Performance punishment is a bizarre phenomenon that occurs in the workplace where high performing employees are given more responsibilities and work assignments–often without additional pay. Characterized by an unfair or inequitable distribution of work within an organization, performance punishment may also be used to refer to the subsequent criticism and intense scrutiny that high performers experience at the hands of their work superiors in comparison to colleagues at a similar level.
We see this time and time again in our places of employment. This lopsided application of standards and expectations. It’s when the personality hire earns the same or more money for far less work. It’s when the boss wants to offer the high performer the “opportunity” to learn new skills and take on more responsibilities with little to no compensation.
It’s a part of the same old corporate gaslighting playbook which argues that your salary is a direct reflection of the value you provide. Absolute malarkey! Because time and time again we see what happens when the competent employee grows resentful, burns out, and leaves. They divide that person’s work up among 3-4 people to achieve the same basic result.
The sad truth about corporations is that the larger they grow, the less they incentivize creative innovation, and the more they seek to uphold the status quo—reinforcing what already is. That is what a system is: a series of easily replicated actions. A predictable output for any given input. It is about controlling what is otherwise chaotic and unpredictable: i.e. people and production.
All this to say that there are very few options left for natural disrupters.
A disrupter is someone who challenges the status quo in some way. And no, not just for the sake of destroying systems. We’re talking about the kinds of people who simply stand out in the workplace. For whatever reason. Someone who deviates from the norm.
A disrupter could be someone with a strategic vision of where the company could go. With a realistic understanding of what problems need solving and how best to address them. It could be someone who just works faster than the rest, or who takes greater care in their projects and work assignments. The kind of employee who takes a natural pride in their work.
Whatever the case may be, positioning oneself (either knowingly or unknowingly) as a disrupter, comes with a whole host of unintended consequences:
- jealousy and envy from colleagues who resent their growing power and success
- animosity from low-performers who seek to avoid the threat of their work being compared to a higher standard
- gatekeeping from managers who find themselves uncomfortable with the high performer and whatever they stand for or represent
- burnout, health problems, and mental instability for the one being punished
- and severe scapegoating from the mob of upholders whose job or moral duty empowers them to simply do as they are told, keep the machine churning, and never ever question anything
Unless you are angling for a leadership position, it almost never pays to be a disrupter in the workplace. Those who do manage to break past the glass ceiling do so often at the expense of their own authenticity, playing a game that’s been rigged from the start.
These kinds of disrupters are a unique breed. If they don’t naturally have the desire to control and take responsibility for others, they’d better be at least willing and able to do so if necessary. If they aren’t socially adept, they must learn to be as nimble as possible as they navigate the complexities of office politics.
In other words, these people can see beyond the boundaries and limitations of the game’s arena, but they must continue playing within it as if they do not.
They must perform a delicate balancing act of both standing out among the group of worthy contenders, and going along to get along—so as not to raise the suspicions of literally anyone else. At the higher level of organization, this is what pretending to be an NPC is all about.
What is an NPC? For all the non-gamers out there, an NPC is a non-player character. Two-dimensional people that appear in a game setting whose purpose is to enhance the visual design and imagery and—more rarely—to further the plot of the game player’s heroic narrative arc.
These non-player characters tend to blend into the background scenery and are usually programmed with specific, predetermined actions and dialogue. Unlike the actual players in a game arena, NPCs are not tasked with the burden of completing missions, or facing off with bosses, or overcoming heroic trials. Instead, they escape detection by behaving in predictable ways and doing only what they are programmed to do.
Sometimes you must dim yourself to survive in the workplace and to avoid harm. If you are someone who approaches life with an open mind, a natural curiosity, an open heart, and a willingness to learn, grow, and solve problems, then prepare to be absolutely crushed by the late-stage capitalistic hellscape that is the modern day workplace.
Performance punishment is the natural byproduct of not behaving like an NPC at work.
Some might argue that this level of cynicism is unhelpful. But then again, so is willful ignorance. You could search far and wide, traveling across distant lands and still not find an exception to this rule. And what’s even more confusing is that many companies are looking for ~main character energy~ in the interview stage, but doing everything in their power to destroy it once safely onboarded.
Pretending to be an NPC is one of the only ways to protect yourself from workplace harm of various forms. Many hundreds of thousands of workers are already doing this. “Just keep your head down and do your work,” they say. “Don’t make any waves. Do what’s expected of you, collect your paycheck, and go home.”
For so many employees, this level of emotional detachment can be empowering, freeing up their creative energy for personal pursuits and life passions outside of work. By now, some of us are all too familiar with acting like non-player characters at work and in other areas of life.
We are the realists, the ones who understand what is outside of our own control. We can’t control criminals, but we can hide our gold chains. We can’t control catcallers, but we can hide our lovely curves. We can’t control whether working hard will yield fruitful results, but we can limit the amount of effort we exert in the first place.
We can choose to act like an NPC.
Now for the past few years or so, we have been discussing workplace issues like “quiet quitting.” This cultural phenomenon has been offered as a solution to overwork, burnout, wage stagnation, and resentment from illogical office politics. But one thing I think we don’t discuss enough is just how truly draining it is to wear a mask and pretend to be something that you’re not. Day in and day out —even when it’s in our best interest to do so.
Some might argue that pretending to be an NPC strips one of their agency and prohibits the natural flow of progress. At best, it is a short-term defense mechanism, intended for safety or survival against something we cannot change.
It should already be a given that the most dangerous position to hold within any organization is that of the low-level disrupter. As entry-level disrupters, we often find ourselves unsupported and facing attacks from multiple directions. In the worst-case scenario, our tiny ripples of insurrection will be made an example out of, sending resounding shockwaves of fear to all those who bear witness.
However, workplace NPCs find ourselves coming in at a close second in the danger zone. Because our collective silence amounts to nothing more than compliance. As author Zora Neale Hurston once put it, “if you are silent about your pain, they’ll k— you and say you enjoyed it.”
One way that society can move towards a more empowered mode of living, is by using the sway of collective agency to advocate for better, more humane working conditions. Not to throw the baby out with the bath water, of course, because basic professionalism still has inherent value to our businesses. But we need to be aware of the dangers and limitations of each one of us, one by one, choosing to dim our lights and quiet our rumblings for the sake of going along to get along.
After all, if so many of us are pretending to be NPCs at work, then that means that we have a great deal in common. Recognizing this basic truth is the first step we can take. Then we can begin to organize and start affecting largescale change to workplace systems that have become untenable. Because those who benefit from them the most never will.
The Color Cubicle 