1

I’ve been thinking about workplace stress this week, and what causes it, and what the solutions are.

Part of it is internal of course. We aren’t completely ruled by the things that happen around us. We get to choose our reactions, but in the interest generally of trying to keep a more even keel, stay calm, that sort of thing, it is probably good to recognize the factors that go into it, so that we can more easily notice when things are getting worse and find ways to burn off that anxiety.

Vote in the poll to let us know what common workplace factors you have encountered (doesn’t have to be recently or at the job you have now), and in the comments tell us what things you do to wind down. A nice walk? A good book? Share your tips. :slight_smile:

(I found the options for the poll HERE , which also has some good tips on combatting it, if you are interested.)

What causes of workplace stress have you experienced?
  • Boring work
  • Changes to duties
  • Changes within the organisation
  • Crisis incidents, such as an armed hold-up or workplace death
  • Discrimination
  • Few promotional opportunities
  • Harassment
  • Heavy workload
  • Inadequate working environment
  • Insufficient skills for the job
  • Job insecurity
  • Lack of autonomy
  • Lack of equipment
  • Lack of proper resources
  • Long hours
  • Over-supervision
  • Poor relationships with colleagues or bosses
  • Tight deadlines
  • Other, tell us below
0 voters
79 Spice ups
2

Personal economy

12 Spice ups
3

Dealing with unprofessional people. It like a science experiment, we shove a bunch of people into a building and expect everyone to behave in a professional manner

25 Spice ups
4

The last micromanaged place from hell that I worked at gave us the opportunity to start working 4-10 hour days and have a 3 day weekend every week.

That would have been great except I was getting email, Teams messages, texts, f***ing carrier pigeons were bringing me messages.

My Fridays off were NEVER a day off, my PTO days were never days off.

The owner of the company made sure that everyone felt like he owned them, he called me on my vacation once because he couldn’t get into the camera system to see who left a mess at a workstation.

I took a day of PTO once to get my yard mowed and cleaned up, he suddenly decided he NEEDED Teams access and called me while I was mowing so I could remote in and set it up.

I am SOOOO glad to not be there anymore!

32 Spice ups
5

I’ve had lots of these. The main one for me is lack of opportunity for promotion, which leaves you stuck in your role unless you find a new job somewhere else.

10 Spice ups
6

Lack of time and a touch of imposter syndrome

22 Spice ups
7

I’ve been doing this 24 years or more and the Imposter Syndrome thing never goes away.

30 Spice ups
8

I experienced all of those things at one time or another, including the murder of a co-worker (not work-related, but she was a kind colleague, and it hit pretty hard).

I have implied or outright said this over multiple threads at this point, but my two biggest stressors are related: Noise and Interruptions.

8 Spice ups
9

Wow. I only didn’t tick four that I couldn’t come up with examples for. And that’s just my current job… Might explain my stress issues. :confused:

5 Spice ups
10

Yup, i’ve been doing it for 31 years, they still haven’t found me out :smiley:

21 Spice ups
11

Being micromanaged by someone who has no idea of IT, is difficult. Also watching people in the office leave (for various reasons) and not get replaced was hard to watch.

14 Spice ups
12

Management that shifts lanes on a dime. This week we will use program x, next week let’s try program y instead, oh wait program z is shinier. Imposter syndrome also hits every so often. Lack of staff, since they can’t actually see what an infrastructure team does we are always considered overstaffed. That is until something major goes down.

7 Spice ups
13

Totally get this. I am never able to fully enjoy a day off even if I am left alone, simply because there is always that nagging voice that someone will text or call.

6 Spice ups
14

Over the years I have experienced all the above and more. My current job is one of the best I have ever had, if not the best.

6 Spice ups
15

Except for the 4-10 hour day workweek my last workplace was exactly the same. So glad to be out of there.

3 Spice ups
16

I used to work at an MMSP (micro-managed service provider), and I am amazed that I made it over two years there. I would be given five minutes to solve an issue I had never dealt with before, on a system I was unfamiliar with, using programs I didn’t know; and if I went to 7 minutes I would start getting messages in Teams or phone calls asking what was taking so long. I have a chronic medical condition, and the biggest trigger for me to have issues is stress; there ended up being a point where I was taking more time off than I was working because of the micro-managing. Never got time off there, boss wouldn’t let us take a full week at a time. If I was off for the day (sick, doctor’s appointment, anything) I could expect an almost endless stream of text messages and Teams messages. I once had to go to court about my daughter one day, couldn’t get the full day off; I couldn’t even get the full day for the day of her mother’s funeral (we weren’t married, so no spousal death considerations).

Sorry for ranting, but this place is cheaper then therapy.

16 Spice ups
17

I finally got over my imposter syndrome. It’s amazing how closely the inverse relationship between imposter syndrome and the quality of your boss. Bad bosses create it and good bosses alleviate it.

15 Spice ups
18

Throughout my career I’ve touched on almost all of the options - in varying combinations and intensities. Seeing them all laid out, I was able to trace out my various roles and positions - brought back good and bad memories alike.

3 Spice ups
19

I think imposter syndrome comes about when you are asked to fix something you know nothing about. I’ve come across things where I was asked to fix something I didn’t even know existed until it broke. You’re in IT, you must be an expert on everything, even if you’ve never seen it before.

9 Spice ups
20

Rude/inconsiderate people with unrealistic expectations of what can be accomplished in a certain period of time!

10 Spice ups