<p>Have others of you out there heard what seems to be a higher frequency of people complaining about their jobs? It is a tough economy and many are thankful just to have jobs, but it seems to me that many more friends/family are complaining about the pressure, the work hours, the managerial demands, the quantity of work to do that significantly exceeds the time available to do it, etc. In general, it does seems that many are expected to be doing the work of 5 people these days. The pressure seems to be high in many areas and the stress/burnout increasing. Are others of you seeing/feeling this?</p>
<p>Before the economy took a major dive the employee had the luxury of choosing to stay or leave a job if they didn’t care for it. Jobs were in abundance. Not anymore. So, instead of leaving they voice their displeasure. You work those longer hours since you don’t want to lose the “job.” I’m thankful in that I have a job, enjoy it and fear being let go and therefore will do what I have to do to keep it.</p>
<p>Jym, from my own perspective, I think it’s an issue of aging, or maybe maturing. When I was younger, I put up with more, and I had more energy, and I was more naive. Also, I hadn’t become jaded yet, in terms of realizing that working hard and doing your job well do not necessarily lead to more pay and promotions.</p>
<p>I’m just amazed at how mediocre-performing people who are good at politics and managing up are the ones who get the promotions and the pay raises.</p>
<p>I’m sure this is true. </p>
<p>On a related note (well, I think it’s related), we were talking in Sunday school about all the senior citizens you see working lately. One woman said, “I just love seeing those seniors working. They always seem like they just love their jobs.” Another woman replied, “They just look like they love their jobs. They’re pretending to be happy, so no one replaces them.” Overall, the consensus of the group was that more seniors were working because they needed the money, rather than because it gave them something to do.</p>
<p>I’ve just started freelancing for someone with whom I used to work who was pretty nutty. She is managing a project that is HUGE, too big for one person, really. I’m curious why she took the assignment as she acknowledged to me that it’s too big for one person, but maybe she took her gig for the same reason I did – we need the money. She’s driving me crazy with her manic behavior, and she’s probably manic because they are expecting the impossible from her, but everyone goes along because times are tough. They can’t afford to get her help, and so those of us down the chain get put upon because she’s so put upon.</p>
<p>Truthfully, I don’t see this project making more than a couple of months. Just not sustainable. So I figure I’ll put up with the headaches because they won’t be lasting for long.</p>
<p>Jym, I think people are happy to have a job and happy to have a paycheck. That being said, a lot of companies aren’t hiring enough people, have instilled pay-freezes, and so you wind up doing the work of 5 people for the same pay, or maybe even less. </p>
<p>My work has had everyone on mandatory overtime for four months now. It’s nice to have a little bit of extra money but it’s very stressful and everyone is getting burnt out. I actually called out sick a day this week because I was to tired to even move. Between all the overtime and two snow storms and a lot of shoveling my whole body ached and I had no energy. I literally got up out of bed and took a few steps and almost fell down. I’m usually the one who is there every day very rarely do I call out of work but I did this week. I went back to bed, slept till 2, woke up, ate lunch, went back to bed, slept till 7, woke up, ate dinner, went back to bed and woke up the next morning feeling much better. I just needed that day to de-stress.</p>
<p>I also think that since the economy is still in a bit of a lull and jobs are at a minimum, people are staying put at jobs they dislike rather then searching and finding a new job. Or maybe they are searching and not able. So not only are they not able to find a new job but they are working extra at a job they don’t even like.</p>
<p>Regarding seniors, I think it’s a 50-50 split. My grandparents are all retired but all of them except for one works just to give them something to do during the day. On the other hand, I’ve talked to seniors who still work just to get extra money to help with drug costs and things like that.</p>
<p>Agree with all of the above. I also remember when people felt “stuck” in their jobs because they were afraid to lose/change their healthcare benefits. All in all, right now, economy is down, work pressure is high, job satisfaction is low and we all tend to feel stressed and unhappy. Maybe we should pour some antidepressants in the water!!
