Work making me ill

[Biscuitlover456]

Hi all - looking for some help/experiences.

My workload at the moment is completely unsustainable and I am now starting to feel myself burning out. I can’t sleep properly, have digestion issues, migraines, skin problems, crying lots more than usual and having some dark thoughts.

Line manager and HR know my workload is unsustainable, I have raised this consistently since autumn last year - due to a department restructure for someone else’s mat leave there will be a new person joining (an FT role whose only job is covering half my workload, which indicates how crazy my job is at the moment) but then the person going on mat leave will obviously bring me back to square one with not enough support and too much work to cover. I have discussed adjustments with manager/HR on several occasions but aside from others picking up one or two small areas of work I still have no real change in the overall picture and finish most weeks feeling destroyed.

I am usually a really organised and motivated person but things are grinding to a halt right now, I can’t do basic things and keep leaving stuff which I know needs looking at but just can’t get into the headspace to do anything. The quality of my work is suffering and I hate not only feeling awful but also feeling like I am performing badly. I have lost a lot of confidence.

Looking for advice/help please from others who have been in this situation before - is leaving my only option? Should I go off sick? Try talking to manager again? Any words of wisdom gratefully received

The answer is to slow down

My work load got huge recently so I just slowed right down. Two extra staff were drafted in to help me out

Create a problem

NewFL gives good advice.
Starr job hunting now and go with their advice. That way if you do get signed off you may even already have a new job to go to.

I have been through this before and I ended up leaving - but it was also a case of blatant pregnancy discriminated. Our HOD left and i was asked to deputise in her absence until her replacement started, this was in addition to doing my own job. I did it for 2 months and was burnt out, pregnant and behind. New manager was a total pyscho and tried to performance manage me stating that I was not working effectively (ironically she didn't realise that before she started I'd been given a company award and renuneration for outstanding performance!). I actually also had to miss quite a bit of work due to additional pregnancy appointments as pregnancy was not straightforward. Leaving was my only option because I knew what I'd be returning to.

I also had a better situation with a previous employer where I had been given additional duties which shouldn't have sat with me. I kept a record of how long these things took me and was able to identify that it was taking up 25% of my week. When they realised they soon redistributed the work. I took the approach of, this is 25% of my time, is that value for money and if so then what don't you want me doing.

Lay it on the line they sort it out or you go off sick and they will have no choice. Make it clear it's making you ill and they aremt listening. I would

Thank you! I’m going to start my spreadsheet this afternoon - I have a one to one next week so will send to manager beforehand.

Shamefully I am not in a union but I will aim to join one for support. I have also started applying for other jobs - it is difficult when you feel really quite broken to sell yourself to another employer but I’ll give it a go anyway, if anything it lifts my mood a bit thinking about myself positively and reminding me I have got something to offer to employers!

Thanks! I’m looking.

Hope you get sorted too.

@TeaandLemonDrizzle your post struck a chord with me as I am also NHS. A little more senior. The NHS is notoriously bad for this. If you're good at your job it just gets worse too.

I'm sorry to hear you are thinking of leaving the sector entirely. Most NHS employees can port skills to quite a variety of different roles in the NHS. Sometimes I contemplate dropping a few bands and doing something more fulfilling in a short time frame task wise, but the financial hit means I'd have to work five days.

Back in the day admin was literally answering the phone, completing a form and taking it down to Brian in Accounts, filing, photocopying, typing up faxes, etc, etc. Now it encompasses single handedly managing global conferences and all manner of other stuff. The perception of it has remained the same as an 'easy little job' because it's what the girlies do.

If you voice concerns about the chaotic randomness of it all your ability to be flexible and be a team player are called into question. You're expected to suck up to all the last minute tasks which get dumped on you with a smile on your face.

If you did something before I would seriously consider if admin is the path you want to continue on. It's generally hard work for low wages and little progression.

Yes if you have those skills being a project manager would be an easy job!
And better paid
With definable goals.

@vagueandconfused So true, how I would love if it was simply filing and photocopying. There is sometimes an element of sexism or stereotyping because it is largely women fulfilling these roles whereas those in in charge of the business and budget are more likely to be male so see this role as lesser and unimportant.

I’ve been with this trust two years and it’s terrible. They don’t seem to care they are overworking people and I am worried I look like I can’t cope - I have had fabulous references throughout my career.

@TeaandLemonDrizzle the NHS is renowned for working people into the ground. I've got two friends who work for big corporate firms and both have said they regard NHS staff very highly if they come across well in interview because it is a well known fact how shit the working conditions are. I was pleasantly surprised by that because I do know plenty of useless tools in the NHS, but I think those people tend to stay, and the decent ones often do leave...

It’s tragic

It’s all about saving money. I was in a meeting on Thursday and all we got was we have to save money. Meanwhile, yesterday, I battled with a roof leak (one of many recently) with a bucket trying to get estates that fix it. Dripping all over electrical equipment (fixed) so now that’s out of use. We lack the necessary resources, staff and space. There is a horrible culture in the place too. It’s awful. I wish I hadn’t started.

@TeaandLemonDrizzle

Really sorry to hear about what you are going through on NHS. I hate the fact that the staff in NHS are overworked and underpaid especially the health service is so valuable to everyone. Please accept a thanks from me.
For all the other posters too, I’m angry that management pile on work, instruct staff not to “bury hours” but have to anyway to get projects done for clients.

Other than joining Unions where possible, I don’t know what the solution is, but as other OP said, life can’t just be about work equalling non ending pressure.

OP - hope you get resolution soon, take care.

