I’m an engineer, office guy. Before lockdown, 40 hours a week, with the very rare “emergency” where they’d request that I work OT.
During lockdown, all the jobs dried up, so I opted to go to a construction site of ours for a year. They ended up keeping me for TWO, and the whole time was mostly 7/12s. I got to make money, but I was far from home (more than a thousand miles), and I ended my assignment burnt out.
Office culture was different upon my return. Tighter schedules, much more pressure, and now, while not “required,” a lot of pressure for OT. We’re understaffed and under-scheduled, and there’s been a big push to get more office and less WFH days out of us. I am well and truly burned out. So are my colleagues, considering we’re going through a period of attrition, losing some amazing and brilliant engineers.
Cut to my boss, who was forced to retire during lockdown. He’s trying to get all the money he can as quickly as he can so he can cash out for good.
After month and months of being pressured to put in more hours, I had it. I told him, I’m completely tapped out, I have nothing more to give.
He said “Well, ya better reach deep down and find something! ”
I told him that, if I’m reaching deep down, it’s going to be on the pages on LinkedIn.
Insert shocked Pikachu face. Silence. He returned to his desk without another word.
Now, he’s not a bad dude, but I really suspect HIS management’s disposition is to push us to our limits, but not beyond so much that we quit.
It’s been a few months since then, and a couple of “emergencies.” The pressure to preform is still higher than it USED to be, but the OT hounding has largely stopped.
My bosses seem to work 24/7. Any time I log in, 6am, 10pm, whenever it is, they’re on. It’s wild. I’m not in their position, I don’t make their money, and I won’t live like that anymore.
Reading about y’all standing up for yourselves on here has really helped me to do that myself. I read quite a bit of the posts here, and I appreciate you super cool people!