How to get ahead at work without burning out — and this career expert says it’s not ‘first in, last out’

Ambitious workers get a lot of advice early in their career about how to get ahead. One common tip is: Be among the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave to show your boss you’re committed to the job.

Brianna Doe used to feel that way. When the marketing professional began her career about a decade ago, she’d often clock into the office early and work long hours “to show that I have the drive and the motivation, and that I want to grow within the company.”

Doe was eager to show her manager and people outside her department that she could “go above and beyond,” and she felt “a great way to do that is by being the first one to show up and the last one to leave,” Ms Doe tells CNBC Make It.

That being said, she said, “I also experienced such intense cycles of burnout by doing that.”

Looking back, Ms Doe recognises that the well-intentioned advice often comes with the caveat that working long hours shows your dedication to your work at the expense of your personal time and life.

“I didn’t have any sort of work-life harmony in my life,” Ms Doe, who now runs her own marketing agency Verbatim, said.

These days, she says, “I do believe that’s an outdated take, especially now that we’ve ushered in this new era of setting boundaries and prioritising your mental health.”

Stacie Haller, chief career advisor at ResumeBuilder with over 30 years of recruiting experience, agrees.

“I think people are savvy these days enough to know that just because you sit in the office eight hours a day doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a productive employee,” she said.

A better way to get ahead

Instead, there are plenty of other ways to use your time to show you’re excited about your job and want to grow.

“Establish relationships, find a mentor, get to know a team,” Haller says. “Observe the successful people, see how they work and operate, and ask for advice.”

Gen Z workers, in particular, are in a good position to prioritise building work relationships that can help them years down the line, Haller says: “That’s what you should be doing in the office. Don’t focus on getting there early and staying late just to make believe you’re a hard worker. That is not going to cut it.”

That message also has to come from the top. Doe believes bosses should re-assess their expectations if they’re focused on an employee’s time spent at their desk rather than what they’re completing or how they’re expressing their ambition.

“If your new employee is doing great work, and they ask you for more opportunities and want to be on different projects, that should speak more volumes than somebody who just stays later than you,” she says.

All of this being said, Haller adds that it’s important to follow your team’s lead in terms of when to show up and when to leave the workplace.

Adhere to the culture: Be on time, don’t be late, don’t miss meetings and “don’t have lame excuses,” Haller says.

Ultimately, she says, “If everybody’s there 8:30 to 6, be there 8:30 to 6. But if you’re showing up at 7 just to make some point to nobody but yourself, that’s a little crazy.”