Casey asks :
Hello Lucy,
I am feeling quite unhappy at work at the moment. I am prone to depression and anxiety and am working in a field with a high risk of burn out, with vulnerable people. While I love working with clients, I am finding the organisation and my boss' approach, in particular, very hard to deal with and I am feeling increasingly depressed and low in mood. We are constantly being asked to take on more and more work as the organisation is trying to raise its profile by taking on a range on new projects. While I want to develop and learn new skills, I am finding it increasingly hard to juggle my normal duties and clients with the new and more complex cases that we are also being asked to take on. While my boss seems to recognise that the workload is too much and that they have failed as yet to provide us with be necessary training needed to take on the more complex cases, she keeps highlighting to me and my colleagues how "inexperienced" and "lacking in knowledge" we are. This makes some of my colleagues and I feel inadequate and it's even worse when she compares our efforts to her own skills and highlights that she finds it difficult to understand why we make certain mistakes as the answers seem "obvious" to her. I am feeling very undervalued at work and there has been a big drop in my confidence. My team mates and I tried to raise the issue of our job description in our team meeting as the new work that we are doing has not been included in it. I also requested for our salary to be reviewed in light of the more complex work that we are doing, which I have seen reflected in similar job descriptions at a significantly higher wage. My boss later became very aggressive in my supervision and told me that this was an inappropriate place to bring up salary and that she was upset and disappointed as she felt I didn't trust her and was trying to undermine her. I was shocked at her emotional response and felt bad that I had upset her. I apologised as it was not my intention to show her up, but, to raise an issue that myself and my colleagues were concerned about, as we were asked directly in the meeting if there was anything that we wanted to discuss. I now feel very uncomfortable in work and am afraid to say that I am finding it hard to manage as I am weary of my boss' response and feel that she will twist the difficulties that I am experiencing to put me down. I don't know if I am being too sensitive, as I understand that it is necessary to have constructive criticism sometimes as work, or whether I am just being bullied. I am finding myself unable to sleep at night, worrying about work and it is affecting my relationship.
Hi Casey,
Agony Aunts on Female First
This sounds like a very frustrating place to be right now. Have you considered looking for another job elsewhere? If you are having trouble with your boss and it doesn’t look like things are going to change with her, your wage or the workload then perhaps it’s time to jump ship. Yes, work is a huge part of your life, however once it begins to affect your relationship and your sleeping patterns then maybe that is a sign that your time with the company has taken its toll.
Alternatively, is there someone you could speak to senior to her that could have some influence over things? If it is not just you who feels this way could all of you have a meeting with her manager to discuss how much it's affecting a number of you, not just you?
It sounds like her approach to management is having a negative effect on you all, which can’t be good for morale. Perhaps a chat with someone above her station who she respects might give her the jolt she needs to realise that her staff are not happy with the way in which she is speaking to them.
Chances are if you are under a lot of pressure she is too, so it might be that this is how she is venting her frustrations at her added workload.
Could you speak to her on her own rather than in a meeting environment? Perhaps she was not responsive in the meeting because she felt it was something that needs to be discussed on a one to one level. Maybe it would be beneficial to do this first before going to someone senior so it gives her the chance to put forward her side of things.
tagged in Love depression Lucy Walton yin and yang agony aunt
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