Despite significant progress in labor protection, exploitation in the workplace may be more widespread than is generally assumed. In today's Western labor markets, shifts in working conditions have led organizations to adopt subtler forms of exploitation that serve organizational interests while undermining employees' well-being. These dynamics often involve seemingly acceptable practices, such as neglecting employee needs, fostering relative deprivation, or ongoing job insecurity, that workers may inadvertently normalize. This qualitative study explored how employees conceptualize work exploitation and the coping strategies they use to manage and recover from these experiences. Participants first took part in individual interviews addressing their perceptions about the employee-organizational relationship and their coping responses to work experiences. Two months later, a recall interview was conducted in which participants were presented with a scenario-based summary of their previously reported experiences and asked to evaluate whether each scenario represented exploitation and to define what constitutes an exploitative work relationship. Twenty-two full-time workers (68.18% women; M = 36.86 years, SD = 10.00; M = 7.95 years tenure) participated, with 20 completing the recall phase. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, combining deductive and inductive reasoning, and organized following Gioia's methodology for data structure. Results showed that 72.73% of participants regarded their work relationships as exploitative, with 87.50% of those identifying both relational and structural dimensions of exploitation. Exploitation was perceived as more likely when individuals had limited negotiation power and lower financial stability, while perceived freedom of choice and personal responsibility attenuated the perception of exploitation. Coping strategies were mainly directed at relational rather than structural exploitation, often through emotional regulation when employees felt undervalued or ignored. These findings provide insight into employees' lived experiences of exploitation, underscoring its implications for occupational health and well-being and highlighting the need for interventions to mitigate exploitative work environments.