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Exploitation is common in the USA workforce and in the global marketplace. Unions are dying, all sectors of business are shrinking, and the bosses know you are running scared. With the mortgage crisis, food prices, energy prices, and daily living expenses, even the best employee worries about stability at work. How many know chronically unemployed friends and relatives? Which one of us wants to live like that?

These realities of our workforce are a recipe for exploitation. Avoiding it is probably impossible unless you work for the best of companies. Managing it is your best defense. Be aware that you will be asked to go beyond the scope of your job, you will be asked to work hours in which you are not paid, you will be hounded about deadlines that are impossible to meet, you will be given piles of work and smiled at brightly as you stuff them into your briefcase to take home that night. If you are on "salary" you may find you make scarcely above minimum wage when you count the hours you spend at the office and at home working.

Managing exploitation involves the following strategy, be aware of what is being done, make sure your boss knows you are aware of the exploitation, and keep careful records of what is expected of you during a typical workday. You may need those records to push you to a new job or to share with the human resources department when you have finally had enough.

To be fair, your boss is probably being exploited too. He or she is likely under extreme pressure and is using you as a scapegoat. Instead of hyper-focusing on your own situation, try to notice those things your boss is doing that are probably above and beyond his/her job title. Comment on them occasionally, let your boss know you notice how you see the overwork on his/her shoulders. It may not win you all the brownie points, but it may get your boss thinking a bit about changes which could make a difference in your work life-more help, better technology, a new boss.

So, keep a record, don't be silent, notice all the things happening around you, and remain conscious of your overwork, don't let it creep up on you and cause an illness or burnout that will interfere in your next job.

Learn more about this author, Dusty Summer.
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