MANILA, Philippines — Over dinner, a couple of friends mused over one work condition usually placed in an employment contract that is fast entering the endangered species list: “You shall do any other task assigned to you by your immediate supervisor.”

That sentence was a fixture in the contracts my friends, colleagues and I signed back then, all the way from our first job in the mid-1980s to 2000. It was vague, broad, and can mean a hundred different things, from emergency work that your boss had to pass on to you to small errands that were given to you because no one else was available to do it. Or, as you grew in rank and age, nobody else could be trusted enough to do it.

If anybody then had thought of the possibility of managerial abuse, very few bosses were prone to it. Nobody was told to pay for the boss’ personal bills or buy a gift for his wife. But there were a lot of small tasks to be done that did not fall within one’s stated realm of responsibility: a memo to the next department, a concept for a paper, a meeting with a client who the boss cannot attend to.

And we took it in stride. As young employees fresh out of college, it was part of our learning curve. And later on as we became older and became managers ourselves, the extra work was something we were glad to do—as long as priorities remained clear—for the boss who watched out for us, the company who paid us the salaries that provided a roof over our heads and food on the table, or both.

Yes, we grumbled. But chances are, we only did when there was a lot of work to be done on our immediate plate, and priorities were getting muddled. But we did not question the statement in principle.

The same cannot be said of today’s young generation of employees. Maybe it started in the mid-2000s. But that was when that small phrase and the principle behind it were slowly, discreetly, and sometimes not so discreetly questioned.

Like in our first job experience years ago, today’s young employees wanted their job description defined; unlike us, they wanted their tasks limited only to the stated description. The more stubborn ones, when asked to do something outside their set boundaries, immediately resort to their favorite disclaimer: “It’s not part of my job description.”

I can only theorize at the actual motivations behind it in the absence of an actual study. Maybe it’s part and parcel of the Gen-Y Generation who want everything transparent and open and cannot indulge in any form of ambiguity. Or maybe they are so keen on preserving their after-work life that any other tasks that can get in the way will be seen as a possible hindrance—accepting the task might mean unwanted overtime.

Or maybe, and more troublingly, while we older folks tend to balance the general welfare of the company (or at least our department) in mind with our personal needs (something taught us by our baby-boomer mentors), the Gen-Y is all about Me: if the work is seen as an intrusion or does not align in any way with their personal vision, it is undesirable.

Unofficial mentorship

This is something that some of us Gen-X managers and business owners find lamentable. That “something extra to the job description”—as long as it does not get in the way of priorities or confuse responsibilities and job delegation—is something useful not just to the overall good of the company but the employee as well.

First, it teaches you trust. The minute you sign that contract and accept that “something extra,” you are affirming to your boss that you are willing to go the extra mile for the company should there be a short of hands. At the same time, you trust him that the extra work that he passes down to you will truly be beneficial to yourself and your colleagues; and that as he entrusts you with it, he also wants you to learn something from it or shine in a field you may be a stranger to.

Second, “that something extra” broadens your horizons. It widens your professional field of vision from your immediate concerns to see what other colleagues, partners, and clients in the other department may see as valuable and important. It helps you understand their perspective, which goes a long way when the time comes for you to synergize with them on certain projects.

Third, it enriches your skills. It may be an internal change within your disciplines, from writing press releases to ad copy; or it can be a leap, from writing web content to assisting in an event production. Yes, it will take you out of your comfort zone.

But once tossed into uncharted waters, you learn new things, see new ideas, and if you are engaged in them, perhaps pursue them to learn new skills. The web writer of today may be able to add events management to her resume in the distant future. That means greater leverage for a promotion or access to greater opportunities beyond your present scope of work.

Finally, doing that something extra gives you a glimpse of the boss’ mind. Many of the things that managers learn are not derived from books, but are picked up along the way in the school of experience. A lot of us learn it on the job. But taking on some of the tasks your boss gives you also gives you the opportunity to learn how he thinks, how he addresses the concerns of the company, the strategies he may take to counter the opposition.

You see how his mind works—and whether or not you agree with his approach, it will lift your mental plane to a higher one. The supervisor in you will start seeing how a manager thinks.

Let’s not be too hasty in putting that “something extra” clause aside. Granted that this is the Me Generation, but as in life, there are certain things you can’t realize on your own alone. Want to be a boss? Think like one—and start obliging him with the small tasks that ultimately contribute to a bigger whole.

Cora Llamas is a communications specialist and a magazine journalist grounded in various industries of the business sector, such as human resources, BPO/call centers, among others. Feedback welcome at corallamas2002@yahoo.com.