Invisible Work — Gretchen Rickards | Coaching and Consulting

Invisible Work Resources

Tools from the session

These tools may be helpful in continuing the reflection and conversations started during the session.

Invisible Work Participant Worksheet

A reflection tool for identifying what's being carried, considering its cost, and deciding what to keep, reshape, share, or put down.

Download the worksheet

Invisible Work: Key Takeaways

A one-page summary of the key ideas and frameworks from the session.

Download the summary

Both are free to download. No email address required.

Continue exploring

Additional perspectives on invisible work at home, at work, and within medicine.

Invisible Work Arlene Kaplan Daniels · Social Problems
The foundational article on work that goes unseen or undervalued.
The Cognitive Dimension of Household Labor Allison Daminger · Harvard Kennedy School
Research on anticipating, deciding, and monitoring as forms of cognitive labor.
Fair Play Eve Rodsky
A practical framework and card deck for making and redistributing invisible work at home.
The No Club Babcock, Peyser, Vesterlund & Weingart
Research and practical strategies for addressing non-promotable work.
Primary Care Physician Gender and Electronic Health Record Workload Rittenberg et al. · J Gen Intern Med
Research on gender differences in patient messages and EHR workload.
Citizenship Tasks and Women Physicians Armijo et al. · J Womens Health
Research on women's disproportionate share of citizenship work in medicine.

What are we asking others to carry?

Invisible work is not only an individual issue. Leaders and organizations shape what work gets noticed, who carries it, what gets rewarded, and whether unnecessary work continues at all.

For leaders, the framework from the session offers four places to start:

NameIdentify and make visible work that might otherwise go unrecognized.
DistributeAllocate necessary work intentionally and equitably.
ValueRecognize and reward work that matters.
RedesignEliminate, simplify, or resource work differently when possible.

Consider: What invisible work is being carried on your team? Who is carrying it? What is being recognized and rewarded? What could be distributed or designed differently?

For leaders who want to go deeper

The Invisible Work Draining Your Best Employees Harvard Business Review · 2026
How leaders can recognize and reduce hidden mental load.
Why Women Volunteer for Tasks That Don't Lead to Promotions Harvard Business Review
Why equitable distribution of non-promotable work is an organizational responsibility.
The Hidden Costs of "Helping" Harvard Kennedy School · WAPPP
How managers can address the career costs of undervalued work.

Continue the conversation

I work with healthcare and organizational leaders through executive coaching, leadership development, and interactive workshops and retreats.

Gretchen Rickards, MD, PCC · GR Coaching & Consulting