Workplace Woes

Friday 12 August 2005




I have to be careful with this one, because in the past I've been a strong advocate of the idea that work isn't supposed to be easy or fun, and that sometimes you have to suffer a bit in order to make money and have things.

However, my current workplace situation is beginning to drive me insane. A very short summation would be that there are too many people who do little or no real work (call them managers, planners, facilitators, visionaries, consultants, researchers, project leaders, or whatever) and too few people who actually GET THINGS DONE. As a member of the latter group, I am beginning to see that this is a critical imbalance that results in burnout, turnover, and an incredible amount of wasted time.

It must be easy to read and answer email at night, on the weekends, and even while on vacation when all one does is redirect the real work to OTHER people. I bet it's a lot easier to put in 50+ hours a week when one doesn't actually DO ANYTHING. And so on.

It shouldn't be this way. Sometimes I have to ask myself why I'm putting up with it. Then I look at my paycheck and remember...for about a day or two.