I helped a friend move from the ranks of unemployed to under-employed. I thought, even though it was less than what she wanted, she’d be appreciative when I helped her land this job. Instead she just complained. :(</p>
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<p>I’ve really noticed this also. Especially in retail stores. I’m pretty sure we are witnessing the end of retirement at age 65…the first of the baby boomers are at retirement age and very few have put away enough money to live on until their late 70’s - early 80’s. Several men in my family who are in their late 60’s have said they will not be retiring any time soon.</p>
<p>Those of us that still have our jobs are doing the work of 2+ people. The 10+% of the workforce that are unemployed have not been replaced. Companies are happy to not increase their payroll, except for the top executives. BTW, I was out to dinner last night with a friend who works with one of the major players in Wall Street. He said the bonuses are coming back and are almost at the level they were before the downfall of the economy. Do the rest of you see raises and bonuses like that. Probably not, except if you’re a union worker!</p>
<p>^^What Michone said.</p>
<p>Where I work, we are losing people (luckily, most through attrition) and they are not being replaced. Yet the same amount of work must be done, and the deadlines seem to be tighter each quarter. So we are all feeling that. Add to that the lack of loyalty that companies (especially bigger ones) seem to have toward their employees, and everyone’s on edge. On edge, yet at the office, we smile, since we ARE happy to have a job. When we leave, that’s when the grumbling starts.</p>
<p>Me? I still am grieving for my stay-at-home mom days. But those tuition bills…sigh…</p>
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<p>LOL…me, too. I did manage to convince everyone, meaning my hubby and my boss, to let me reduce my work schedule to 3 days a week but it’s still not enough time at home. House is never organized and cleaned the way it use to be, we’re always struggling to stay on tops of chores, errands and every other little thing it takes to maintain a life. Working mothers have my undying respect. Don’t know how they do it.</p>
<p>Many in my circle of friends work in the auto industry. They have been demoted, don’t get raises, do the work that once was done by many more. They have been with the company for more than 30 years, and they don’t want to leave. They don’t mind their jobs … what they mind is the stress of having more work to do than one human should be expected to do (due to the cutbacks, especially now that work is picking up). My H works Saturdays because his department has too many projects to be able to handle all during the normal work week (he is in a lab, so extra hours on week days doesn’t solve the time issue). He has gone in on Sundays, at times. He loves the work. But at 50-something, he does get very tired.</p>
<p>I love the work I do, but I make far too little given my responsibilities. I would love to get another job, but I live in an area with too many skilled but unemployed people competing for too few jobs. I am stressed, and some days I want to pack it in. However, I need the money & it’s still better than minimum wage.</p>
<p>All in all, folks in these parts seem less pleased with their jobs, but almost always add “but I am glad to have a job” at the end of any complaints.</p>
<p>Funny you should ask this now. I just typed up my resignation for a job I started 1 month ago. I left a job I had for 9 years because the nature of it kept me outside for 6-7 hours a day and was very physical. My body just couldn’t do it any more. So I got a job in an HR dept. The person who hired me said she needed someone to help get her organized. I had worked in HR before I had my kids so I figured no problem. What I did not realize was that this person had only been there a few months, management had fired another person who had a very important job (making sure state regs. were met with employee training) and my boss had never been trained in that area. They are not replacing the person they fired, so now the 2 of us are trying to straighten out the mess. I came home every night and couldn’t turn it off. My stomach was always in a knot. There are a myriad of other issues, but bottom line is if the state comes in, they could find deficiencies and I’m sure the buck will pass to me. Sorry, as the lowest paid employee there, I am not willing to take that on. I have never walked away from a challenge, but I also recognize an impossible situation when I see one.</p>
<p>I have a friend who owns a store that is willing to hire me for now until I can find something else. That’s fine, I have never worked retail so I am looking forward to it.</p>
<p>I thought it was just menopause :).</p>
<p>Well, jym626, I love my job(s). Teaching an afterschool program PLUS tutoring. It’s non-union, no benefits, but I do feel like I’m making a difference.</p>
<p>I think people who really hate their jobs are those who don’t have options and who absolutely have to work for the money.</p>
<p>I agree with the above. The more control we believe we have, the better we are able to feel because we FEEL we have choices. Hubby COULD have retired a while back. This is one of the reasons he’s less upset with doing the work of 4 people than he would if he HAD to work (tho of course the pay really helps us with our bills). I know if things get unbearable I COULD quit and so could H–we would make adjustments.</p>
<p>They have done studies & found that people who have (or perceieve they have) the least control over their environment/work tend to be the most stressed. This makes sense to me because the feeling that we are making a choice to continue is very freeing (to me and H at least).</p>
<p>I am fortunate that I have never HAD to continue a work when the situation was miserable or untenable. Things will be VERY BAD at H’s workplace after he retires due to the hiring freeze & lots of folks retiring who are not mentoring replacements due to a host of factors, as well as continuous cutbacks and clawbacks.</p>
<p>You could be right. I attribute it to a few things already mentioned, and a few other things.
- People having to do the work of 1+ persons at work - I work in a healthcare dept. and we were recently told that each dept. will have to cut their budget by 20% in the next couple of months - of course, we won’t be seeing less patients or doing less work! (one of several cuts in the last 2-3 years.
- More of our friends are getting older. When retirement gets “right around the corner” I think it is easier for people to ease into the idea of NOT working by being somewhat dissatisfied.
- The idea of working at home is great for many and CAN be very productive. For many, working at home seems VERY desirable. I think with the higher incident of workers at home, the workplace itself is becoming less desirable for many people. Sort of like, in some cases, we don’t know/want to work with others as much (in person). I would like to see a survey of how many people wish they could work from home.</p>
<p>We have about 25 percent of our staff working from home. They absolutely love it. They occasionally come into the office for training and meetings but that’s about it. I’ve thought about it but I like interacting with my co-workers!</p>
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<p>I worked at home for 22 years while raising my family.</p>
<p>I would not want to do it on a regular basis now – although I do appreciate it that my current employer allows partial or occasional telecommuting. Working from home is extremely lonely. That didn’t matter to me when I was raising kids and had lots of contact with other people in my role as a mom. But for an empty nester, working at home would be very isolating.</p>
<p>Actually, even working in my current office is somewhat isolating because half the people in our department work from home at least part of the time!</p>