Dealing with work burn out

[supertrooper1]

TL; DR, I'm burned out at work beyond the point of taking a "me" day to recharge.

I am burned out at work. I love what I do at work, but hate the upper management and a lot of my coworkers.  Upper management seem to look for ways to make our work lives miserable.  We're coming into our busy summer season and they have hinted at having mandatory overtime on employee's days off.  I was on a committee to improve morale, but every suggestion we've made has been shot down, or agreed to and then they changed their mind after leaving the meeting. 

As for my coworkers, the ones that can't do their jobs or don't do their jobs are really getting to me.  I try to do my work and not let it affect me, but ultimately because of my position it does affect me, either that I have to fix their mistakes or do extra work to make up for them not doing their job.  Our training office put up a sign recently showing how many people have been trained since 2011 and it was almost half of our workforce.  Because of this and people constantly being moved from one specialty work location to another, the basic knowledge base is minimal.  I tried creating training PowerPoints in areas where knowledge was lacking, but most just deleted.  I joke with a coworker that we strive for mediocrity as an agency.  Sadly, this isn't a local problem, it's a nationwide problem for my agency.  First line managers feel beat down by the upper management too, but also many of them lack the knowledge required to help out their direct reports.  It's sad when I have 2nd line managers coming to me asking for my expertise.   

There will be program manager positions opening in a few months that I plan on applying for, but there is no guarantee that I will be selected.  I have vacation coming up in July which will help recharge but I have a feeling that I'll be right back to where I am on day 1. I just had a 4 day weekend and it wasn't until the 4th day that I started to feel normal again.  There really aren't any other employment options in my area that pay as well.  Plus, I do like my job, just hate the circumstances.  Most of my work friends feel exactly the way I do.  Everything I've read online says self care is how to deal with burn out but I feel beyond that.     

What would you do to deal with burn out?       

 

[sdlaura]

The only way I’ve found to really deal with it is have another baby so there’s a period I can’t fly and have to take 3 months off.

Just kidding...sort of

On a more serious note, I’m in the same boat of no other local jobs I’d want...I haven’t found anything more successful than reminding myself about the things I do like and trying to be optimistic about whatever burnt out stage passing over time - but hopefully you will get some more constructive advice and I can use it too.

[waverly]

I don't know if I have ever been burnt out, so I can't speak for that. I have had a job where I started getting that bad feeling Sunday night, but we moved and I got a new lower paying job at the new place. Sometimes you do have to take that pay cut if you want a complete change. Those 2 years were OK not fabulous, but I built myself up in the next job to pay more than job 1.

I probably don't have the personality to do your job, so take it with a grain of salt, but I wouldn't necessarily rule out somewhere else. I think even if your skills don't directly translate you would look good to recruiters elsewhere.  And the economy is hot and people are desperate which means you have more opportunities to carve out something new.

Other than that long vacations help me, meditating, keeping work stuff at work and not bringing it home. I tend to not have much time to think about it at home anyway since I feel like we are always rushing around with kid stuff.

Sometimes I will do offsite meetings or conferences to help get that excitement back as well as reading or listening to some kind of motivational type material. But my job tends to be more boring than inept co-workers, so it's also to deal with the boring and to keep my thinking skills on the upper level because my job is to look more at the big picture. So even if I am not as busy as front line staff doing transactional work, I need to realize that I have to seek out those articles and Ted talks and podcasts.

Would you want to do a training workshop rather than a power point? Or is the company culture that no one cares or wants to attend anyway?

[supertrooper1]

waverly, I have offered to create a PPT and conduct training. But training creates overtime and management won't allow that unless it's absolutely necessary. I explained to our area director the absolute need for this training, but other training and "needs of the service" have taken priority. Training in my main section has been in the works for 2+ years but hasn't happened yet. But it's not just my division that lacks in training, it's our whole job and no one really cares if they do things correctly. I went to a workshop in March and it was great for me to see other motivated people like myself, but it only took a day or two to get back into the slump working with my crappy coworkers.

I have a hard time looking for other employment when I could potentially retire at 50 in this job. But 13 years of this BS would be hard. I hope it's temporary. Plus, I would probably cut my salary in half, which I wouldn't want to live with only half of my salary. So I feel stuck.

[covergirl82]

I know you work a lot of OT, so are there vacant positions that they can't fill, or a rotating door of employees, or a choice by leadership to understaff? I was thinking about what you said from an HR perspective, so I'm curious to understand the issue more.

If you don't get one of the program manager jobs, I would start looking for other jobs where your skill set is transferrable. I would hope that at some point, leaders would recognize that employee performance and engagement will go down as they become emotionally and physically burn out, as well as feeling undervalued.

[waverly]

supertrooper1, do you want to retire at 50?

I don't know the ins and outs of the postings in your area, but I would apply just for fun and apply like a man for higher paying jobs even if it's not a total fit. I think anyone would be lucky to have you. And if you get something then decide based on total package. I see a lot of people like you in the business world too, so don't think you have to be totally limited to one field.

