Dysfunctional workplace - is this usual, and how to cope

[Anotherusername88]

I work for a largish organisation (over 1k employees). I have been there for over 5 years, not by choice, but because I’m struggling to find another job and I can’t afford to leave without a new role to go to.

The organisation has so many layers of problems and inefficiencies that it’s impossible to know where to start with trying to explain, but many of them center around:

• Massive issues with IT and database systems, which simply don’t work. This means that staff struggle to do their jobs properly, and have to rely on inefficient workarounds.

• Staff become demoralised and leave. The high turnover of staff contributes to a lack of continuity and the same issues crop up again and again. New ‘solutions’ are found, and then peter out and it all goes quiet again…

• Teams don’t talk to each other and have no idea how they all work, so issues fall down the cracks.

• The organisation has a very flexible work policy (flexible hours, WFH, hotdesking etc) but it’s almost too flexible. It’s so easy to just coast along, doing almost no work, without anyone actually noticing.

• The senior leadership team are weak and have no interest in trying to understand or resolve the issues, and instead just ‘paper over’ the cracks.

• I have had 4 different line managers in 5 years…enough said!

When I joined five years ago I was optimistic and threw myself into trying to resolve issues but achieved absolutely nothing. My motivation is so low now, after years of everything I’ve mentioned above. It just feels absolutely pointless trying to change anything. I’m depressed, cynical and have such low self-esteem, which I really feel is mostly to do with my workplace sucking the life out of me. I am actively trying to leave, and have been for quite some time. I have fantasies of just quitting, with nothing to go to, but I know I can’t really do that.

Anyway, in the meantime, can anyone relate? Is this more normal than I think? And if so, how do you cope? I try not to let my workplace affect my personal life, but it makes me so depressed and I think I'm reaching my limit...

(Just in case you’re wondering, this isn’t NHS or public sector...)

I can relate to alot of it. Had the same manager for 5 years but she is utterly useless.
I just keep my head down and crack on.

Is it voluntary sector OP? Sorry ive been there and I feel your pain :(

Someone in my family works somewhere very similar and feels the same. I used to work somewhere quite similar but with added bullying, bitching and horrendous HR practices! All workplaces have their problems but I don't think this level of awfulness is common at all. It's all down to bad management. I hope you can get out soon - the only way this will be fixed is massive change at the top.
Good luck with the job search!

Sounds like a university I know and dislike. I think it’s pretty common sadly.

I could have written your post ! Also the staff that do leave are usually the best :-(
.Being part time means I can cope but never have another £ and have an extra zero hours job to supplement. F/T colleague recently condensed hours to 4 days which has made a huge difference .
Haven't got a solution but wondered as well as looking for a new job - could you change work pattern ?

Yes have experienced the same. Everything you say sounds familiar! Mine was private sector, financial services. Company had funky modern branding but behind the scenes was a bureaucratic, directionless mess. My team was horrible, no team mentality, poor leadership and loads of backstabbing. All led by the managers favourite who engineered things to get all the best work for herself and criticise everything anyone else did. No innovation or fresh thinking was allowed just the same old ways of doing things from the previous places she had worked. Turnover was high, teams did not speak to each other so you had no idea what most people did. I WFH one day a week to escape the drudgery of it, but became very demotivated and lost confidence. It made me lazy as there was no point in trying in the job and there was no value to the role.

I changed jobs this year and it's been amazing. I feel so much better because my new company's culture matches my values and it is better organised from top to bottom.

TL:DR: it's very common OP, alot of workplaces are toxic and will never change. Definitely keep going with looking for a new job, it can take time but something will come along. Life is too short to stay in a job you hate for a long time.

itisnt1978anymore - yes, it is - how depressing that you recognised that from my description! Did you manage to go into a different sector? Is it better?

Hollycatberry yep - I feel like I'm getting lazy too, and bitter and cynical, and I can feel it seeping into my personal life now. Congratulations on getting out of your toxic workplace - I hope I can do the same soon!

When you say voluntary sector, do you mean a charity? I'm currently contracting at a charity and can identify with a lot of what you say.

Are all charities like that?!

HobbyIsCodeForDogging yes it is a charity. I've only ever worked in the voluntary sector so have nothing to compare it to. Is private very different?

@Anotherusername88 fingers crossed for your job search. I know job hunting is a slog, especially if you really want to get out of your current job. I felt so desperate at times to get away from my old company, it was just so toxic! And yes it affected me outside work. I felt bitter and cynical and negative all the time which is horrible.

I would also say I have worked in only private firms in my life, some have been great, some average and some awful (like my last org!). Am sure the same applies to charities and public sector. Glassdoor might be a useful site to look at when searching for jobs as it gives you reviews of what a company is like to work for.

Sounds like the University I work at and considering this is supposedly the institution producing the forward thinkers of our future generations I have never worked in such a backwards culture of work arounds and bureaucracy.

I'm waiting for a call back for a second interview elsewhere.

Yes I did leave, but only because of massive life changes (divorce) and having to move areas. Tbh where I am now isn't brilliant but somehow I feel better about it because it's not really my problem. In a charity I always felt uncomfortable with the stuff you describe, esp the over focus on flexible working and people getting away with doing very little. Doesn't feel right does it.

Sounds like the company I work for, am looking to leave but not getting anywhere with jobs

There's a lot of companies like that! Please keep looking though!

@Anotherusername88 my experience of the private sector has been different to this charity, yes. I've worked for a number of blue chip companies, they all have their own issues. What bothers me in the charity is the painfully slow pace of change, a lack of willingness to change and adapt and evolve, too many people coasting along and deliberately blocking change because they want to do things the way they've always done things. We don't have high staff turnover though (quite the opposite). Some people know they're onto an easy number and just want to drift along and take the pay cheque and the rather generous pension at the end of it all. Having said all that, there are some really amazing people working there too and I just don't know how they find the will to keep at it in amongst so much dysfunction.

Thanks everyone for replying. I feel both strangely comforted that other people feel the same, and that it's the organisation, rather than me that's the problem...and also depressed that so many others are working in similarly awful workplaces!

Good luck to everyone applying for new jobs xx