‘punishment for performance’.

• Quit heaping on the projects. Your star worker may hesitate to admit that they are overwhelmed with work. They are thinking (subconsciously, obviously), “Hi, I’m the best performer. I can deal with it.” Or ‘he needs my assistance; I can’t decline his request.’
• Keep communication open with them. Learn if they are doing fine. Keep a check on their workload and ask if they are comfortable with it. Are they able to maintain work-life balance?
• Where would they like to see themselves in next few years?
• Do they think they are professionally developing? These are boatloads of questions but something you need to be aware of with your best workers.
• Apprise them of the fact that they are ‘Hi-Po’ and that you can help them grow with your organization. Devise the collective strategy for the same.
• Take responsibility for their professional development. Anyone who sees they are being valued and appreciated will always like to go the extra mile and work hard.

Career development is an ongoing process. When your elite performers get that, they become more loyal to the company. As they build their expertise and competencies, they advance in their careers, which is good for the company too. Each party benefits in some way or another and it avoids ‘performance punishment’.