Empty Seats

I used to think it was silly that people would consider quitting work because their employer forced them to go back into the office part-time, rather than staying remote - but now I wish more would quit and leave their seat empty. Of course, people here don't actually quit that much these days, unless they have something else lined up already, as the job market sucks for most roles and despite all the talk of leaving due to terrible conditions - the majority of people are not quite that stupid.

Pity.

Like with most things, people talk a big game, but when push comes to shove, they don't back up their words with actions. They say "If I was in that position I would..." but no, they don't - especially when there is risk of losing involved. There is a lot of talk these days, especially from the young around their beliefs, and what they think they are entitled, as well as what they think of older people. But their actions don't back up their words. They say they are "conscious of the environment" yet they are the main consumers of fast-fashion clothes and disposable tech - riding everywhere on an e-scooter, instead of walking the couple hundred meters.

People got accustomed to the work from home conditions very quickly, and sure, it is more convenient in some ways, but no one seems to talk about the costs they are paying for working from home - and working from home doesn't seem to have curbed depression, obesity, and loneliness - quite the opposite.

Considering most of us have to work and take care of things in the home, I think that if people were to design their environment to be optimised for their health and wellbeing, they would actually end up in a hybrid job anyway, because it gives the freedom for working from home, as well as the benefits of connecting with people in the workplace also - people who bring in new ideas, random interactions, and a wide mix of personalities.

People want to make their life "easier" so they avoid all the things that they don't like, but ultimately, that just leads to a harder life. If we don't acclimatise ourselves to various kinds of difficulties to build coping and management strategies to deal with them, our resiliency suffers, and we become increasingly sensitive - and everything becomes a hardship. And when everything is uncomfortable, we become victims of our circumstances, powerless to improve our situation.

And quit.

Or burnout and go on stress leave.

Lots take the second option these days here - as it is easy to get a doctor to give a stress diagnosis and a few months off - as if "stress" is something new and people haven't experienced it before in the workplace. Work can be stressful of course, but I wonder how much of it is the work, and how much of it is caused by poor personal habits and mental hygiene. It would actually be an interesting study to find out the correlation between burnout and other habits, like time on social media and screens, consuming Netflix, or exercise habits and diets.

Are the stressed the most effective workers?

At least in my own personal experience and through the observation of others, stressed people don't work effectively and seem to end up causing themselves more work, more failures, and more stress. Those who are able to manage themselves effectively, just don't seem to get stressed, or at least - don't get impacted by it in the same way. Remember, that for everyone who thinks their work is stressful, they are normally surrounded by people who are coping just fine with it.

Work doesn't seem to biggest stressor anyway, but it is a compounding factor. I reckon a lot of people get stressed at work because the rest of their lives are falling apart, where they don't have the kinds of habits they need, or relationships they need, to be able to maintain their composure in personal environments, so with work on top, it is like the straw that broke the camel's back.

It isn't about "sucking it up" and ignoring stress of course, because that is unhealthy and the strategy won't last long. However, it is about learning to manage oneself in different conditions, and recognising that most of what we face is outside of our control, and often even outside our influence. We can't do much about that, but we can have some control over how we react to it, which impacts on how fast we are able to recover from whatever mental or emotional injury we face.

We all get hurt.

But how fast can we get backup and get on with what we need to do? That is the management, where it is those who stretch themselves who don't pull muscles easily, and when they do, their muscles heal faster and can start getting back into a full range of motion more quickly. People want "easier" but the way to make things easier, is to do the work before it is required. It is too late to stretch after the muscle is pulled.

I am not stressed, but I do feel injured at the moment and have to create better ways to recover faster than I am. One of course is that I should write more to clear my head, but another should be that I just do more even if it feels somewhat futile. If I think it is the right thing to do, even if I don't think I will get the results anyway - it is still worth doing. Do the right thing enough - eventually it will lead to something that works.

Maybe the right person will get burned out at the right time, and I will get their seat.

Fingers crossed.

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]