To ask what makes you unhappy/stressed in your job?

[ErinAndTonic]

I'm really not enjoying my role right now. I'm trying to pinpoint it, and whether changing companies will actually change anything for me. I worry I'll go through the upheaval to be faced with the same shit in a different company. I'm also extremely lucky that I can pick my home/work schedule completely, and sounds like this is uncommon in most other corporate offices currently.

I think in my instance it's a lack of structure, training and support and the company being very chaotic in general.

Those if you who enjoy or don't enjoy your jobs, what are the biggest challenges you have that you find stressful? I understand this will massively depend on industry, I am in a corporate office type job.

For me it’s deadlines and various pinch points which means certain times in the year are very pressured and others not so much.

I prep as much as I can and have a strong team but Aug-Nov is very hard, Feb-Apr pretty full on, and the rest a bit easier.

However I have an excellent manager and I’m good at what I do, I’m experienced, and I really enjoy most of my job so I generally feel ok about work.

I have worked in chaotic workplaces and it’s vile.

Violence!

*MatthewsMumFromTikTok · Today 22:02

Violence!*

Same. I get stressed when I request Police back up but told there is none and I still have to attend the patient anyway.

I'm not enjoying my job right now. Main reasons are unrealistic workload due to unfilled vacancies, snippy micromanagement from above and isolation due to wfh culture.

The commute.
Some of my colleagues.
The physical demands.
The at times ridiculous long hours.

I don't work in a corporate setting but the thing that makes me unhappy at work is that I can't trust my managers. I don't trust that we know where we're going, why we're going there and how we're going to get there. I particularly don't trust that they have my back if I need help. I don't see experience, expertise, intelligence or loyalty. I think you can work anywhere if you have faith in your managers/colleagues.

Other people. Always other people.

Clients behaving like entitled arseholes because I'm self employed and freelance, and therefore they think they can treat me like their personal employee/expect me to be on call for their every whim because I don't have a huge corporation behind me.

I should point out these are very much in the minority, and they don't stay clients for long

Serious issues with processes, disorganisation and incompetence in HR, payroll and basic things that they should really have had a grip on.
Manager who was not very engaged and only really cared about ticking boxes/ looking good to higher ups, didn't actually care about delivering a good service on the ground, didn't value staff skills and contributions, thought everyone was replacable.
Difficult persoalitites/ characters that I was managing.
Being underpaid.

These all contributed to me ultimately handing in my notice and leaving. Felt great!

I’m on mat leave but my biggest bugbear is when my boss agrees with a colleague I can help out with a project without checking with me first. She’s the type to agree to stuff without assessing the time/resource needed - she does it for herself too, asking for X many meetings during week Y but then getting annoyed when they’re organise and she sees how much time that takes up in her diary.

Otherwise it’s our company’s long winded processes that require sign off from multiple parties, tight deadlines and a particularly fussy director who is so adverse to change that he holds up progress.

Bad

Micromanagement
Unclear expectations or responsibilities
"I don't care about the firefighting you've done taking up 150% of your time, why haven't you done the unimportant tasks on your plan"
Artificial deadlines
An environment where people working to midnight is normalised.
The highest praise being the absence of criticism

Good

Clear training structure
Empowered and encouraged by management to make decisions and enact change if you think it's required.
Management stick up for you, even if you're the one who has ballsed up

I have a good manager at the moment, and it really does make the world of a difference.

Unfairness.

People slacking and taking the piss really annoys me. When management don't do anything about it I lose respect for the management. And therefore the organisation. I leave.

I am in a corporate office type role. My new assistant and indeed the team of assistants who are there to support us are severely lacking in skill, seem incapable of thinking for themselves, incapable of working together and supporting each other. It's very frustrating when a 32 year old who professed all sorts of qualities at interview cannot be trusted to complete basic tasks on his own.

Awful colleagues who throw you under the bus regularly. A boss who is a right pain and tries to micromanage but doesn’t have a clue! And an extremely annoying older woman colleague who is terribly condescending and tries to undermine others! And let’s not forget covert rascism!

What is your job?

