I feel sick to my stomach about work

[GreenPebbles]

I work in the care industry. I always enjoyed helping people however there are so many issues. Especially from management and I often dread my work and my days. It's just sometimes it gets too intense. Days can be too long too at times.

The higher ups in my organisation wanted me to do courses that are manatorory and I wanted to do this studying too. I even signed up for a course back in 2019 however I was sunable to complete it.

This isn't any word of a lie. The physical work and hours can be too too too much sometimes. No one has any idea. There were times when I brought packed lunches to work and brought them home again because I never had time to eat my lunch and that would be after working all day. There has been. Times when I wore the same period pad from the time I got ready in the morning til I got home again at night.

I don't have a long commute to work. However sometimes my days are just so long.

I know nurses who work 12 hour shifts in a hospital setting but it's often done over three days.

In the care industry I could easily do them kind of hours buts it's done over 5 days. Sometimes weekends too.

I don't have any babies and children and usually when the school term is off on holidays the place is run on Skelton staff and there's so much falling onto me. I dread the school holidays. Because it can easily be 12 hour days or more for 5 days and sometimes even weekends thrown in on top.

The higher ups called me in for a meeting yesterday and gave me a warning. Not only a warning but a deadline to get courses done by the end of February.

This is one thing.

My boss on the floor is f*cking deluded telling me to do this. The work and the hours that she often has me doing is unreal.

No body knows how I am and I feel. Nobody knows what this is like. I am often exhausted. It nearly feels like I have to wait for a day off just to even digest a meal.

I don't mind signing up for a course but I won't be allowed to do this. Already I am scheduled for work next week for the mid term break working Monday through to Sunday and the Monday to Friday and I likely won't see a day off until the 2nd of November.

How am I supposed to do this?

Am I supposed to work like this and then whenever I finish a stint like this throw my exhausted head into books when I have choose between sleep or shower or food.

Christmas is coming up too so that will mean Christmas parties galore for all of the bosses.

I can remember a day not so long ago staring for about 9.30 and I was still working at 11.30 at night. That is inhumane.

Or Ami supposed to go home after one of these stints and sit on the toilet in pain with an infection of some sort of wearing the same pad all day and open up books.

You need to leave. A lot of roles do require a lot of sacrifice and if you aren’t well and aren’t enjoying it you need to leave. For the first 7 years of my working life I worked 100 hour weeks and it was a killer. Only when out of it did I realise how much it was breaking me, and as you have, I wouldn’t eat a lot/ would collapse/ would often be unwell and living on painkillers.

It sounds like the OP has working consistently over 48 hours so breaches the WTD unless an opt out has been signed and it doesn't sound like the continuous rest requirements are being adhered to. My advice to the OP would be to get herself signed off and get some rest and then put efforts into getting another job lined up. Is there care agency work available to tide you over until you find something suitable and permanent?

I know a few nurses and from I gather their schedule is usually 12 hour shifts over 3 days. Never 4 or 5 or 6 days a week.

I am not a nurse. I often did 12+ hours but it's not over three days. It's could be 5/6 days a week.

Every day and every week is different.

I'm becoming so sick of it all. I have normal hours on the roster but it's never true and it's also overwritten.

I did all of last week Monday to Friday but then Fridays work ran into Saturday. Looks like the same again this week.

With next week's schedule requiring to move in for a week.

I'm just not being given appropriate time off.

Any other job and I would see an end to a working day. I would see an end to a working week. If I wanted to do anything with my own time like even something like going for a dinner and it's though shit.

I'm just so so so sick of it.

Now there's another layer of crap with course work.

I'm baffled as to how they expect me to find this time.

The run up to Christmas can be utterly dreadful too and it's not me going to parties by the way but it's the bosses and management living a high life.

OP we keep asking you, why don't you just apple for other jobs?

You don't have to stay in any job that you don't like

That's me in a nutshell. I have a backpack of meds that I need to take with me every day.

I nearly collapsed in pain earlier.

I do have a bond with the people I care for and I would feel so guilty too leaving them too.

But then I also to some degree resent the work I do now because it can be so hard and so long and just draining.

And this is where you draw a line and start putting your welfare first. Give yourself some breathing space and get signed off. You clearly are not well. Get some rest and get looking for other roles. There are countless care roles out there that wouldn't expect you to work like this and you have to take a stand now. You are exhausted and burnt out.

The idea of throwing my head into books - I liked studying in my youth and I like reading and writing and typing and things like that. However the idea of doing course work like this doesn't apply to me. To work such long stints where I am drained.

Do you belong to a union? It's the law that you have breaks including a lunch break. From your description you're not even getting a toilet break.

I would phone ACAS for advice. I suggest arranging a meeting with your manager, explaining the hours you're putting in and that you need to do these courses. Come up with a way of getting breaks and study time.

If full time nurses do 3 weeks of 3 long days and one week of 4 long days . A lot do a bank shift on the 3 day weeks to boost their pay .
OP are you doing “sleep overs” ? Where you are only meant to be woken up if needed ?
Either way care work is easy to find , if you can’t set clear boundaries that from now on you can only do 3 shifts a week then it’s time to apply for other jobs and stick to what you find manageable .

Yes, I do sleep overs as part of what I do. However those sleep overs can come at the end of a week and over weekends as well as a full week.

Often I am woken and I am required to get up and then start my day.

This is unsustainable. You need to find an alternative job before you damage your health long term.

Can't think of many minimum wage jobs where you're expected to work 100 hours a week. Assume you're talking about banking or some other industry like that where the sacrifice of losing basically all your free time has a pay off a fat wad of cash at the end of the month, not to mention bonuses. Even if it's not one of those types of jobs, I certainly can't think of a minimum wage role where you'd be expected to work those hours.

