Hi, all!
One thing I have struggled with in every.single.job I have ever had, are “production standards.”
I am someone who has to take their time to ensure I am understanding something and completing it accurately. This, however, has never been adequate. I can’t tell you how many times, how many jobs, I’ve been told: “You’re not meeting production standards.”
Management would amp up the pressure, threatening disciplinary action. I’m talking multiple emails, per week, with reminders about expected numbers and comments about how they’re not being met and blah blah blah.
When an employer behaves this way, I panic and rush through my work which, needless to say, causes me to make mistakes. And, of course, I get in trouble for that.
I also feel like managers often have expectations outside the realm of possibility. They will make a standard for quantity that is disproportionate with quality, but they demand you deliver both. When you try to tell them you cannot accomplish both, they will dismiss you and say something like: “It can be done.”
This production BS makes me feel like such a failure in ALL jobs. It causes me such stress and makes my (already severe) anxiety even worse. The constant emphasis on “making your numbers” makes me ill.
Are production standards ridiculous, or am I really just a piece of crap?