OverEmployment: An Open Letter to Employers Who Made Us This Way

Dear Employer,

We didn’t set out to be OverEmployed.

You may think this is a rebellion. It’s not. This is adaptation. A quiet revolution of high-functioning professionals who still hit deadlines, deliver outcomes, and keep the lights on — sometimes across multiple org charts.

This is not about slacking. This is not about stealing time. This is about building resilience in a world that forgot how to offer it.

We Didn’t Start Out This Way

Let’s be clear: you laid the groundwork.

The endless restructures. The surprise redundancies. The “let’s merge your role with two others” announcements with no pay bump in sight. It wasn’t personal — we get that. It was business.

But if we’re expected to be flexible, lean, cross-functional machines... you shouldn’t be surprised that some of us figured out how to apply that across more than one machine.

The OE movement didn’t emerge from laziness. It emerged from necessity — and from a unique group of people who discovered they could do what most do in 8 hours... in 2.

What OverEmployment Really Is (And What It’s Not)

Let’s kill the myth:
OverEmployment isn’t fraud. It’s not slacking. And it’s not for the faint of heart.

In many countries — especially in the remote-first, private sector — it’s not illegal to hold multiple jobs. That said, check your contracts, know your local laws, and no — if you work in government, this is probably not for you.

But even more important than legality? Ethics. Execution. Excellence.

We don’t support slackers. And any serious OE’er will tell you: if you can’t excel in one job, you have no business trying to manage two.

We are not cutting corners. We’re cutting the fluff. The pointless meetings. The performative online statuses. We get sh*t done.

Of course, this entire scenario exists in a purely fictional universe. A parallel game server, if you will. None of us would ever dream of juggling multiple full-time jobs on Earth Prime. That would be ridiculous.
Right?

You Keep Asking Who Does This — Here’s Your Answer

You think it’s just a few slackers with too many screens and a caffeine addiction. It's not. The people doing this are the ones you already rely on — the ones who solve problems, move quietly, and never miss a deadline.

We’re not driven by rebellion. We’re driven by capacity.

Some signs you’ve already hired an OE’er:
✅ They manage calendars better than most people manage their lives
✅ They finish “end of day” tasks by 11:00am
✅ They’ve mastered the Slack–Teams–Zoom shuffle like a symphony conductor
✅ They’ve used a second monitor just to fake eye contact in two meetings

This is why we OE. Because we can. Because we must. Because some of us are wired for more.

And let’s not forget — CEOs do it. Board members do it. VCs do it. They call it “portfolio careers.” We call it Tuesday.

Why OE Exists (And It’s Not Just You, Employer)

To be fair, it’s not entirely your fault.

Wages haven’t kept up with inflation. Job security has become a myth. We’re told to give our all, only to be replaced by a reorg and a heartfelt Slack goodbye.

But this isn’t just a reaction. It’s a revelation.

Some of us OE because one job just doesn’t challenge us. Others do it because one paycheck just doesn’t cut it. Most do it because relying on one company feels like walking a tightrope with no net.

We don’t want to fight the system. We want to outsmart it.

What You Can Do Instead of Complaining

We don’t want to lie. We don’t want to juggle. In a perfect world, we’d give our energy to one place — and get loyalty, pay, and purpose in return.

But until then?

Respect performance. Reward efficiency. Don’t mistake quiet output for disengagement. And maybe don’t schedule another 4pm status update just to check if we’re online.

The OE Ethos: Quiet Power. No Apologies.

We’re not lazy. We’re leveraged.
We’re not rebellious. We’re strategic.
We’re not stealing time. We’re maximising it.

And yes — I may have been wearing an OE Crew hoodie during this entire open letter. But don’t worry. The camera’s off. You’ll never know.

By the way — this article, while structured with AI, was written by a real human. My words. My thoughts. Just organised efficiently with some digital help. After all, OE’ing is about productivity. 😉

And as always — this is all fictional. A little thought experiment happening somewhere on a game server full of high-functioning avatars. None of this is real.
But if it were… we’d be thriving.

Quietly. Brilliantly. OverEmployed.
👉 Support the movement – Shop OE Crew