That was exactly the situation with a government job I once had at a university. Even tho we had a union, a public employees one, to represent us, it could do nothing about favoritism between the bosses and co-workers who were lazy kiss-asses. It quickly became clear that hard work would only be rewarded, if you weren't one of the favored kiss-asses, with giving you a bigger workload, and no accompanying increase in pay or benefits, since those were collectively bargained. Since I always refused to kiss ass in my jobs, I had no motivation to work hard or go extra on anything except my own pride in a job well done. But as soon as I realized the job was very physically demanding and would wear out my body, as it did, within a few years, I wised up and did only enough to get by and perform satisfactorily. It always amazes me how many workers either play the kiss ass game or work themselves into the grave like suckers, because, either way, hard work by itself never gets rewarded in most workplaces.

I used to tell my ex that all the time when she kept taking on more work.

I did the above and beyond thing anyway because time flies faster when you're busy I worked in one office where I was the backup for six different positions in an office with only six different skills. Finally the next level supervisor realized what was going on and promoted me to his office where I only had two jobs.

Both memes are completely absolutely and verifiably true.

Absolutely every time

The only job I was ever fired from thought "atta boys" would improve morale. HAHAHAHAHAHA
Things at that place actually got worse after I was gone and the office manager finally admitted firing me was a mistake. HAHAHAHAHA
One of the reasons I think she fired me was because I tried to explain money talks bullshit walks. She also wasn't happy with my assessment of a prospective hire, I told her I thought he seemed like an axe murdering rapist. She hired him anyway; while he wasn't an axe murdering rapist, he did have a medical condition that kept him from actually doing his job. Or it could have been when I told her I suspect when she used FYI she actually was thinking 'fuck you idiot', because her attitude was certainly one of disdain when it came to dealing with the people she was suppose to be helping to succeed.
Some people just can't handle the truth.