Hi, I just want to vent for a second to whoever will take the time to read this.
I’ve been working at a science lab washing glassware for just over 6 months and I actually don’t mind the job too much. For the most part it’s pretty easy. I work by myself and I get to listen to music/podcasts all day so can’t complain there. My main complaint is that 40 hours (5 days) is burning me out so bad, to the point that I can’t even enjoy my days off because I’m just using them to recharge for the next week.
When I first got hired at my job I asked if I could work 32 hours (4 days) so I could have an extra day off, because I knew that working 40 hours causes me intense burnout. My boss told me that he checked with HR and that HR said I can’t decrease my hours because I’m enrolled in benefits. (The only benefit I’m enrolled in is 401K matching since I’m still on my mom’s insurance and don’t need medical/dental/etc.) I just accepted this as the job and told myself I’ll figure out how to manage the burnout. It wasn’t ideal, but it was okay for a while. However, the last couple months have been really draining me. There’s been an increase in work and I bust my ass all day, to the point that I skip my breaks because it’ll put me behind. I also pick up the other shift’s slack, and I’m the only one that does the harder duties of the job. There’s also a ton of equipment issues that have been making the job take so much longer. I’ve talked to my boss about all this, but there hasn’t been any change.
Today, I was fed up with the job and how much I was doing and just really felt like going down to 4 days would be my best bet. I went and talked to HR myself because I felt like my boss isn’t reliable and had a suspicion he wasn’t telling me the whole truth. I asked HR how many hours I have to work in order to keep my 401K benefits, and they told me I could work less than 30 hours and keep that benefit! This means that my boss straight up lied to my face before when he told me he asked HR before. So that’s frustrating.
I chatted with HR for about 20 minutes and they weren’t a ton of help. They kept suggesting things that didn’t feel like a compromise to me and what I wanted. I just kept repeating that I feel like what’s best for me and my mental health would be working 4 days. It eventually boiled down to the HR representative saying she’ll talk to my boss and get back to me next week, which I kind of feel like won’t happen, but guess we’ll see.
TL;DR: I want to work 4 days instead of 5 because I’m burned out and my boss lied to me and told me I couldn’t.