I would keep pushing them. I am not sure if I can work somewhere where no one cares if they do things correctly. I mean your job is important!!!! If they don't do things correctly there can be major consequences!!!

I just don't get the mentality. I mean where I work there are no consequences. Like I don't work in the medical field no one is going to die if I mess things up. Even so, we are all trying our hardest. But if someone does work in that environment than even more so they need to be on top of things and accurate.

[2chatter]

The only thing that keeps me sane is passion projects - things I love to do, but aren’t a core requirement of my actual role. For me this means design work (I have a team to do this, but I enjoy it so I keep some projects for myself), innovation (which is a mandate, but means I have to work extra hours because deadlines don’t have time built in for this), and learning new things and sharing that in team meetings (industry forums, Lynda.com, white papers).

Do you have existing meetings in which you could choose one single learning objective for a five minute spiel, instead of a whole deck? A one page summary with verbal explanation adds up if you can do it weekly. And seriously, if they object to literally five minutes on an existing call, the writing is on the wall.

I hope the PM role works out - but in your current role, I would do anything you can to
ensure that every week you get to work on things you enjoy.

[waverly]

We have Huddles we call them every 2 weeks for 15 minutes. It could be a good time to do a 5 minute training.

I would also document. I had to fix X error 96 times because no training. Not sure if it would do any good because you send it to higher up, and I am guessing they do nothing. But perhaps at some point in time there will be a breakthrough even with employee themselves. Hey I fixed this...

And lots of breaks preferably outside the office- getting out. I like the sit outside for lunch and watch Netflix.

[supertrooper1]

waverly , I could see myself retiring at 50 and picking up a side gig. I would just hate to give up the possibility of retirement in 13 years and have to work another 25+.

It is very sad that we all make very good money at what we do (and we all make roughly the same) but people don't care. The average see the below average getting away with surfing the internet all day and fall into that trap. First lines feel like they don't have the power to make people work. It's a stereotypical government office, sadly.

2chatter , I've reached a point where some of the intel research that I used to enjoy isn't enjoyable anymore. I do have one area of focus that I enjoy, but there is only so much work I can do on it. But that is a good idea to try to focus on the "fun" work. We have musters that are usually 5 minutes of administrative reminders to catch up on CBT and new policies, but I think I'll start throwing in my 2 cents on various topics. That can be difficult because it only reaches 1 shift out of 3 and many people rotate between divisions.

[2chatter]

supertrooper1 - the musters really might help - I was shot down on team calls, so I just trained my directs. Other groups noticed that my team performs better, and have asked that other teams emulate the way we work. One of my business partners even suggested that I could train people on our team that don’t report to me and the other PMs. I try to remember that when I get frustrated. My managers think they do what I do, but the reality is, they don’t have the background or the depth, so they only understand about 60 percent of what I say to them. I’m just recently learning this as they always ask mirroring questions or throw something else at me, and it took me a while to realize I have to show them things because they simply don’t know but they assume they do. Like, reporting. We have discussed some metrics for a year. They didn’t actually understand what they are. It’s bizarre.

[erinshelley21]

Are you able to do a lateral transfer anywhere and not lose the time you've put in? I can't remember exactly what you do, but it's related to law enforcement right? DH's first FD has been dropping like flies for 2 years because of it being such a toxic environment. They were treated like crap and the pay was terrible.

DH has felt stuck in his job very often over the last few years. He is eligible to retire in 11 years at age 41 and could find another job, work 20 there, and then pull 2 retirements at 61, or max out his retirement in like 20 years I think. Either way, he feels close enough that losing the almost 8 years he has put in would suck in his mind.

[ilovelucyvv]

Is there any leadership/development program that you could apply to that would get you out of the office every few weeks or so? I'm in one now that I am out of the office a few days to a week a month and I always have piles of work waiting for me when I come back, but it is a nice change of pace when I go on trips.

Ad hoc committees could be another potential escape but I'm not sure if that is a thing in your line of work.

[sandandsea]

I’m sorry. Dh is there now and feels stuck with golden handcuffs. Ive been there too but usually a week or two off does the trick for me as I try to do that before serious burnout happens.

[rere]

supertrooper1, not advice really, but I am in the same situation. I love the job, but sometimes the structure and bureaucracy gets me down. 8 more years until retirement, plus, any other job I would move to would be a big cut in pay.

[supertrooper1]

erinshelley21, I can do a lateral to another location, but the morale at other locations is very similar to where I am. I can't transfer to another law enforcement agency anymore because I'm too old and my retirement isn't exactly the same as other law enforcement agencies.

ilovelucyvv, I'll keep my eye out for committees. That is a good idea.

[waverly]

Thanks for posting this. I looked up Lynda.com as I have heard other people mention it, but we don't have a subscription, but we do to other courses.

I sent my information in for a leadership development course. However, it is not ongoing, so they will contact me when they are ready to open it up again. I did stumble on a workbook site though which is only $15 a workbook, only related to my work area though, so not transferable website, but there might be other sites with workbooks on them. Topics like Make Career Choices etc.

I thought it was funny, there were open positions in this area, Supertrooper1. And I was "old" for them.