You might have seen the clip from The Apprentice recently, where Alan Sugar mocked working from home and someone taking a two-hour lunch to focus on health and wellbeing.
This got me wondering - have you ever managed someone who boasts about always going the extra mile? They start early, stay late, work weekends, and take on more tasks than humanly possible. They wear it like a badge of honour. These are your workplace martyrs.
Maybe you have one (or several) on your team! The intention is brilliant. The behaviours? Not so much. So how do you spot a workplace martyr, and more importantly, how can you help them?
1. They Use Phrases Like:
“No one else can do it properly, so I just do it myself.”
“I can’t remember the last time I had a lunch break.”
“I was answering emails at 11pm last night—dedication, right?”
If your employee sounds like an overworked superhero with zero superpowers, you’ve got a workplace martyr on your hands. The problem? Constantly making themselves indispensable only teaches the team that they’ll always pick up the slack. And spoiler alert, this usually leads to burnout, not a gold star.
2. They Secretly Resent Everyone Else’s Work-Life Balance
They nod and smile when a coworker talks about their 5pm yoga class. Deep down, they’re thinking “How do they have time for that?” You might notice subtle signs like eye rolls when someone leaves on time, an overzealous work ethic that makes others feel guilty, or an inability to delegate.
Truth bomb - healthy employees set boundaries, and it’s your job as a manager to make sure they feel safe doing so.
3. Their To-Do List is Longer Than a Fantasy Novel
Their day starts with a list of ten things. By lunchtime, that list has doubled, and by 5pm, they’re still at their desk, drowning. They take on everything because saying no feels like a personal failure.
Meanwhile, their colleagues are calmly working through their reasonable workloads and still managing to do a great job. Maybe, just maybe, trying to do everything isn’t the key to success?
How to Help Your Workplace Martyr
- Normalise boundaries. Have a one-to-one chat where you actually praise their quality of work rather than their quantity of hours. Make it explicit with concrete examples, too.
- Help them prioritise by introducing the "if everything's urgent, nothing is" rule. Work together to rank tasks into "genuinely urgent," "seems urgent but isn't," and "can definitely wait until the caffeine kicks in tomorrow." Then insist they stick to it!
- Teach the art of delegation through practice. Start small: "Could you handle this part while Maya focuses on that?" Then gradually increase until your overachiever realises the world doesn't implode when they share responsibilities.
Most importantly, walk the talk. Send emails during business hours only. Take your lunch breaks visibly. Talk about your weekend plans. If they see you respecting your own boundaries, they'll start to believe it's actually allowed.
Now go forth and create a healthier, happier, and more productive team!
If you’d like one of the Laughology team to help you do this, get in touch with Doug (who also wrote this blog) and he’ll share how we can help you. Email: doug@laughology.co.uk. You can also look at our Positive Communication workshop.