Ever lose sleep over your job?

In My Humble Opinion
1

(He asks as he finds himself awake at 2 in the morning.) If so, what did you do about it?

My government job inherently involves some degree of stress and unpleasantness, but it is (IMO) quite well paid, very close to home, and supports what I consider a very comfortable lifestyle. The position is generally given not inconsiderable respect, my office is nice enough, good bennies, flexible hours, some work at home, etc. Lots of leave - tho the past couple of years I’ve been losing hundreds of hours of leave in use-or-lose. Given a minimal amount of support, the expectations are very doable.

I’m 55 yrs old, a gov’t lifer. Throughout my career I have always been one of the top producers in terms of both quality and quantity in every position I’ve held in every office I’ve worked in. I don’t consider myself to have ever been a complainer, and I have not thought well of those I perceived as complainers and poor performers. “Just shut up and do your job” has been my only slightly tongue-in-cheek mantra.

Sure, I could quit. I’m not eligible for early retirement. I guarantee I could not find another job anywhere near my current pay/conditions. In 10 yrs or so, I’d have fine retirement. But - to be completely honest - at this stage in my life I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I didn’t work at all. And it would require some effort and sacrifices to replace my current earnings or go without.

The problem is largely the support staff - or increasing lack of it. As good as I am at my job, I simply cannot do it without sufficient staff and management support. The best staff and management keep getting promoted or transferred, and not being replaced, leaving us with fewer staff, a greater percentage of whom are seriously lacking in skills or temperament.

At a meeting 2-3 weeks ago, I expressed my concerns that I did not know how I could meet the office’s and my personal expectations, given existing support. We had just been informed that our best (of 3) supervisors accepted a promotion elsewhere, and one of our best staff had been promoted into a new quasi-oversight position. Since then, one of our best remaining staff - one of 2 in a key position - accepted a transfer. And the remaining person in that position is incompetent. Our office has fewer than 1/2 as many staff as when I started my current position 5 years ago, yet office and per employee production expectations are the same.

My job requires the processing and disposition of a large number of matters, each of which has to pass through various hands before the end product is reached. Each day, i encounter many instances where folk simply dropped the ball, or ignored clear instruction. I wouldn’t mind working harder and harder if I were one piece in a well-oiled machine, part of a group effort that was achieving laudable things. But instead, I find myself working harder and harder to do what is supposed to be other peoples’ work, resulting in less and lower quality work on my part. And the public, whom I’m willing to work very hard to serve, is being ill-served.

I don’t know how much I blame my immediate office management, as they are very constrained in their ability to hire and replace qualified staff. On the rare occasions that we are allowed new hires, we are generally required to hire veterans, not the most qualified candidates. Of our last hire of 5 vets, charitably 2 are minimally qualified, and none are excellent. Office management does not get support at the regional or national level. (I ran an office like mine for 1.5 years, so I have some idea what they are up against.)

So I’m sitting here in the middle of the night wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do about it. I’m thinking about speaking (more) with my office management and colleagues, and expressing my experiences and concerns in writing with management and those higher up. This post - in large part - represents a very initial effort at getting some of those concerns down in writing.

Realistically, the one thing I’ve decided I CAN do is to lower my personal expectations in terms of output quantity. Believe me, I’m already turning out poorer quality work than I ever did before - and working harder than ever to do so. Of course, if I take that route, I wonder about the extent to which I need to take steps to cover my ass. I’ve seen folk in my position do WAY worse work than I for years without repercussions, but given my nature, I’ve always tried to at least meet expectations while causing as few waves as possible.

Well, this is way too long. Thanks anyone who has made it through this far. Maybe I’ll read for a while before trying to get some more sleep before heading into the office…

2

Yeah, frequently - usually over some bullshit project or something where the remit is “finish before you start” or “I know it’s impossible, but can we just do it anyway?”. I’ll lie there grinding my teeth and replaying the same conversations over and over, even though I know it’s futile to do that.

Eventually, mental exhaustion knocks me out, or the alarm clock goes off and it’s time to get up.

3

The math doesn’t hold… I hate it when the people setting goals can’t do basic arithmetic.

4

Ever lose sleep over your job?

You mean like right now? What do I do about it? I yawn a lot.

5

I don’t exactly lose sleep over it but I do dream about various office scenarios, and I have many times woken up in the middle of the night thinking of something I need to do, something I must not forget to do, or something I think I’ve got completely wrong.

6

At this very moment I’m losing sleep over not having a job.Does that count?

7

All the damn time. I found yoga helpful - I really ought to find a place to take classes where they are available at times when I can actually go.

