“Traditional gender roles are the first factor contributing towards this. Historically, societal norms place responsibility for emotional labour and caregiving on women. When a woman resigns, there is perhaps an assumption that she has more time, capacity or willingness to take on additional tasks.

“Women are automatically expected to be more nurturing, understanding or accommodating. As a result, individuals may, despite knowing that these women are leaving, turn to them for emotional support or additional work without fully considering the impact it has on the women.”

Being millennials and having entered the job market at a time that makes us continue to feel lucky to have a job – any job – even if we hate it, combined with being the most anxious generation in history, means that we can struggle to say no to requests for extra help. The requests often come from our peers who are similarly burdened with too much work from poor management and are just trying to stay afloat.

“When I left my job, I was immediately asked if I could take on another project after I’d left the company,” says Rachel, 36. “The company was in huge financial trouble, which was the main reason I was leaving. My colleagues were drowning in work and pleaded with me to take this project on as a freelancer. I knew in my bones that I would struggle to be paid for this work, as I’d had an inside look at the business paying freelancers late – if at all. But my workmates were desperate, so I said yes because I didn’t want to screw them over. I never got paid, just as I had predicted.”

Please can we let women quit their jobs without all the extra work?