Sebastiaan ter Burg/Flickr/Attribution License Saying "no" at work is sometimes necessary. The key is knowing when to push back. Rejecting requests is a balancing act — you'll need to weigh your current workload and team goals against the needs and wants of others. Some factors to consider include the amount of work or effort that would be required, your values and time commitments, and the deadline. For my first job out of college, I worked as a writer at a financial startup in downtown San Francisco.