I mentioned in my last post that my complaining would eventually lead to larger discussions. Today, I'd like to start one of those.
The reason I was complaining in my last post was mainly because my workload has shifted and increased significantly and multiple times over the course of the summer. This type of thing has happened to me before, and I've talked to other people and read enough about it that I know this is a pattern that is not limited to my experience or the companies I have worked for.
Let's get into the full story. My current role is one where there has historically been large amounts of turnover at this company. I understand why that would be. It's a fairly low level supply chain position, thus open to just about anyone with fairly minimal experience. Many of the people that start in this position move on to better positions in the company or just move on with their careers in general. I also understand that supply chain positions, especially one such as mine on the front line of a manufacturing environment, are challenging and not everyone is cut out for them. It's rare that materials personnel are praised when things go right and goals are met, but when materials are short and goals are missed, we're usually the first department on which to place blame.
As I mentioned in my previous post, for good or ill, I'm built for this job. I, like everyone, could use a bit more recognition from time to time, but, by and large, I don't mind taking some heat. In fact, I usually work better when under a certain amount of pressure.
Here's the rub: pressure is a funny thing, and it's easy to go from good stress to bad stress.
Back to my story: Turnover has been historically high, but when I started I was rounding out a full department, and so I was given a reasonable workload that I could easily handle in an eight hour day. In fact, on Fridays I would often have the chance to leave a little earlier than usual. A few months into my stay, though, and things began to change. There was a retirement, a misstep on a replacement, and suddenly our full department was short an individual. At first we were promised this would be dealt with in all due haste, but that was late spring and the entire summer went by without refilling our department.
Here's my next tangent: every business I have ever worked for has a habit of losing people, then not replacing them. For some, pushing more responsibilities onto fewer people and seeing if it would break was part of the business strategy. I don't believe that's the case here, but I can't think of a worse idea. I know every department everywhere wants more bodies, and there's usually some reasonable explanation for why the department is sized the way it is. However, having a department set to a fairly optimal size, reducing that department when productivity demands on the individuals in the department are not falling (or worse, when they're rising), can only lead to disaster. This is a major contributor to employees leaving because of burnout.
Going back to my story, as I said, we were promised we would not be asked to shoulder this increased workload for long. I don't believe the reason we went the entire summer is anything other than large businesses move fairly slowly, and unfortunately our company just has to jump through a lot of bureaucratic hoops in order to hire someone. The people left, though, were all qualified and willing to put in the extra effort with the knowledge that by the end of the year we would likely be back to our normal workload.
Had that been the case, my previous post would not have happened. What actually happened was that another individual in my department found another opportunity. The story there is long, but I won't get into it here as it's not mine to tell. Suffice it to say that our department was effectively halved in a few months, and suddenly I went from being the least senior person in my department to the most senior person in my department. I am also, as I mentioned, really good at my job, so, as one of my coworkers put it, I became "a victim of my own success." The most difficult tasks were assigned to me, and I am now drowning in work. My easy eight hour days have suddenly become exhausting ten hour days in which I leave three hours' worth of work on the table at the end of the day because I just can't focus any longer.
This is a trend, not a one off. This has happened to me at every company I have ever worked for. I don't sit on my hands. I don't mess around at work. I don't make my workload fill my day. I have never had that kind of work ethic. I find work to fill my day, and that's what has caused me problems time and again.
This work ethic is not the norm. I know plenty of people that have this work ethic, but standard clock-punching employees by and large look for ways to do as little actual work in the time they're required to be at work as possible to continue to get paid. It's something I've always rebelled against, but I know that's the norm. The issue is, since I'm willing to put in the effort, I'm inevitably asked to do more than my peers. This is the real issue I have with most businesses: people who are good at their work are generally rewarded with, you guessed it, more work. Worst of all, people who are not all that good get to keep their jobs and do as little as possible, and the better employees have to pick up whatever slack those types of employees leave behind.
This, coupled with dumping extra work on employees in times of staff shortages and not lowering expectations of output, can only ever lead to burnout. Employees leave companies because they are overworked and underappreciated. When I left my previous employer, I was doing what had previously been four to five positions by myself. I was overloaded, and it was affecting my health, so I started looking for another job.
The worse thing to happen, though, is not to lose that employee, but to keep that employee and lose what makes them a special employee. I've seen others like me who, after numerous increases in responsibility, just begin to shut down. Suddenly they don't care about getting their work done, because, frankly, no matter how hard they try, they're never going to finish. That attitude is what causes the employees who come in to work to punch a clock, do as little as possible, and go home.
I know that there has to be a balance somewhere between what's good for the bottom line, and what's good for the employees. Overwhelmed employees aren't doing excellent work; they're frantically flailing about trying to keep things from falling apart. How long a person can do that before resigning, physically or mentally, is not something a business should be trying to figure out. Businesses should look to keep their employees satisfied in their positions, because happier employees are more productive, and more likely to go out of their way when things really do require extra effort. Also, do I really need to explain how expensive hiring and training new employees is?
Here's the long and short: good employees do a good job because they want to. Pushing them to do more and overwhelming them with responsibilities is a surefire way to kill morale, reduce productivity, and, eventually, lose them. Treat employees well, and they'll treat your business well.
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