{
  "id": 15877976,
  "title": "The hidden cost of being the ‘reliable one’ at work",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/the-hidden-cost-of-being-the-reliable-one-at-work",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-21T10:02:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91617787/the-hidden-cost-of-being-the-reliable-one-at-work-reliability-work-burnout-leadership"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Being the consistently dependable team member at work can earn trust, but it can also hinder your progress and lead to burnout. Experts warn against the pitfalls of becoming the sole person who can keep things running smoothly.\n\nSharing knowledge and training replacements are essential for personal growth and avoiding the trap of dependency. Staying the only one who knows something isn't job security; it's how you get stuck. Organizations must ensure that their most reliable employees are not rewarded with others' unfinished work while their own development is delayed.\n\nLeaders who exploit the competence of reliable employees should be confronted. They rely on strong workers out of a desire to avoid addressing underperformance, rather than to develop those individuals. Healthy cultures manage capacity as a strategic constraint, not an individual's weakness.\n\nOne engineer built a core piece of the operating system almost entirely on his own, but never documented or trained others in its use. When he went on vacation, the system broke, and someone had to track him down to fix it. This is an example of a business betting its operations on one person's memory, rather than fostering a culture of shared knowledge and growth.",
  "summary": "Being the always reliable team member at work can earn trust—but it can also limit your growth and cause burnout. Below, experts share how to challenge unfair expectations, set clear boundaries, and avoid becoming the only person who can keep things running. Learn when to share responsibility, seek career mobility, and move beyond a role that depends on constant overwork. Share Knowledge Before…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}