For me it's similar to you - lack of structure, disorganised management who don't have clear processes for decision making and no clear vision or strategy. As a result I have to second guess what I should be spending my time on, which can end up with me wasting my time or missing opportunities to do a piece of work that would be valuable. I also see things I feel strongly that we should be doing, but getting approval for resources to do them is so slow and long winded and often unclear who even needs to approve it. I want the organisation to succeed, but the leadership don't half make it hard.

I work in the entertainment sector (or rather alongside it; I deal with contracts), which is all good fun, but also means you encounter a relatively high percentage of twats with more money than sense, taste or self awareness.

Unfortunately I can't be much more informative than that as my role is relatively niche, and God knows I've posted enough identifying stuff on here over the years as it is.

I'm not working right now but thinking of past jobs.

When it feels like management see you as a resource to be used, rather than a person who has value and potential and can contribute positively.

When it feels like I don't fit in with everyone else and I'm lonely.

Low staffing so they're stressing at you all the time to cover for people, do extra hours, you feel guilty if you take a day off sick.

Unclear instructions. Especially if they get frustrated at you doing things wrong.

Difficult customers/clients. Actually that's a lie, mostly the difficult customers are a laugh. But sometimes you just get the occasional one who is horrible or stressful and then that ruins your whole day, especially if you have to deal with them a lot.

Incomplete training, being left to do stuff that I don't feel confident in at all basically because nobody has time/can be bothered to show me how to do it properly.

Bad management - when the managers are inexperienced/too young and aren't good at all of the above.

Being swapped around tasks/clients so just as I start to get the hang of something or build a relationship with someone I get moved on to something else.

Workdays/hours that don't really work for me.

Rushed/short breaks. Long commute. Public transport when it's cold/too hot.

The workload. We are extremely short staffed every shift. By 9-10 nurses shore. In an nicu level 3 surgical settling.

I've spent today feeling like I've been hit by a bus after my last two nights of shifts 😭

There doesn't seem to be a solution or end in sight and I can't imagine doing anything else. But it breaks me that these babies aren't getting the quality of care they should be getting

Management not pulling their finger out and helping when we clearly need snd gave asked for help, in stead just sitting in the office having a chat and a coffee while our team run themselves ragged. Same management, seemingly expecting me to pull extra time and extra pairs of hands out of my arse when we are extremely busy and stressed.
When they try to make it my problem that somebody has phoned in sick on my day off.

Bullies.

It's not uncommon to be able to pick your hours and office days. Flexibility was the best thing about my old job and I worried about leaving it but my new job is just as flexible. Personally you won't know until you try. Nothing worse than being miserable at work.

I work for the NHS.

I don't enjoy:

Lack of adequate staffing at all levels meaning people don't get breaks/ you're expected to stay on shift until someone else can come take over regardless of having kids and home commitments, so it means I'm always rushing and can never join a club / organise to do something straight from work.

Having to constantly deal with people who are rude/aggressive. It's draining.

The fact I have to pay for the privilege to park at the hospital and finish my shift to find my car broken into (happens regularly) or that I've got a parking fine.

Just in general knowing the majority of my colleagues come into work, stay on shift, don't take breaks and get paid significantly less than if they got a job in a private sector organisation/office job.

The biggest one that makes me unhappy is knowing how incredible everyone I work with is and despite that, knowing the NHS is failing massively in so many ways because of lots of different reasons and feeling hopeless in what can be done about it. Yet, we get up and do it all again tomorrow in the hope we might change it/ fix it... but sort of knowing we're placing a plaster over a great big gaping wound and hoping for the best. It's quite soul destroying at times.

I enjoy:

Working with some incredible people who do amazing life changing work on a daily basis and yet are so humble.

The fact that when things go well you can make a difference, literally to someone's life and the sense of hope and perspective that gives, makes me feel hopeful.

In general meeting people from all walks of life and listening to some of the amazing stories they share.

No two days are ever the same.

The work I do feels meaningful and gives me a sense of purpose.

My narcissist of a boss. I’m learning to dance to his tune it’s the only way to survive.

Same here. I like the chaos and the problem-solving on the fly, I even like the politicking. I hate the violence and trying to prevent it takes up a great deal of my time.