Help - I'm terrified of being fired but cannot seem to keep up
December 14, 2014 4:17 PM Subscribe
About 6 months ago, I started a new job. A number of us were hired for the same position at the same time, and we spent several months in training that schooled us on policy and procedure. About 8 weeks ago, we were given our own work load, and though I am working as hard as I can, I cannot seem to keep up the pace, and don't really understand how anyone is able to. This is making me extremely anxious, and really damaging my self-esteem. Should I start looking for a new job?
I'm terrified of being fired and they have made it clear that the will let people go if they cannot keep up, but I do not know how long I would get before they would do so. I would hate to find a new job and leave, especially before being there for a year, but I know that a short tenure would be better than being fired (which has never happened to me). At the same time, I wonder if I just need more time to adjust. Unfortunately , it is the type of position where the longer I work below the expected pace, the harder it will be to dig myself out. I'm also afraid of ending up in the same situation somewhere else. I worked at the same company for over 10 years prior to this job, and did well in every position I had, but I'm wondering if I was just out of touch with how most businesses work.
For those who may wonder, I cannot work any more hours to catch up. I am planning on giving up my breaks, which will buy me 1/2 an hour per day, but I am not allowed to work through lunch. It is also not a case of having too many responsibilities - everyone in this position gets the exact same amount of work.
I'm terrified of being fired and they have made it clear that the will let people go if they cannot keep up, but I do not know how long I would get before they would do so. I would hate to find a new job and leave, especially before being there for a year, but I know that a short tenure would be better than being fired (which has never happened to me). At the same time, I wonder if I just need more time to adjust. Unfortunately , it is the type of position where the longer I work below the expected pace, the harder it will be to dig myself out. I'm also afraid of ending up in the same situation somewhere else. I worked at the same company for over 10 years prior to this job, and did well in every position I had, but I'm wondering if I was just out of touch with how most businesses work.
For those who may wonder, I cannot work any more hours to catch up. I am planning on giving up my breaks, which will buy me 1/2 an hour per day, but I am not allowed to work through lunch. It is also not a case of having too many responsibilities - everyone in this position gets the exact same amount of work.
It's clear that they don't think of you as a person, but rather one of the competing labrats on the treadmill they've leashed you to.
posted by oceanjesse at 4:26 PM on December 14, 2014
posted by oceanjesse at 4:26 PM on December 14, 2014
Response by poster: I'm not sure why I'm a sock puppet, but
a) I'd rather not go into a ton of detail because it is fairly specific, but let's just say that I get a certain number of cases that I need to process, and in order to stay afloat, I need to get out about as many cases as I get in. This is not happening, not even close.
b) We get weekly statistics that allow me to compare myself to some of the trainees (those in my area). Other ones, I have talked to.
posted by aka_anon at 4:30 PM on December 14, 2014
a) I'd rather not go into a ton of detail because it is fairly specific, but let's just say that I get a certain number of cases that I need to process, and in order to stay afloat, I need to get out about as many cases as I get in. This is not happening, not even close.
b) We get weekly statistics that allow me to compare myself to some of the trainees (those in my area). Other ones, I have talked to.
posted by aka_anon at 4:30 PM on December 14, 2014
Talk to the other trainees and see how they are feeling and what they are doing to keep up. Talk to people who have been around a good while too. They may tell you that everyone felt panicky initially but things do come together eventually.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 4:39 PM on December 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 4:39 PM on December 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
Hmm, you know a family member of mine used to work in conveyancing and she had a ridiculous file load and chargeable hrs target. This was causing her a lot of stress and anxiety. She eventually left that role and made sure to have a more realistic workload and targets since then. She's been much happier in her jobs since. She is by no means a slacker or poor performer, the environment just was not a good fit (for anybody wishing to be treated like a human being at work).
