Entitlement may be killing your happiness at work

Have you ever felt like management treats co-workers better than you even though those co-workers do less work? Do those co-workers seem more entitled to higher pay or other recognition even though you're more cooperative, hard-working, or productive?

We see the ego-driven person get rewarded above the hard worker throughout history. Martin Luther King Jr. got more recognition for progress in the civil rights movement. Yet Rosa Parks put in hard work over years and was reduced to a tired worker who refused to give up her seat one day.

Entitlement refers to a belief that one is deserving of some particular reward or benefit. In Bully Free at Work's "What does entitlement have to do with workplace bullying?," the writer says that if you feel resentment at work, your bosses may be treating you unfairly.

You may experience entitlement if:

• You do more of the work for less compensation. You may be the go-to person because you get things done, but you feel like a dumping ground or strategically positioned assistant so that others can feed their egos. Essentially, you're getting punished for caring more about the organization and cooperating.
• You get passed up for promotions for these ego-driven employees. Because you're the more trustworthy hard worker, ego-driven employees position themselves as above you, taking more pay and better titles for less work.

Entitlement may go hand-in-hand with the Dunning-Kruger effect, or simply sexism, racism, or any other -ism that you can't put a finger on or that the abuser would deny.

While employers may simply look for supporters to promote to higher ranks, let's not forget that support goes both ways.