Thanks you. I don’t think the whole NHS is like this - I think it’s where I am now. The manager (band 8C) is a bit of a tool tbh and hasn’t moved the place forward in terms of technology/equipment. Staff morale is shocking and, of course, the NHS staff survey results are eye watering and depressing. A lot of it, I believe, is cost cutting but it has gone too far. We are in such a bad place that we have had to bring in external consultants (at almost £1000 a day costs) to help with the management side. It’s shocking.

I changed career to come into this role to work better hours (I was struggling working nights) and do something different but it is making me ill. Same
manager doesn’t do a capacity plan for his band 7’s and I, by far, line manage the majority of lower grade staff and do a lot that he should be doing. He spends his time chatting (not about work) or hiding in his office (out the way). I do a lot of work for other NHS trusts too (as part of my role) so he is absolutely oblivious to the amount of work I have to do. I have told him and it falls on deaf ears.

I really think I need to relocate to get out. Difficult as my daughter is in year 10 (GCSE’s). I’m also starting another MSc next month which will add on the pressure. Hopefully, it’ll help me escape.

I understand how you’re feeling OP. The issue for me is there are three members of my team. One is part time and the other is meant to be full time but is wildly unreliable and always seems to be ‘sick’ with a different malady (she tells us all the details).

It’s a civil service type job and nearly impossible to get rid of anyone even if they only turn up half the time This means I’m often by myself and doing the work of three people. It means I always feel as though I’m letting people down and that my work is not to a high standard.

I have been trying to get a job at the next level up but have decided to just go for a sideways job and get myself a new job as quickly as possible.

In the meantime I’m pushing back and refusing to sacrifice my own work to do the work of others. There will be consequences to that but sometimes things need to fall over before anyone takes notice. We also have a new line manager who is doing a better job than her predecessor of trying to reallocate work but she still has no control over my co worker and her attendance issues.

@bluetongue Well done for pushing back, it is just not sustainable to do the jobs of 2-3 people. Most workplaces are understaffed or just about coping. As long as there is someone willing to stretch themselves to cover everything employers turn a blind eye or make promises of better days ahead that never materialise. It's all about 'budget' so those at the top get a big fat bonus and pay rise for squeezing every penny out the workforce and so those above think this level of staffing is sustainable. It is completely short sighted if all your most experienced and hard working employees burn out and leave.

@bluetongue
One of my colleagues tells me to stop doing the work of others and then things will get noticed. In my case, it’ll be related to patient care so I think something will happen once things come to a halt.
We have a ridiculously high sickness rate (including the manager who is off a lot) and some people who are taking the absolute P! They get away with it. The trust I work for does nothing. We refer to occupational health, have absence meetings with HR, have face to face meetings with the staff member off sick and HR…nothing happens. We had one woman off 16 times with Covid!!!

Of course, this strain is having an effect on the few of us who are continuing to carry the can. It’s ok doing it for a few weeks but this has been going on the entire time I have been working there - 2.5 years. One of my younger members of staff (29) is really starting to show the strain. It just isn’t fair on the mental health and well being of remaining staff. I’m really wound up each day due the sheer amount of work I have to get through. There are always more issues cropping up each day. I take a good 2-3 hours to relax at home in the evenings. My sleeping pattern is terrible and I often find myself replying to work emails in the middle of the night. Unpaid.

I feel nothing is being done and nobody is listening. I am starting to have dark thoughts. I’m going through a divorce too which is costing me an absolute fortune - that is without the stress it’s causing. I feel quite trapped in the job as I need the money but can’t move away due to the children being here and my daughter half way through GCSE’s. My parents and siblings are RIP so, if I didn’t have children, I’d have relocated in a flash!!

Forgot to mention that one of my part time colleagues ended up on 6 months sick because the manager gave her the full time duties of someone on maternity leave for a year. Of course she got burnt out very quickly!! She is still having counselling to this day!! He constantly moves workload from one person to another without thinking if he needs to look at getting extra staff!!

16 times with Covid!! Even my piss taking co worker isn’t that brazen.

The worst thing about my colleague is she won’t call in and say she’ll be sick for a week or two. It will be one day at a time so you can’t plan anything.

I realise every workplace has issues but I really can’t wait to escape mine,

Re sickness - is this more prevalent in NHS, civil service and organisations where there is full sick pay? While there is plenty regular odd days of sickness in the private sector is it is less likely that someone will go long term sick for spurious reasons in the same way because they simply won't be on full pay.

I was in this position a few months ago. I am being taken to task for my work suffering DESPITE my raising formally doing two jobs is impossible over and over and being told it will get better. It never has.

Boss conveniently forgotten all the hours and stress working so hard, I'm now in some kind of nightmare where I'm apologising for not being good enough and managing two jobs.

The time to leave is now. Before you are so burnt out and gas lighted you have no confidence left.

@bluetongue
Well, 16 times off included the number of times she was in contact with someone who had to self-isolate so she had 14 or 10 days off each time. She had Covid 5 times…apparently!!

We have someone on sick right now (been off since early January) who keeps handing a two week sick note in and saying they’re coming back after each sick note expires but then rings in with another reason why they can’t come in!!! It’s not on at all.

Yes, this is the reason it’s a problem in the NHS. So many people take the piss! I don’t at all. I’ve only been off once in the last 15 years and that was when I finally succumbed to Covid in August 2022.

That’s really sad. I think this is the problem (and what makes me worry) is that I’d be just brushed under the carpet and classed as someone who couldn’t cope with the job if I went off sick. And this is after a fantastic 25 years in the NHS.

I know (from colleagues that have worked there longer than me) that the job I have (as a band 7) was done by two people previously (a band 7 and and a band 6).

I find it disgusting that they’re paying £1000 a day for external consultants to come in but couldn’t give their staff the support they were crying out for for a long time.