While the statement team player can be twisted to doing extra work, the real goal is to have a group of people who are cross trained enough to keep working when some “random thing” happens. Say you have a contract that needs to get reviewed and signed, but you are going on vacation. Can you depend on someone else on your team to get it done? Would they do it for you?

This isn’t about them doing 60 hours of work, just doing something that isn’t their normal day job because it is important.

In sales it means covering another region due to someone having surgery. Or making sure their input for future plans is helpful for all and speaking up even if they won’t directly see a benefit.

Just because you see the statement “team player” don’t think less of the position yet. Learn what the duties are and get some info from others on if they are actually team players top to bottom and if they encourage a great work life balance. Some do, some don’t.