So it may be that you're objectively slower than your peers or perhaps you just feel you are or perhaps they are just doing a worse job than you and thus look good in terms of statistics but not so much in terms of output or perhaps this is just not a good fit for you. If this is causing you anxiety and stressing you out you may as well start looking for another job. You may not find one that is a better fit immediately anyway.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:48 PM on December 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
So it may be that you're objectively slower than your peers or perhaps you just feel you are or perhaps they are just doing a worse job than you and thus look good in terms of statistics but not so much in terms of output or perhaps this is just not a good fit for you. If this is causing you anxiety and stressing you out you may as well start looking for another job. You may not find one that is a better fit immediately anyway.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:48 PM on December 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
Around here, "sockpuppet" just means an account created for a specific discussion which one does not want associated with one's main account. Nobody's accusing you of deceitful behavior here.
I understand the desire to be vague, but it's really hard to say more without knowing your industry. Some training programs are basically a way to select for poor people who have access to rich people. For example, certain kinds of financial advising and insurance sales.
In general, if you are demonstrably lagging behind the rest of your cohort, have no realistic plan to fix that, and know that your employer doesn't tolerate under-performance, it might be a good idea to update your resume.
But I'm not giving you any new information here. I'm only reflecting back to you your own statements.
If you're going to look for another job, you might want to do it soon. In some industries, it's easier to explain away a few months with "job duties not as described," "poor fit," and the like. And with ten years in one place on your resume, you will not be labelled a chronic job hopper. In fact, with a ten-year stint on your resume, you can even leave off this job altogether and just say you took a few months to cross a few things off your bucket list, and now you're ready to get back to work.
posted by d. z. wang at 4:48 PM on December 14, 2014
I understand the desire to be vague, but it's really hard to say more without knowing your industry. Some training programs are basically a way to select for poor people who have access to rich people. For example, certain kinds of financial advising and insurance sales.
In general, if you are demonstrably lagging behind the rest of your cohort, have no realistic plan to fix that, and know that your employer doesn't tolerate under-performance, it might be a good idea to update your resume.
But I'm not giving you any new information here. I'm only reflecting back to you your own statements.
If you're going to look for another job, you might want to do it soon. In some industries, it's easier to explain away a few months with "job duties not as described," "poor fit," and the like. And with ten years in one place on your resume, you will not be labelled a chronic job hopper. In fact, with a ten-year stint on your resume, you can even leave off this job altogether and just say you took a few months to cross a few things off your bucket list, and now you're ready to get back to work.
posted by d. z. wang at 4:48 PM on December 14, 2014
Best answer: I think it's time to get strategic. You know the workload is possible - others are doing it. Now you just have to figure out how to replicate their performance.
Somebody here the other day posted this great summary of how to get better at things. It went something like:
1. Do a Thing.
2. Figure out the aspect of Thing you're worst at.
3. Improve that aspect.
4. Go to step 2.
It sounds like your tasks are fairly repetitive, which is very good for utilizing this kind of technique. Let's say you're processing TPS reports. You should figure out how much time you have to finish a single report. Let's say you work 6.5 hours/day after breaks, and you have 20 TPS reports to process a day. That gives you about a half hour per TPS report. So your first goal should be to get the TPS reports down to a half hour, so the backlog isn't getting worse.
If you think holistically about your work, what tasks/aspects are holding you up the most? I suggest timing yourself here to actually see how long each subtask takes and then figuring out how to make the ones you're the worst at or that seem to take longer than they should faster. You can strategically ask coworkers about how they accomplish the tasks you're struggling with and use their suggestions to make your work faster.
One thing I think you should consider, though, is whether you are taking a long time because you care more about quality than your coworkers. If you have a perfectionist streak and carefully check everything you do and your coworkers don't, that may be where the time difference is coming from. Sometimes, less quality is better.
posted by zug at 4:50 PM on December 14, 2014 [11 favorites]
Somebody here the other day posted this great summary of how to get better at things. It went something like:
1. Do a Thing.
2. Figure out the aspect of Thing you're worst at.
3. Improve that aspect.
4. Go to step 2.
It sounds like your tasks are fairly repetitive, which is very good for utilizing this kind of technique. Let's say you're processing TPS reports. You should figure out how much time you have to finish a single report. Let's say you work 6.5 hours/day after breaks, and you have 20 TPS reports to process a day. That gives you about a half hour per TPS report. So your first goal should be to get the TPS reports down to a half hour, so the backlog isn't getting worse.
