Companies are always looking for employees who can provide the productivity they need so that the company can move forward faster. It is only through productivity that the company will be able to survive and slowly increase in workforce and size.

As an employee, the best way to stay in the company for a very long time is to provide the expected productivity while being professional at all time. By being productive, you slowly establish yourself as a dependable person and in due time, your efforts will be noticed which will merit a promotion. It requires a lot of dedication but you are only practically doing what is expected of you.

On the other hand, there are people whose idea of being better at work is to provide extra work. They will volunteer for extra responsibilities or even suggest things that should be done which might be great in increasing productivity at work. These efforts are very commendable but they are only great as long as the person is doing what is expected of him. There are employees who are able to suggest extra activities to improve productivity but they are unable to cover their bases. They are not actually working on what they are paid for.

Never be lured to this pitfall. As an employee, you actually have a great idea on how to get things done or very enthusiastic at work that you are willing to provide extra work. Your company will appreciate the extra effort but they will never see it as a point for your productivity.

Although you are working extra hard for other activities, you are still expected to do your job even with additional circumstances. The worst thing you would do in your job is to reason out that your extra work has prevented you in doing what you are supposed to do.

Companies are not looking for individuals who can provide additional tasks. What they are looking for are employees who are able to work as expected. Even if you have done a lot of extra tasks, you will still be terminated if you have not done anything the company asked you to do.

But if you have a great idea which you think will help the company, do not keep them to yourself. Present those ideas to your manager or supervisor so that it could gain more support. If your boss approves it, make sure that this task becomes a part of the responsibility for those who are assigned to work on your suggestion. There is a great chance that you will be the one who will be working on that task since you have suggested it.

Getting extra work done to improve your career is a good thing. But that doesn’t mean that you have to forget the basic responsibilities assigned to you. You have to remember your basic responsibility while working on extra tasks.

If you have a great idea, make sure you can pitch it to your boss so that the extra task becomes your primary responsibility. Extra tasks could make or break your career, make sure you have done what you were originally asked to do before venturing to other projects.