I’m more than half-seriously considering how to pay off our condo, and use the funds from renting it out to live overseas somewhere where the cost of living is cheap enough that we wouldn’t really need to work.

8

The last time a job caused me to lose sleep, I quit. Granted it was just a temp job and in theory, I was at the end of the term of employment, but I’d been talking to the boss about staying on part time as needed. That was when my psycho OCD coworker decided to get on my last nerve. I literally spent the night tossing and turning, and first thing the next morning, I told the boss I couldn’t take it and I quit.

But in my real pre-retirement job, no, I never got too stressed. Then again, I remained at the peon level pretty much the entire time. I didn’t want to be a supervisor - I was content to be a worker bee (also with the government.) Never had to worry about use-or-lose, rarely got dragged into meetings. Never regretted avoiding the management track.

9

I wake up at 3am regularly with issues on my mind. Comes with age :wink:

You are aware of the trade-offs you have made on the face of it. You understand the implications of being a “government lifer.” You will have to decide how you wish to work within that context - accepting your lot, or working within that context to change it. Will never be easy and will never go away while you are there.

I agree with the poster who suggested yoga. I do some of my best thinking during yoga, and it helps me sleep.

10

Sure, I think most everyone, at some point or other, loses sleep thinking about issues at work. The problem becomes when it is the norm rather than the exception.

I think the math holds fine. Admittedly, I’m a private sector lifer (so far…), but I have always seen part of my job as increasing efficiency and automation. Given the rate of advancement in computerization/automation, if we are still using the same process and number of people five years down the road then we’re not doing something right. Hell, 5 years ago my current position didn’t even exist, it wasn’t technologically possible. I created it by taking advantage of electronic advances to deliver more relevant data to the company more efficiently, meeting a real need. I understand, or think I do, that government employees tend to have their hands tied when it comes to technology advances. Inertia can be a powerful force.

11

I am an owner (with my partners) of a business. I exist in only two states; stressed I might not have sufficient work, and stressed because I have too much. I have definitely woken up in a cold sweat about it, in the early hours of the morning.

12

About once a month, some issue at work will have me thrashing around with the night sweats. Usually, the thing that has me worried turns out to be a minor issue. It’s the ones I don’t worry about in advance that always seem to get me. :frowning:

13

The math for “expect same total efficiency” holds if it goes with “double individual efficiency”. What doesn’t work is “same total, same individual, half the heads.” And depending on what the work actually entails, that double individual efficiency isn’t all that easy.

14

Yes. I have a very stressful event in October that has about a million components in it. I often find myself losing sleep during that month.

15

Valid observations - to a point. My job, as with much public service, involves providing direct personal service to individuals. Think of it as akin to a doctor’s office. (No, I’m not saying my job or most government function is as vital as providing health care.) How many staff can you eliminate before you start to question the level of care/attention? Do you need a receptionist to schedule appts/welcome patients/deal with insurance/labs/etc? An assistant to take vitals and prep the patient? A care provider? Hopefully they are making as much use as possible of technological advances to provide the best/most efficient care to their patients. But what if you lose the receptionist? Can you simply “automate” that function? Or ask the assistant and care provider to pick up those duties - without lessening the number of patients they see or care they provide.

Or, say you have a staff of drs, receptionists, and assistants, and over time the most competent receptionists and aides leave, and aren’t replaced.

We’ve changed processes and accepted considerable technology over the past 5 years, and have continuously “done more with fewer staff.” But are you saying there is no limit? How much does automation help if you lack competent people to provide input and direct it? The next time you have a complicated question of a government entity, at some point are you going to want to speak with a human?

16

Not my current one but my last one yeah. One of the reasons I’m not there anymore. Between the business circling the drain and the odd armed robbery attempt now and then, it gave me more than its share of sleepless nights.

17

Hell, ten years later I still do! That was a tough job!

18

If you ever find yourself playing/replaying conversations that you think should take place, just give up. There will be no payoff. Justice will never be served. Reason will never triumph. On the other hand, if you lose the ego, you could lower your standards and milk this deal for far longer than you imagined possible.

19

I’ve lost jobs over my sleep. Does that count?

I often have a recurring dream that I am working somewhre, and it’s been months since I’ve done anything, and I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do, and I spend all my time trying to look busy.

20

Sure I did. Because I enjoyed what I was doing so much that I stayed awake to continue. Even now, into the 17th year of retirement, I still do it. Last night as I was falling asleep I had a sudden realization about something I and my collaborators (one retired, one semi-retired) have been working on. It kept me up just thinking about. The first thing this morning, I emailed them. It helps that I can do my research without leaving my bed.