If you think holistically about your work, what tasks/aspects are holding you up the most? I suggest timing yourself here to actually see how long each subtask takes and then figuring out how to make the ones you're the worst at or that seem to take longer than they should faster. You can strategically ask coworkers about how they accomplish the tasks you're struggling with and use their suggestions to make your work faster.
One thing I think you should consider, though, is whether you are taking a long time because you care more about quality than your coworkers. If you have a perfectionist streak and carefully check everything you do and your coworkers don't, that may be where the time difference is coming from. Sometimes, less quality is better.
posted by zug at 4:50 PM on December 14, 2014 [11 favorites]
Best answer: Management usually sets the goal at a stretch point, in my experience. Sometimes there's a sort of bi-polar quality to it: they tell you that you have to produce 20 widgets a day, with strict adherence to quality expectations. Everyone knows that it's impossible to produce 20 quality widgets a day, so the survivors are the ones who produce 20 sub-par widgets. Management talks about quality but doesn't call out bad quality. Now and then audit will catch a bad widget and either the punishment will be minimal or one employee will take the fall.
I feel very cynical saying this, and it may not be true of your environment at all. But sometimes it's the only explanation I can come up with.
In my current position, everyone is always struggling to meet a goal that's pretty unrealistic unless you, by chance, get a bunch of easy tasks assigned to you. The reason seems to be that senior management set the goal a few years ago, and then a lot of procedures changed and things got more difficult, but the goal didn't change. So folks on the team fall into two camps: those who quietly cut corners, and those who don't and are resentful.
In your case, this sounds like a shitty job. Work on surviving for sure, but start looking ahead. You're still a good employee and you deserve a better job.
posted by bunderful at 5:22 PM on December 14, 2014 [13 favorites]
I feel very cynical saying this, and it may not be true of your environment at all. But sometimes it's the only explanation I can come up with.
In my current position, everyone is always struggling to meet a goal that's pretty unrealistic unless you, by chance, get a bunch of easy tasks assigned to you. The reason seems to be that senior management set the goal a few years ago, and then a lot of procedures changed and things got more difficult, but the goal didn't change. So folks on the team fall into two camps: those who quietly cut corners, and those who don't and are resentful.
In your case, this sounds like a shitty job. Work on surviving for sure, but start looking ahead. You're still a good employee and you deserve a better job.
posted by bunderful at 5:22 PM on December 14, 2014 [13 favorites]
I used to work as a programmer. I could write programs better than most of my coworkers and debugged their source code to fix problems for them.
I had a workload of about 23 programs the same as everyone else.
Coworkers could not get their programs to work correctly so I was labeled as legacy software development and anything my coworkers could not get to work was labeled legacy software and assigned to me.
I had over 134 programs and my coworkers only had 6 or 9 at the time. I was very overworked. I could not meet my schedule because they gave me unfair deadlines and the hardest of all programs to get working.
I had to look for another job, but it was 2001 and nobody else was hiring because of the Dotcom busts.
I worked so hard I had a stroke, ended up diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and went on short-term disability. When I returned two weeks later I was fired for having a panic attack at work. I ended up on disability.
Stress can do all sorts of bad things to your body and mind.
I'd much rather work baking pizzas or answering the phone, than working a high paying job that is too stressful. Working for management that does not appreciate you and overworks you beyond what you can do is only going to lead to bad things.
Don't quit your job yet, don't quit until you find a different job to work at.
You coworkers may be able to handle stress better than you and take shortcuts to close cases faster. My coworkers took shortcuts to get programs out, but they were defective and needed me to fix them.
posted by Orion Blastar at 5:31 PM on December 14, 2014 [15 favorites]
I had a workload of about 23 programs the same as everyone else.
Coworkers could not get their programs to work correctly so I was labeled as legacy software development and anything my coworkers could not get to work was labeled legacy software and assigned to me.
