As a supervisor, you have some ability to dictate what your direct reports work on. The requests you make should typically fit their job description, though most descriptions have a catchall “other duties as assigned” attached, which is likely to cover you.
That said, the jobs you give someone generally have a particular expectation of the skills required, the hours to be worked, and the stress level associated with the tasks. If you’re going to ask someone to do something that far exceeds the norm, there are a few things you should consider first.
Are you taking advantage?
The people you supervise probably want to keep you happy. You have power over their evaluations, and your recommendation can help to propel them to a promotion or other opportunities. This means that when you ask your reports to do something, they are likely to agree.
You should make sure that when you’re making a big ask, the employee is likely to benefit rather than suffer from doing the work. For example, you have work that needs to be done, but you don’t want to put the time of a higher-priced employee onto it. If you’re going to try to save money by using a less-experienced person, you should be careful that you’re not adding a lot of extra hours or stress to their work just to cut costs.
Your reports pay attention to the hours that other people are putting in. If you ask far greater effort of them than you put in yourself, that can rankle in ways that may ultimately cause dedicated people to want to work elsewhere.
What are the long-term benefits?
When you are going to make that big ask, think about what benefits that work is likely to have for your direct report. Talk to them about those benefits when you make the request.
For example, a big project may give a newer employee a chance to work with senior leaders, or do work that is visible to them. That can help bring them future opportunities. A significant project may also help them to expand their capacities by taking on new experiences. That project may also lead to overtime (depending on how they are paid), allowing them to take home more money.
One reason for thinking through the benefits of this additional work for an employee is that you may discover that the assignment might be more beneficial for another member of your team. The more you can use significant tasks to develop your team, the easier it is to ask them to go beyond the norm.
What will sweeten the deal?
Of course, there are also some pretty onerous tasks that someone has to take on—and you may decide that burden should fall on one of your team members. In this situation, consider whether there are ways to make the burden less significant.
If the job is going to require additional travel or a lot of extra hours, you might want to offer compensatory time off or some time with a flexible work arrangement to reward them for taking one for the team.
If you’re going to give a team member a significant responsibility that adds effort and stress to their work, consider ways to help use that to further their career. Give that person additional mentorship to accelerate their career path or provide them with chances to engage with senior leaders who might ultimately be able to find additional opportunities for them.
When you use big asks as a way to give flexibility or career benefit to your team members, you create trust. The members of your team will talk to each other, and you don’t want to get the reputation of someone who drives people hard without looking out for them. When you give people challenge as well as support, you provide a motivating environment that allows the team to excel, even under difficult circumstances.