Doing your colleague’s unfinished work? UAE voices on the ‘if I don’t fix it, who will?’ trap

“Doing your colleague’s unfinished work? UAE voices on the ‘if I don’t fix it, who will?’ trap”

In July 2024, Dubai-based Rachel (name changed on request), was struggling to finish work. Not hers, but the work left behind her colleagues. Nobody had explicitly asked her to do it, but a rather ‘insidious’ fear as she says, had crept in. “I had finished my targets, but my teammate hadn’t, and she needed help. I stepped in, and in the end, I did her work too, because I felt as if I had to do it.” So she did, working extra hours and even covering for her teammates. They were grateful, but she…