At least at my work there's always more to do but that doesn't mean it's always worth jumping in on it. For instance I tend to be put on larger umbrella tasks

At least at my work there's always more to do but that doesn't mean it's always worth jumping in on it. For instance I tend to be put on larger umbrella tasks which take a few weeks. It isn't uncommon for me to wrap up a little ahead of time - sure there are things I could do but usually because of the way things have been planned there are other pieces of that puzzle which aren't fully in place either. So I'll poke around a bit but take it easy for that day or so. Sure, I could jump in to help someone else out for that day but is it really worth distracting that person to get me up to speed with what they need and what they're doing for what would amount to a few hours worth of work? Not really. The flip side of this is that when one finds themselves in a position where the deadline is going to be difficult to meet there's an expectation that extra time is put in to make it happen. As long as the two are happening roughly the same it balances out anyways.