By Blessing Kemlo | Govel Fraser
What if some of the work keeping your organisation productive is also the work making your people exhausted?
Every organisation has an official version of how work gets done. Job descriptions are documented. Responsibilities are allocated. Performance indicators are agreed. Reporting lines are drawn.
But there is often another version of work happening underneath it all.
The administrator correcting information before it reaches management. The manager chasing decisions that should have been straightforward. The experienced employee quietly fixing errors because the team cannot afford another failure. The recruiter trying to fill a vacancy whose responsibilities have never been properly clarified.
These activities may not appear in anyone’s formal objectives. Yet the organisation may rely on them every day.
Introducing the Shadow Job
At Govel Fraser, we propose the term Shadow Job for the unofficial work people absorb to compensate for gaps in processes, responsibilities, decisions or role design. It is a practical lens for investigation, not a recognised diagnostic measure or a claim that invisible work has never been studied.
The Shadow Job can include chasing approvals, translating unclear instructions, repairing handovers, resolving recurring misunderstandings and taking ownership of tasks that technically belong to nobody. Some of this work is a normal part of collaboration. The warning sign is when it becomes persistent, unrecognised, unevenly distributed or essential to keeping the operation afloat.
Why leaders may not see it
When invisible work is completed successfully, its success can hide the problem that made it necessary. A deadline is met, so the late-night repair work goes unnoticed. A customer receives the right information, so nobody sees the three corrections made behind the scenes. A project moves forward, so the hours spent chasing decisions never enter the performance conversation.
When the work is not completed, the consequences become visible: delays, errors, customer complaints, conflict or a performance concern. The hidden effort was difficult to see; the failure is not.
This does not mean every performance problem is caused by poor systems. Skills, judgement, accountability and individual choices still matter. The point is that leaders need enough information to distinguish an individual capability issue from a role or process problem.
Five questions to uncover the Shadow Job
- What recurring work is being done that does not appear in the job description or agreed objectives?
- Which tasks have no clear owner, so the most conscientious person repeatedly takes them on?
- How much time is spent chasing, correcting, translating or redoing work?
- Who carries this invisible load, and what would stop if they were absent for two weeks?
- Are we fixing the underlying cause, or hiring or replacing people to absorb the same problem?
From invisible effort to better decisions
Start with a short work-mapping exercise. Ask employees and managers to record recurring tasks, interruptions, rework and handovers for a defined period. Compare the actual work with formal responsibilities. Look for repeated patterns, not isolated frustrations. Then decide whether the response should be clearer ownership, process redesign, development, workload redistribution or additional capacity.
Use the information carefully. The purpose is not to label employees as victims or managers as failures. It is to make work visible enough to improve it.
A question for business leaders: What is the Shadow Job in your organisation—the work that keeps everything moving but never appears on the organisational chart?
At Govel Fraser, we believe better talent decisions begin with better questions about the work itself.
Research note: This article presents a proposed Govel Fraser framing informed by wider research on work coordination, role design and organisational behaviour. It is not a validated scale or a substitute for organisation-specific assessment.
Author: Blessing Kemlo
Govel Fraser | Unlocking Dignity Through Opportunity