Have you heard the term passion tax?
This “enthusiasm exploitation” means that people who love their job and are passionate about it might be expected to work for less pay, fewer benefits, or worse conditions compared to those who work in other professions. This screams EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION to me – after all, you do this work because it’s for the children and because we care deeply, right?
(FTR, yes, that is why we do this work and yes, we do care deeply – but “the job is its own reward” is not appropriate compensation for our field, you know?)
Early childhood educators are often willing to work long hours and take on additional responsibilities beyond their job description, simply because they are passionate about ECE and genuinely care about children and their families. While this additional effort is often driven by a genuine desire to make a difference, it can come at a cost to the employee’s physical and emotional well-being; this willingness to go “above and beyond” can lead to burnout, decreased job satisfaction, and a higher likelihood of leaving the profession.
Unfortunately, supervisors can sometimes unintentionally exploit their employees’ enthusiasm and willingness to work hard by taking advantage of their dedication and commitment without providing adequate support, resources, and recognition. Think about how many times we go back to the same Awesome! Dedicated! Enthusiastic! employees to ask them to take on a new task/challenge/role – we do it because we know we can count on them to be Awesome! Dedicated! Enthusiastic!, but is this really fair? We’re often categorizing this willingness to go above and beyond as an admirable work ethic, but what if it’s really a lack of boundaries?
I’ve been on both sides of this – the passionate team member who will always say yes to more responsibility and the well-intentioned manager relying heavily on the generosity of enthusiastic employees. I’m not sure I have a solution per se, but I’m thankful to have learned about the concept of a passion tax because it helps inform my perspective now – at minimum, my definition of work ethic has evolved and I’m more mindful of creating (and respecting) boundaries.
How about you?
