Is a toxic and high pressure work environment the norm now?

[Wormysquirmy]

Is this the new norm? What are your experiences?

I have worked in different roles, as a professional, in one company for around 15 years. Usually busy, nice colleagues, and I have always been well thought of although am now part time. I am, I think, relatively desirable as an employee in as much as I'm flexible, a good team worker, efficient and get on with people. Perhaps not as ambitious as I could be but I have kids. I have made part time working work well so far.

In the last year or so, the place has become utterly, utterly toxic. We have a new manager who is not really a leader. Overall head is implicitly anti- part time working mothers, long hours and stress culture.lots of people off with stress. People not replaced. The message is "suck it up". I was given a workload that was not do-able and the chap who helped me went off in stress so I struggled. Rather than help make it work, I have been shunned and made to do work for a very junior member of staff.

We are going through a merger and redundancies are looming and I'm convinced they are trying to manoeuvre me out before then (to avoid paying redundancy pay).

Workload is simply unmanageable for the entire team given we are short staffed and have people off. Team head ignores me and cancels one:ones. Most colleagues are very stressed and struggling. I was humiliated publicly in a recent department meeting by ignoring manager who I felt should have raised grievances directly.

Is this the new normal in modern Britain?

My instinct is to leave but I feel like I should receive redundancy pay rather than be forced to go through miserable conditions. I feel if I raise a grievance through HR or similar I will struggle to get another job when a reference is required.

I am feeling very anxious and work now and my confidence is plummeting and I have been in tears since I left today. This is all new for me.

Any tips? Thanks so much. I feel a bit lost.

YANBU and it is why I work for myself.

Sadly I think it is becoming the norm. I've been in the same line of work for over 20 years and I've noticed a distinct increase in pressure and management expectations in recent years. Not to mention a succession of new senior managers who are always coming up with 'novel' (and IME ultimately futile) approaches that just impose ever more unproductive tasks on people.

OP I totally get it and agree

I posted about this afew weeks ago - specifically about things getting somuch worse over the last few years and itbeing a new norm:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3089806-To-think-that-work-in-the-UK-didnt-always-used-to-be-like-this-wonder-why-it-changed

Oberon "impose ever more unproductive tasks on people"

yes. I've got six months to go and I can't wait. I don't object to doing the actual work but what has been created around my actual work is just pointless box ticking, management consultant built paraphernalia and it helps management to justify their salaries but otherwise it's pointless.

I might get flamed for this but before deciding to freelance I looked at the company's training options for various project management methodologies but in the end, I couldn't see the point of them. It just seemed like an exercise in creating and attaching jargon.

then I think the people at the coal face, actually doing the work, are the teams that get cut to the bone in order to fund the jargonised part.

Leave. Or wait for a package. Life is too short for that shit. I made the change six months ago and have never looked back. The impact on home life was intolerable, but now it's never been better. Go for it.

•Last time I was looking for work - about 3 years ago - I saw a few companies listing "35 hour week" as a benefit!! Presumably because so many full time jobs now stretch to 37.5 or 40. * That is a benefit! 37 or 37.5 hours has been a full-time week for the last 50 years. They haven't "stretched" to 37.5 or 40.

Agreed the actual conditions seem to be going backwards, with "investigations" and "disciplinaries" for things that previously would have been a quiet discussion.

It’s not for me personally, but I am in a team of two and my boss is great.

However - I’m in project management so see all the ‘initiatives’ that are in full throttle. They’re not necessarily a bad thing as they won’t increase workload to unmanageable proportions (and I work for a massive company that has very strong checks and balances in place) but there’s always a desire to streamline and maximise efficiencies - all those corporate buzzwords that essentially mean reduce workforce.

Diana - but aren't you contradicting yourself - you say this is all about reducing staff but also say it won't mean a ridiculous workload?

Is this the new normal in modern Britain?

No, it is not the norm. There are some companies with this culture and there are many people promoted to leadership positions who have no leadership qualities. Prevalent, fairly frequent, but not the norm.

It is the norm in the public sector.

think there has been a huge change in culture driven by service user/ client/customer expectations. Mistakes aren’t tolerated and people want to apportion blame before hanging people out to dry. One only needs to look at the NHS where incredibly hard working, committed and compassionate staff are suffering burn out because of the pressure they are under. None of the Oops sorry’ now, people want to report things to spurious authorities, to complain about every perceived failing and to punish mistakes. It creates a horrid work culture. Add huge cuts and shortages across entire public sector and the picture isn’t glowing.
Look on MN at the number of people wanting to complain to school/GP/Hospital/Nursery over very trivial issues. MNers are ‘absolutely fuming’ about everything. That is what is driving a tainted work culture in the public sector.

Totally agree with Cumbs1.

I've been working since 16, I'm 40. This year I have got my first Christmas 'bonus' - in recognition of the fact I work bank hols, unsociable hours, Christmas etc for min wage with no enhanced pay. I nearly cried, I feel, for the first time in my working life, appreciated. And it's a small company that does struggle.

Expectations are unrealistic I think, perfection is demanded constantly and of course, humans sometimes fall short of this. From MN and RL experience it's also across the board from min wage jobs and up.
Had a first hand example this morning. Argos (multi million £ organisation) a couple of shopping days before Christmas - one person on a till when there's 4 available. One person giving out orders and also covering the jewelry bit. Massive queue, stroppy customers moaning to the (probably min wage) staff about lack of staff. And Argos raking it in while putting staff under immense pressure. Disgusting.