I had over 134 programs and my coworkers only had 6 or 9 at the time. I was very overworked. I could not meet my schedule because they gave me unfair deadlines and the hardest of all programs to get working.
I had to look for another job, but it was 2001 and nobody else was hiring because of the Dotcom busts.
I worked so hard I had a stroke, ended up diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and went on short-term disability. When I returned two weeks later I was fired for having a panic attack at work. I ended up on disability.
Stress can do all sorts of bad things to your body and mind.
I'd much rather work baking pizzas or answering the phone, than working a high paying job that is too stressful. Working for management that does not appreciate you and overworks you beyond what you can do is only going to lead to bad things.
Don't quit your job yet, don't quit until you find a different job to work at.
You coworkers may be able to handle stress better than you and take shortcuts to close cases faster. My coworkers took shortcuts to get programs out, but they were defective and needed me to fix them.
posted by Orion Blastar at 5:31 PM on December 14, 2014 [15 favorites]
Can you put your finger on what you think you might not be doing that well, especially compared to others?
Try and stay constructive, keep perspective.
Whomever brought you on, they don't want to see you fail. They hired you and trained you, so they think you have what it takes to do the job. They've been doing this a long time, and know a good thing when they see it.
Just talk to your boss about what's bothering you. Ask for help. People with nothing to gain from your failure have nothing to gain from your failure.
posted by BadgerDoctor at 5:35 PM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Try and stay constructive, keep perspective.
Whomever brought you on, they don't want to see you fail. They hired you and trained you, so they think you have what it takes to do the job. They've been doing this a long time, and know a good thing when they see it.
Just talk to your boss about what's bothering you. Ask for help. People with nothing to gain from your failure have nothing to gain from your failure.
posted by BadgerDoctor at 5:35 PM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Any chance that you're effectively too competent or knowledgeable for the job? I've worked in situations where it's later become apparent to me that everyone else in the same position is doing what I'd consider a half-assed job and not bothering with details I myself would consider essential, sometimes because I'd worked in other parts of the same organization and had been on the receiving end of half-assed work.
So, maybe there are corners everyone else is cutting and things they're all doing sloppily, from your point of view, which makes them faster at the expense of quality problems elsewhere, but management doesn't care at all or considers it unavoidable. And hence performance metrics are intentionally calculated against doing half-assed work.
(Another example is where there are written procedures but no one actually follows them and following them isn't enforced, so the people who actually try to do their jobs "properly" are the ones who get burned.)
posted by XMLicious at 6:09 PM on December 14, 2014 [8 favorites]
So, maybe there are corners everyone else is cutting and things they're all doing sloppily, from your point of view, which makes them faster at the expense of quality problems elsewhere, but management doesn't care at all or considers it unavoidable. And hence performance metrics are intentionally calculated against doing half-assed work.
(Another example is where there are written procedures but no one actually follows them and following them isn't enforced, so the people who actually try to do their jobs "properly" are the ones who get burned.)
posted by XMLicious at 6:09 PM on December 14, 2014 [8 favorites]
There aren't enough details to be able to tell for sure, but the feeling I get from what you wrote is that you are stuck in a really shitty job. Maybe this is obvious to you - but maybe it isn't. It sounds like the management philosophy here is to put people under pressure and get whatever is possible out of the employees until they crack and quit or get fired. It might be helpful for you to find the historical attrition rate for people in this job.
posted by doctor tough love at 7:21 PM on December 14, 2014
posted by doctor tough love at 7:21 PM on December 14, 2014
Best answer:
There are a number of possibilities -- it could be a fundamentally bad job, or it could just be a bad job for you but unless you are convinced that this is a temporary phase, prioritize finding another job that doesn't make you anxious and miserable. Best case scenario is that you'll find one while still employed in your current position and can leave on your own terms. Worst case scenario is that you don't find something before your fears of being fired come true -- but you'll still have a substantial head start on the replacement job search.
