Topic : Stress at Work

Hi Jettav - 

Thanks so much for your advice.  I will def plan on documenting things within the next few days and take it from there.  You are right, honesty is always the best policy, even if it means I could potentially lose my job.  If that were to be the case, it would prove to me that this company is not the right one for me. 

Thanks again for your thoughts - I'll keep you updated!  :-) 

Tan 

going to have a great time or your going to regreat it. 

You are right to sit down at the beginning and go over everything and I mean everything.  Try to feel if they feel that the business can't run without them.  Is the business they own a 'sacred cow' to them. 

Do they want innovation, do they want new ideas, will they listen to you, will they let you function - If you feel the answer to any of these is ???????? then I would suggest that you have a Big meeting 

and everyone put their cards out. 

Something like this can work IF everyone respects each others rights to run the business in an 

productive and profitable way. 

I also have been stressed at work.... I had a job one time that I was driving to work and thought to myself, "The only thing I don't have control over is dying, everything else is optional"....So I turned my car around and went home, called and said, "I Quit"  and went out looking for something else....You find ways to make it and survive.... 

I can sympathize. I've been a prof. caregivier for 10 years, and been lucky to travel around the country with my hubby and never had a problem finding work in my field. But we moved back to the mainland from Hawaii in June, and found to my amazement just how brutal young people in this field can be. I'm 46 years old, and working with young care givers younger than my two children. Their lack of self control of their mouths, attitudes and behavior baffle me. Being a temporary staff support, I come into the facility to assist existing caregivers, but I have little or no avenues to direct my concerns. I have to provide the best of care of my ability, make sure no abuse occurs while I work with my asigned co-worker, and just get through the shift without grinding my teeth to the bone.  

The stress is so high that I jumped at the chance at a job offer referral from another facility with better benefits, and hopefully better caregiving environment.  I jumped through all their pre-hiring hoops...a physical an occupational and physical therapy examination, background checks, and drug testing and etc....only to be informed the following day by their Human Resource Dept. that the job offer had been withdrawn because I lifted 65 pounds and not 75 pounds due to the fact that I was recovering from a head cold that is going around all the healthcare facilities in the area. I met all the other requirements, and had excellent recommendations, and besides, they sought me out, not the other way around. I had my resignation all written up to deliver the following day to my current company, and the job offer being withdrawn just devastated me.  

The other healthcare facility told me that all the numbers had been entered into their central corporate database, and it determeined that I was not "fit" to do the job.  

Can anyone imagine how that just felt like a fist in my heart and soul? My worth as an individual comes down to numbers being entered into a computer program? How is this right? 

I'm good at what I do as a caregiver, a professional who provides care to those that no longer have that ability to do that for themselves whether it is temporary or long term.  

I will go back to work today at my current position, an question my abilities until I can work this out in my heart and mind. Perhaps it is time to change careers, because it appears that the human factor, individual abilities no longer matter...that recovering from a head cold determines your worth as a human being in the work force anymore. We are no longer people anymore...we are numbers........this saddens me more than anyone can know. 

I am 54 years old and took a job with a non for profit organization a year ago.....I admit I didnt do my homework regarding this type of organization....the constant crying about money, begging for things that I need to do my job, the constant budget talk etc is really starting to get to me.....and yet they seem to waste money on the most ridiculous things!!...Im just not used to that from my previous job...the job is closer to home and better work hours....but, I dont know if Im going to last!....has anyone else worked for a non for profit?...are all non for profits like this?....how did you deal with it?....thanks 

Donna 

Hi Donna, 

I've never worked for a ngo myself but a friend of mine told me similar horror stories from two different ngo's that she worked for in D.C.  Her analysis was that people who make careers in ngo's (in leadership positions) are there because they have a passion for what they do, but don't necessarily good management skills.  She also said there were a lot of big egos which clashed, and finally she quit and got a job somewhere else.  I guess it's up to you to decide if the convenience is worth the headache - only you can decide that.  In the meantime you might collect all sorts of information for your own version of Dilbert!