Ask HN: What should I say to my manager when my performance starts suffering?

A question like the following has been asked a number of times to me, and I've never quite known how to handle it well. Instead, I always lose my job or quit. Usually this happens when I've stopped meeting my manager's expectation somehow, likely as a result of burnout on the horizon. Now however, it's happening to my non-tech working partner, who's been working remotely for about a year on mundane work. Her performance is suffering, because she just doesn't really feel like she can put in the same hours on the same work week in week out anymore, while sitting in our apartment with the sun shining outside. It doesn't seem like there is another option for horizontal mobility within the company, and she needs the money.

The message goes something like:

"Hey X, hope you're doing well. Just wanted to check in and see if you'll still be doing N things from here on out, or if you've been spending more time doing ___. If there's anything I can help with please let me know."

To me, it just seems like disingenuous manager speak for "I've noticed that you're slumping, and really there are not other options, but let me know if you're planning on quitting or doing less".

Is there another interpretation? Is there a way to negotiate different or better terms at this point? How should she approach this?

The broader question is, how can a company expect to retain employees/contractors if the only work available is the same tedium over a long period of time, and no way to change that? It seems like everyone would inevitably just start performing worse over time, if they chose the performance indicator to be arbitrary and high. In software this would be the equivalent of just writing components or html for an extended period of time without any variety, which is soulcrushing.

I’ve found that when most managers ask questions, they’re just trying to get a sense of what’s going on. I wouldn’t over analyze it. I would also suggest that honest answers are the best. If you’re having a hard time doing the work, is there something else you could be doing?

As much as it doesn’t feel like it, companies do not want to fire employees. It’s expensive to lose someone who knows the business, and expensive to hire someone.

Or maybe WFH has exposed that the work just isn’t worth doing and indicates it’s time to move on.

Mine said, "Come with me, we have to talk.". Then told me how I was about to be let go. I got to transfer in time.

"In software this would be the equivalent of just writing components or html for an extended period of time without any variety, which is soulcrushing."

I actually want less variety. I never get consistent work. How can I be an expert if I don't have a steady type of work. I'm really struggling right now. A lot of that is because I know that anything I learn at work will be used once and then thrown away. What's the point of learning it at all?

For example, right now they want me to learn AWS Step Functions to automate our regression testing. The first thought I had was "there's nothing else I can see us using this for on our team". My second thought was "how will this work when the test data constantly changes and the tester's time is dominated by troubleshooting issues, mostly data issues".

I want strategy I can believe in and a role that allows me to grow into a respected expert. My only option is to switch jobs which is depressing (not a lot of good stuff out there for me based on my past). It sounds like this is anyone's best option when the underlying issue is dissatisfaction with the work.

That right there is your manager projecting their fear onto you.