I don’t have any advice for you, OP. I just wanted to say that it sounds like far too much is being asked of you. It’s sad to hear carers are being worked to the bone like this as you do such an important role in society.

i don’t know anything about the work you do, but even I can imagine it’s a physically hard and often stressful job. Your hours and shifts sound unsustainable.

It sounds like you’d be keen to do some learning - but not in your (very limited) free time. This is understandable.

You need to look after yourself so you can care properly for your patients.

OP, you haven't really answered the question as to exactly WHY you choose to do this? You know it isn't right. You know they're taking the piss. In some industries the more you do the more they'll let you do, unless you take control of the matter. Work your set hours and simply go home. Guilt-free. It's that simple. The ones who should be feeling guilty are the bosses for not doing their job and covering the shifts properly, and for guilt tripping walkovers like you into working more hours than they should, as it makes their job easier.

I'm sorry to call you a walkover, I really am. But I think this is a situation where you need someone else to tell you not to live your life like this, if you really aren't going to take agency of this yourself.

Look elsewhere sooner rather than later, otherwise you will be too unwell to work. Would you be HCA in a hospital yes it is hard work but generally the shifts are fairer and you can pick up bank work.
Just reading your post exhausted me and I am a nurse working 13 hour days😬. Start looking there is loads out there.

Yes.
in first instance, OP, look at your contract. Then look at regulations
arm yourself with your rights

then work out your shifts and hours they’ve got you down as for next 4-8 weeks (not sure how in advance they are).

also work out and write down how many hours you’ve worked in last 2 months

then WRITE , a proper documented letter, to explain that you cannot complete your course given . Tell them the hours you’ve worked. The hours they have you working in future. Tell them if it IS breaking HSE rules around working directives.
but even if it is not, tell them that you are STRESSED due to the hours you are working. That you cannot complete the course until you are given sufficient rest time between.

Then, and this is crucial bit, write a Proposal of how you would be able to complete the course. What hours , for how many weeks, max and rest times between. Make sure it meets your contracted hourly minimum .

finish the letter by asking for a formal meeting to discuss your proposal

if they ignore this, they are ignoring that you have raised that the pressure on you is directly causing work related stress. This then becomes a HSE issue as they have a duty of care. Your next step is to immediately ask for a risk assessment to be put in place.

here are bits relating to work related stress law

“There are 2 main pieces of health and safety law which cover work-related stress:

• the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – this puts a 'duty of care' on employers to protect their employees from the risk of stress at work
• the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 – this requires all employers to make a 'suitable and sufficient assessment' of the risks to the health and safety of their employees at work

This means that by law employers must:

• identify any risks to their employees' health, for example by carrying out a risk assessment
• take steps to prevent or reduce work-related stress

Employers must also make sure they're following the law on working time rules (Working Time Regulations 1998). This is because working long hours without regular breaks can be a cause of work-related stress.”

if they fail to act then they open themselves to grievance and compensation claims and a very bad rep as an employer.

Before it would come to that you get yourself signed off with work related stress . Indeed if you are break point, it is best to do this sooner rather than later. BUTin first instance get the letter written, formalise it, make your proposal. The ball is then in their court.

I would add that the post on working time directive clewrly indicates that if training is work related and to be done at home this IS STILL INCLUDED IN YOUR WORKING HOURS.

so if the hours you work plus time you need to do course exceed 48 hours, and your contact does NOT include a rare exemption on thst, they ARE breaking working directive.

Make sure you include your study hours needed then in your letter and calculation of hours they want you to work

And lastly, sorry OP, as others have said , make sure you absolutely join a union.

this is what they’re for

by the time you realise you need a union rep to sort out an issue or provide support or advice, it is too late as unions won’t cover ongoing cases. So do it as soon as you can. To protect you for crappy employers in an industry where you are treated like this.

Eh, why cant you just say no to the extra hours??? Sorry I cant do that I need x days rest. How many hours are you supposed to be doing?
When you seen the rota is changed say you cant do it, you have x y z to do?
You tell them you are not on the floor if they ever want the courses done.
I think you're being a doormat and they are taking advantage. They wont sack you as they are clearly desperate for staff. Make it clear you will leave the client and walk out if management don't cover for absent staff.

Caring jobs are notorious for asking people to work 7 days a week.

My friend works as a home carer. She says she is often asked to work 7 days a week.

I believe she an refuse. But she is often gult tripped into it.

Eg. This old person is really sick, and we have no one else to do the shift except you

Op, are you in UK…what you’re describing is unbelievable and I’m a bit gobsmacked a UK employer would think they could get away with this..it’s an HSE investigation and compensation claim wanting to happen. Their insurance wouldn’t cover it as they’re clearly in breach of working directive.

Is there not a working time directive on how many hours a person can work, have you opted out of it? Please apply for a job as a health care assistant in the NHS, you will get better working conditions, hours and treatment.
What you are describing sounds like modern slavery, the best thing you can do is get another job and leave.

You should just get a sick note get two wks off, in that time look apply for other jobs, in the care sector, if that is what you want to carry on with.Your current employer sounds as though they are breaking every law in the book. By law the max hrs are 43 if after 17wks of doing this it must stop , check this out on the government website working hrs and opt out hrs. They are really sounding the most awful employers.If they ask you to go in for trainings on days off ,by law they have to pay you.as goes for team meetings.its worth contacting CQC as mistakes happen when your tired and if that results in a safeguarding would they say they worked you like a dog of course not and it would be hard to get future employment in any care environment, Acas to address employment law failings..but leave my lovley for your own sake, they sound like they don't appreciate you anyway.