For the past 5+ years, I had a business arrangement that could almost be described as self employed, but with a business partner. However, me and the partner had some… disagreements about financials and decided to go our own ways, leaving me to find a new job last summer.
After applying around for awhile, I finally nailed what seemed like a dream job to me: Remote, a bit of a higher title than I was working with, an opportunity to learn software and design/codes I was unfamiliar with having worked in a relatively “closed” environment for the past years. It had a pay raise, benefits, all the stuff I was missing from being self employed along with coworkers to bounce projects off of, learn and teach with, etc.
Anyway, the job was great. At first. How many times have we all heard that story I suppose?
I work the first few months, I have 3-4 other designers in our “sector” and we all help each other with projects. I'm never overloaded, and as Christmas rolls around, I'm actually pretty light and having to ask people if they need help because I have some free time to finish up the work week. (They expected 40 hours min a week, which… Can be stressful when you don't have enough going on to fill that.)
Well as the financial year is coming to a close, I'm told I won't get a raise this year because I'd only worked there several months; Made sense, whatever. It also comes up in our team meeting that a new sector will be created in the company and some people would be shifted there, etc. I'm like, ok, maybe I'll lose a coworker or two, but I'm still learning this company's policies, how they run, the new software, etc…. And they drop the bomb on me:
I am now the only designer in this new sector. I no longer have coworkers or assistance on projects. I am also now expected to do fire alarm work alongside fire sprinkler, the latter being the limits of my 10+ year experience. But ok, y'know, that's fine; A chance to learn more, expand my skillset, stretch my legs and prove to myself my limits are only what I told myself they were in the past. Sucks I'm now basically a lead designer instead of a designer alone and didn't get a job title change or pay raise for it… but I'll try.
The weeks go on. It's fine at first… Until some projects start coming in mis-represented. It starts “small”, with one 4-hour project that now blossomed to a 200 hour project, with due dates forcing it into my schedule alongside other projects; Now what was 40 hour work weeks turned into 45-50 hour work weeks for 2-3 months straight just to make sure deadlines kept getting met. I'm going into team meetings and talking to PM's/etc about how I NEED help at this point, and the same story keeps being spouted: “We know, we're trying, it's in the budget, we're out there attempting to hire or ask other designers in other sectors of the company to help”
I manage on the cusp of burnout several times. I definitely let emotions get a bit heated at times, but I make deadlines work with only a few shifts here/there. All the while, I'm still getting new projects added constantly that always keep me over 40 hours a week.
Somewhere along the line I'm reminded by one of the PM's that keeps overloading me with work that I'm salaried so I don't get any overtime; but it's expected of me to put in 10% overtime a week anyway. Realistically I'm now set at 15+% overtime for the year… for free for them…
And now, after the past month when these projects that were misrepresented to me have finally settled a bit and I've got breathing room for once with deadlines not up my ass, where I have 2 days ahead of schedule for the first time in 4 months… I go into my scheduling meeting, set my workload for next week at 44 hours, and find out this morning the same PM as before now promised a client a two-week turn-around for a project and added 32 hours to my schedule across the two weeks for it.
So now I sit here staring at a 61.5 hour schedule next week, knowing I wouldn't get a penny for any hour over 40 spent, and going “Yep, not happening” and mentally updating my resume and plans for where to start applying soon.
Ive loved this job, I liked the coworkers, I like the pay boost, I like being remote, I like the benefits, but I don't like being abused and used constantly with false promises of help while the same assholes that overloaded me in the first place just “slip in” 16 additional hours of work into my schedule that they can already see is packed full.
Man I gotta figure out how to go back to self employment, cuz no matter how good a job seems at outset, it seems they're gonna use you til you're a burnt out husk as soon as they can when you work for someone else. Should've noticed the red flags of people quitting every 2-4 weeks it seemed from the moment I was hired onwards…