Oh my goodness, this is so relatable. Left an old-boys-network company in 2013. Getting them to even agree to flexible working involved going to a tribunal (not me) When I started there in 2006 things were more relaxed but the targets got harder, a little bit here a little bit there so it was a bit like the analogy of the frog in steadily increasingly hot water. A lot of people are still there I believe because they are still the proverbial frogs and get spurious 'perks' in exchange for being driven into the ground. I consider myself fortunate to have got out, though I miss my friends.

This makes me feel very lucky. I have worked for the same company for nine years (progressed upwards a fair bit in that time) and although sometimes I worry about that and think I should move around, this reminds we me why I don't. I work with genuinely nice people, never had a problem with a colleague, supportive and approachable MD and regularly told how much my hard work is appreciated. Welcomed back from mat leave on reduced hours with open arms and my home-work life balance is good thanks to a boss who regularly tells me how important family is and I'm trusted to work flexibly and from home when I need.

I think I'll stay put.

This is very much my experience in my sector (higher education) too.

I have severe anxiety now caused by my boss who has tried every trick over the last 2 years to get me to leave. The workload is high, there is no support (we're a team of 2) but his reaction to that was to put me on capability earlier this year when I missed an email. When challenged it was proven that there is simply too much work to do and not enough time or people to do it, but I have still had to jump through hoops to prove I'm not a waste of space. It's been humiliating.

Our union is great but there's only so much they can do. They can't sit with you while you work and try to deflect the niggly underhand comments made by your boss during the working day.

This used to be a wonderful place to work, but it's changed so much in the last few years (Expectations, workload, managerial approaches) I don't recognise it anymore.

I work in the private sector and a lot of this rings true to me. My company has become steadily more stingy and ruthless over the last 3 years (since I started working here).

There seems to be a constant threat of redundancy, and the underlying message seems to be “well you’re all still lucky to be in a job!”

Our team has had two people leave and not be replaced in the last year, and we’re just expected to soak up the extra workload.

Pay rises are minuscule, and they’ve just done away with the bonus structure too, so nobody will get the (measly) bonus from now on (apart from those right at the top, I imagine).

I was also promised progression opportunities when I joined. It has now become apparent that I was completely lied to. The only way to get promoted seems to be if your manager leaves, and in many cases you’re just expected to pick up their workload with no acknowledgement or financial reward.

It’s a shame. I work with some fantastic people and I hear that compared to other similar companies in the area we’re actually a ‘good employer’.

Still, my notice is going in when I return from leave over Christmas. I’m planning to go freelance.

It's as if we should be paying for the privilege of working IFYSWIM.

There was a thread a couple of day ago re : wages years ago.

I was 16 in 1998 and earned £4.60 per hour in retail - I think the NMW is now less than that?

That's 20 years later!!

Late last week I was told I needed to provide an audit of my department's data as part of GDPR preparation. That was last Friday. I finished on Tuesday. The audit is required by Jan 5th which is the day I return to work. I'm going to be bollocked and my line manager will allow that because she will say it's "proof we have too much to do".
@2ndsopranos

Bit confused as to how you can be bollocked for the audit - if you've done it and it's ready for 5th Jan then won't you have delivered within the stated time frame? Even if that is the day you return to work? I'm sorry I'm probably being really dense here! Or have misunderstood

I sympathise 2ndSopranos, that sounds very familiar. It's rubbish

I think the increased pressure in higher education is also down to the changes in funding. Certainly my employer seems terrified that we're going to go under.

It’s my experience too. I’ve had some awful toxic bosses too. I’m back at a company I used to work for, but although I love the work and I’m good at it, most of what I do is unacknowledged by senior management. Workload has massively increased, we had an insulting 1% pay rise this year, notified to us in a letter that praised every other department to high heaven but didn’t mention ours once.

We used to get Xmas bonus, Xmas parties, performance reviews that could lead to bonus and/or pay rise and properly managed TOIL system so we didn’t work over contracted hours.

Now there’s none of that and I regularly work 50 hour weeks.

My New Year’s resolution is to just do what I have to, to meet my contractual obligations and try to just work my contracted hours. I’ve accepted I will never get promotion or anything so no point in going above and beyond as it won’t benefit me in any way.

I retire in 10 years and am already counting down. Need to work till then to keep paying the mortgage. It sucks.

PJBanana "There seems to be a constant threat of redundancy, and the underlying message seems to be “well you’re all still lucky to be in a job!”"

yes. my place has been restructuring for about 2 years now. All they have actually done is have a lot of meetings and pay a huge amount to an outside firm, while simultaneously taking the chance to hint at redundancy all the time.

In the end I think it might be that no one gets canned, but perhaps natural wastage and not replacing people will happen.

it's so pointless because to quote the main character in Office Space "fear of losing your job will make you do....just enough not to lose your job". Meanwhile of course, all the good people are leaving.

I am going to leave in May - I only stretched it out because I wanted time to build up savings a bit more, I nearly resigned in June but then realised I might as well hang on for as long as I felt I could, plus there's a bunch of planning I want to do for going freelance.

Seems to be the norm. Since the 2008 crash bosses have had employees fearful for their jobs, willing to accept little or no pay rise, increased pressure with fewer staff but high work loads, bosses who are promoted at too young an age because they’ve played the game not necessarily because they are good at their job. Too many inexperienced bosses that have promised stupid results and demanding everyone basically gives their life to work (whilst simultaneously eating up your lunch hour with seminars on work life balance). It’s meant everyone is so stressed nowadays. Bosses are still acting like the world is in recession, they got used to an overly compliant work force. My colleague was off work for 7weeks no one apart from me got in touch to see if she was ok. You can’t trust anyone to not stab you in the back these days. I hate it