Imagine that you knew for sure that you would not be fired as long as you maintained your current level of performance. It still sounds like the job is stressful and miserable for you and that you are not excelling or liable to be selected for advancement. How long do you want to work there if that's likely to be the best you can expect? There's got to be a better fit somewhere else. Start looking now.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:15 AM on December 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
This is making me extremely anxious, and really damaging my self-esteem. Should I start looking for a new job?Hell yes.
There are a number of possibilities -- it could be a fundamentally bad job, or it could just be a bad job for you but unless you are convinced that this is a temporary phase, prioritize finding another job that doesn't make you anxious and miserable. Best case scenario is that you'll find one while still employed in your current position and can leave on your own terms. Worst case scenario is that you don't find something before your fears of being fired come true -- but you'll still have a substantial head start on the replacement job search.
Imagine that you knew for sure that you would not be fired as long as you maintained your current level of performance. It still sounds like the job is stressful and miserable for you and that you are not excelling or liable to be selected for advancement. How long do you want to work there if that's likely to be the best you can expect? There's got to be a better fit somewhere else. Start looking now.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:15 AM on December 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Take a co-worker or two out for lunch or drinks after work. Joke about about seeing TPS reports in your sleep or something similar. Ask them, casually, how they find the workload. Get them talking and use that info to figure out how others are meeting the goals.
In the meantime, be more cynical, and less afraid, of management. You are being manipulated into giving up benefits that were hard won (breaks).
It is self-evident that most people must work to meet basic needs. Threatening someone's job is akin to holding a gun to their head; incredibly shitty behavior by people who don't care about you.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 12:45 AM on December 15, 2014
In the meantime, be more cynical, and less afraid, of management. You are being manipulated into giving up benefits that were hard won (breaks).
It is self-evident that most people must work to meet basic needs. Threatening someone's job is akin to holding a gun to their head; incredibly shitty behavior by people who don't care about you.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 12:45 AM on December 15, 2014
I also recommend being very watchful about what quality of work others are doing. I have been at jobs were the only way to achieve goals is to be dishonest, mediocre or a combination of the two.
You could go to your supervisor and tell them you have seen how your performance compares to the average and you want to shadow some people and see what you can improve. Then shadow them and pay attention to what they are doing differently. Even if it is not an issue of you overachieving, maybe there are tools or other shortcuts you are not aware of.
Is everyone else as stressed out as you? That sounds like an awful work environment.
posted by Tarumba at 6:27 AM on December 15, 2014
You could go to your supervisor and tell them you have seen how your performance compares to the average and you want to shadow some people and see what you can improve. Then shadow them and pay attention to what they are doing differently. Even if it is not an issue of you overachieving, maybe there are tools or other shortcuts you are not aware of.
Is everyone else as stressed out as you? That sounds like an awful work environment.
posted by Tarumba at 6:27 AM on December 15, 2014
And for god's sake don't give up your breaks. If your employer had any decency they would not consider that an option.
posted by Tarumba at 6:29 AM on December 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Tarumba at 6:29 AM on December 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You sound like you're trying to hide the fact that you're falling behind; in a healthy workplace, the best way to deal with a situation like yours would be to go to your manager and discuss the situation. "Hey boss, I'm having trouble keeping the set pace while still paying enough attention to detail to have a result that I can feel satisfied with. I was hoping we could talk about my quality of work and some strategies for helping me get an acceptable product a bit more quickly." I've phrased this so that you're not saying that you're awful at this and underperforming, but that you're at a different point in the speed vs carefulness tradeoff than some of your coworkers (and implicitly you're reminding your manager that you're good at some aspects of your job).
I've also assumed here that you don't work in such a toxic workplace that talking to you manager is a terrible idea; if that's the case, then yes, assume you're looking for another job, because you don't really want to work here, whether they want to keep you on or not.
posted by aimedwander at 8:07 AM on December 15, 2014 [5 favorites]
I've also assumed here that you don't work in such a toxic workplace that talking to you manager is a terrible idea; if that's the case, then yes, assume you're looking for another job, because you don't really want to work here, whether they want to keep you on or not.
posted by aimedwander at 8:07 AM on December 15, 2014 [5 favorites]
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