Does your job stress you out?

Yes, quite a lot of the time. I do enjoy my job and love who I work with. I think I just need to figure out how to manage the stress better. I work in a junior management role within a college and line manage 70 staff members with one other manager. Line managing is the most stressful part of the job.

This all sounds so familiar 😅😥

I'm also a teacher but left a large MAT when I moved cities and jobs last year and while it was extremely stressful moving to a new department where all the SOW, exam board and lesson expectations were different but they had extremely minimal department resources so I was regularly working 12-14h a day on a full teaching timetable + creating resources from scratch at home... There is much better consideration for teacher's quality of life in the smaller MAT I'm now in, and it's much more evident this year now I have a bank of resources I can actually use and convinced the department to have everyone save theirs from last year so we could borrow from each other going forward.

Things like, form is once per day only and there's no line ups except once a week taking kids into assembly. Kids make their own way to class without issue.

I am a Learning support assistant, 1-1 in main stream primary.

The child I work with is Autistic, they are pre verbal makes some sounds but no words, they stim, which presents as running back and forth, flapping hands, staring at their hands, staring out the window at the trees which are waving in the wind, throwing things in the air.

There is very little eye contact, doesn't respond to his name, doesn't have any real interest in activities, if they do it's over and done with within minutes.
When they don't get their own way or someone says NO,
( not me I might add I say stop/stop throwing or similar, there is very little consistency with other staff)
they throws objects, pushes other children, or anything left on top of a resources unit, is swiped on to the floor.
This can be stressful, as it feels like it's your fault for letting these things happen, sometimes I'm able to distract them, but mostly there's no warning and things like the above mentioned happen.

They aren't comfortable with the class room 'noise' so we sit outside the classroom a lot of the time, on our own.
It's lonely and dare I say it, boring 😔

I used to love my job, working with children, but it's beginning to wear me down.

So, no. Not stressful as such. Just different.

Retail store manager. Not really, only at Christmas.

Mine does. I’m not very senior but I work with very senior people who do think highly of me but put a lot of demand on me. I struggle to say I haven’t got time because they all obviously work much longer hours than I do as they are senior mgt. I often think people at that level don’t really understand how long work takes to get done or the challenges us mere mortals have in getting the info and support we need from peers. I would be less stressed if I cared less about my professional reputation but I can’t help myself unfortunately.

Sounds like you do a similar role to me, I'm also then responsible for supporting and managing other staff involved. I'm in the process of setting up a brand new provision and regularly wake up with pains in my face from clenching my teeth in my sleep. So yes, my job stresses me out

I worked as a University housing officer for a number of years. I was repsonsible for housing students with disabilities. That part of my job was fine. Now there was genuine concern for some students, suicidal ones, ones with serious illness and financial issues. Plus there was also the awful side of campus life with rapes and attacks on students or housing being burgled as student houses are massive targets. A house will have multiple sets of electronics for instance.

But the side I hated were the helicopter parents and these tended to be people who just wanted little Johnny to have a certain type of accommodation when that person had no specific need it was just a preference. They were usually spoilt kids who couldn’t cook so the thought of self catering was too much for the parents, they had no specific disabilities they were just idle. When you’re having to move someone immediately because their housemates had set their room on fire and the police are involved, this did actually happen in an awful incident of bullying gone crazy versus a Mum complaining about how her child was used to a cooked breakfast and couldn’t cook, it did my head in.

I’m senior (ish) and have a team of 100 or so under me across the U.K. Yes at times it stresses me out, but not to the point it makes me unwell etc. Lately less so as they realised I was doing way too much and brought in 2 more people same level so my responsibilities were shared by 3 people not just myself. It has made a big difference but sometimes the pressure builds. I am used to it I guess now, and it always sorts itself out. I have a good senior management team around me, which helps.

My job is demanding and stressful, yes.

I am a head of a core department in a secondary school. I love teaching- my school is nice and we have very high standards so behaviour is very good.

There's no escaping that it's stressful though. To give an example, yesterday, I only actually had 2 lessons plus form, but the day was hectic. I'll do a brief run down;

I arrive at about 7.20am to log on/set my day up/make sure my form ppt slide is ready with the notices on/organise kids books for my lessons.
I had a team member out on a planned absence yesterday- she had left her cover, so that helped.

Except, I then realised that she had mistakenly thought she had Y9 in room X when in fact, they were in room Y. Not her fault - she's new to us and finding her feet. So, I quickly adapt the seating plan so that it matches room Y.

At 8.05am, I am worried the office have not sent the cover list round. The bell goes at 8.10am and so far, no one knows who is covering my absent team member. I ring the office who say they will send it. I then dash round the heads of year to ask them to announce at line up that teachers need to check the cover list during form.

I then have my form group.

I have a meeting P1 about a trip I am running. Only, we have to start late - colleague's lesson that is being covered can't find the books, I hunt round the dept to no avail and ultimately find paper for them to work on. Meeting goes ahead and I then have more on my to do list.

I supervise the corridor at lesson changeover.

P2 I am still free but a parent wants me to ring them, so I do that. I observe my newly qualified teacher as well and realise they are going to need increased support- fine, I add that to the list.

Break duty

Then I am teaching Y9, down the stairs again to collect them from line up (I am on the top floor in a 4 storey building!).

P4 I am free again - I have a Y7 practical P5 and Friday lessons are shorter so I get that set up with the help of my technician. I send an email to trainee teachers I am delivering CPD to next week with information on. Organise stuff for my PM form time, finally nip to the toilet and refill my water.

P4 is over and I am on lunch duty so go there and eat lunch while on duty.

