Navigating People-Pleasing at Work: Balancing Cooperation and Self-Care

Understanding the benefits and drawbacks of people-pleasing at work and learning how to set healthy boundaries and communicate effectively to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

People-pleasing at work can be tricky, as in some situations, anticipating your supervisors, colleagues, or clients' needs can be beneficial. But it's a slippery slope between anticipating the needs of others and taking on too many responsibilities outside your job description, causing your work quality to suffer and you to feel exhausted constantly.

On the positive side, pleasing others at work can lead to good relationships with colleagues, a positive work environment, and teamwork. Additionally, being able to anticipate the needs and future needs of your supervisor, clients and projects can make you an invaluable resource and can even lead to opportunities for promotions. 

On the negative side, however, you may often find yourself overworking without compensation or overgiving to underpaying customers. Recognizing when your people-pleasing behaviors are causing you more harm than good at work is essential.

In this article, I will show you how you can evaluate if your people-pleasing at work is more harmful than helpful, actionable steps on how to stop people-pleasing at work, step-by-step instructions on how to set boundaries at work, examples of how setting boundaries with supervisors or clients sounds like, and journaling prompts for you to reflect on your need to people-please at work.

Become a paid member today to unlock to take your recovery from people-pleasing into your own hands and get access to knowledge that will help you take control of your own life and happiness today.