Collect my form from line up - only there's a last minute change to what we are doing in form, I need to read the email when I get back to the room, but I also need to do my register and supervise 28 kids. Form ends up being stress.

I teach P5 - I have to go down again and collect the kids from assembly (did I mention I am on the top floor?!). As I am teaching, 2 children from absent colleague's lesson appear - the books should be in the room but they can't find them. I can't go looking so give them some paper an relay a message to use that.

P5 ends and I have no gap before I need to be in the hall for a meeting, followed immediately by CPD.
Deputy head wants to talk after about the newly qualified and what we are going to do to support.

I left work at 4.45pm - not late but I had literally not had a minute all day and was exhausted and in bed before 9pm!

So yes, it's stressful but I do enjoy it most of the time 😂

Not now, I have a supportive boss, I'm senior so make my own decisions, our work is structured.

Previously I worked with unpredictable unprofessional people in environments where decisions where made on the hoof and with terrible blame cultures. I dreaded work.

Yes, another teacher here. I wake up at 4am panicking about workload and things I ran out of time to. Constantly worried I'm going to be judged. Recently moved schools and the resources across 7 year groups need updating which feels overwhelming and I have a department of part timers who don't have much investment in making changes so it's all on me. Slt keep adding extra requirements to the pile of things we should be doing. I love the school, the kids and the teaching but do not have time to do it all.

It is not the job itself that stresses me out, it is the office environment: backstabbing colleagues, chaotic environment, poor senior management, people needed to be chased all the time so I feel like I can never get anything done...

My company has a huge staff turnover because of it.

I am job hunting to get out of that place.

Definitely stressed.

I work with clients, but waiting lists don't exist in my role. So if a new client comes along, I'm expected to magic up the extra 2-3 hours a week I need to work with them.

The expectation is that if I need more time, I just extend my working hours, which sounds great, but with a job that's pretty brain taxing, I don't really want to do more hours (you need a break from it!), so I end up cramming in as much as I can into my current hours.

It's a shame really, as I can see me burning out in the next 6 months or so. I don't really know why the company don't have a waiting list policy, doesn't have to be anything extreme, just enough time to have moved a client on to make space

Yes quite often! I LOVE my job, I love that what I do genuinely makes a difference which considering the industry I work in can be hard to do. But I work in marketing so lots of deadlines, lots of stakeholders to placate who all have different opinions, constantly moving goalposts. It can be really hard to balance.

But marketing gives me a chance to flex so many skills - time management, creativity, stakeholder management, planning and organisation. I love it.

The job itself doesn't stress me out but the ludicrous office politics and micromanagement do, alongside the (mostly) woefully incompetent and in some cases drastically overpromoted senior managers.

Engineer, can be very stressful. Serious implications if wrong.

My job is stressful because it is extremely demanding in terms of hours, deadlines, extremely vulnerable and often challenging ‘clients’ (service users) and the constant physical and emotional energy/stamina/resilience required to keep going.

The stress comes from exhaustion, really.
I’ve worked way over my hours for weeks now due to staff shortages and our service being overwhelmed. I’ve got a bad cold and heavy period this week, and have been at work with a high temperature and at times feeling almost delirious, unable to take a lunch break and dealing with some extremely challenging situations. But I’m a senior manager with a shitload of operational as well as strategic responsibility, and if I go off sick my staff will be fucked and our service users will suffer. So I keep going. For now!

I don’t tend to worry about work once I leave, though. I’m too knackered! And the evenings feel so short, before I have to get up and go and do it all over again.

Weirdoy, I mostly love my job. But there are periods where I suffer for it.

I think you all sound like you have too much on your plates and need more workers.

I do find where I work there is a mass walk out at 5 - how do they all do that exactly?

I need to finish what I’m doing and if it’s 10 minuets I don’t mind finishing.

Others seem to be there hours after work and some of their task need sharing out.

Even teachers could do with an assistant pool who sort resources, trips, equipment, etc when did it all fall to the teacher?

Yes immensely I've had 3 burin outs.l

Mostly no, although I have tight deadlines, Occasionally, it can get stressful; I'm freelance and the odd colleague can get anally retentive about deadlines which will be missed, but which can be explained to and understood by a client. I'm in marine survey and sometimes, the data takes longer to process, because of what we find on the seabed; it's data which can be presented visually and the clients understand that mapping will necessarily take longer, or go on hold, as we progress to a new area.

Yes - public sector job. I am the only one in the entire country who is responsible for my work area. I am held legally accountable for what I do, and spend days in court - defending decisions I've made.

I also regularly get a personal hammering on FB/social media - which is hard for my family. I have been physically attacked whilst carrying out my duties, and had people arrive at my home.

I am good at my job, however wjth no staff and no money.. people get hurt, things get damaged. I fight fire and spend a lot of my money on holidays and Botox.

I hate it, but I do manage my own work diary and WFH soo.. and I'm also well paid for the trouble.

33 years to retirement.

Patient facing, lots of responsibility. VERY STRESSFUL. And lots of abuse which doesn’t help.

Don’t think I’ve ever had a job that didn’t stress me out but then I’m a worrier. I work in a sector where tbh the stakes aren’t even that high. Not sure how I would cope if they were

Yes it gives me insomnia
Yesterday two hours after I should have finished I was talking a teenager down from jumping under a train and trying to convince another to hand themselves into the police instead of running away
The stress is that there's no one to discuss these things with and if anything happens to my work kids it's my responsibility as the risk holder.

So yes. It's stressful

Also a teacher. Constantly stressed. Counting the days until I can retire.