Burnout isn't always caused by overwhelming jobs - dull, boring, undemanding jobs with little to do can be their own hell and spiral off into depression. Then I don't need vacation; I need meaningful work.
Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
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Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#12See also The Onion:
> Man Returns To Work After Vacation With Fresh, Reenergized Hatred For Job
* https://www.theonion.com/man-returns-to-work-after-vacation-...
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would be so miserable if it had to deal with a union. Though to be fair I am not overworked or undervalued. I imagine there’s a lot of engineers who large companies just grind through.
Why would you be miserable? Union dues? occasional union communication? I'm just trying to understand what hypothetical issue you feel would be super arduous.
Unions end up punishing good workers and rewarding bad ones. Believe it or not, some people enjoy their job, and enjoy being able to excel at it.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#14I don't want "mental health support" from work. I only need that if my workplace is causing serious mental health issues in the first place. (Which it is at present.)
A personal counterpoint: I do want mental health support from work. Many of the downsides of complex childhood trauma didn’t start to really interfere with my life until my late 20s/early 30s.
When I started really struggling at a job I’d already established myself in, I learned of and am incredibly grateful for the mental health benefits offered by my employer and for leaders who are open, understanding and willing to work with me when things aren’t going well.
When I first had to broach the subject, easily finding resources about the company’s EAP benefits instead of feeling like it was all some hush hush thing really helped reduce the anxiety of opening up about a difficulty topic.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would you be miserable? Union dues? occasional union communication? I'm just trying to understand what hypothetical issue you feel would be super arduous.
Unions end up punishing good workers and rewarding bad ones. Believe it or not, some people enjoy their job, and enjoy being able to excel at it.
That's a ridiculously broad brush to paint unions with, and your last sentence shows lack of good faith in the discussion. Good day.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#16> What do we do? Well, root out the real causes of burnout. If it’s not those top workplace issues, it may very well be the burn of extended, heightened stress. For employees surveyed, flexible work hours and mental health support were more popular than even a four-day work week or unlimited PTO. The point then is lots of professionals like their actual work, they just don’t like the restrictions and environment. Giv…
Restrictions unfortunately play a large part, e.g. changes to Production can only be done by request.
Requests then take weeks to be completed even though the actual work involved can be measured in minutes
Another core issue for me is the ratio between challenging tasks and more simple tasks.
There should always be a few tasks to work on that are challenging, otherwise procrastination sets in which can turn into some form of burnout if nothing is done.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#17> What do we do? Well, root out the real causes of burnout. If it’s not those top workplace issues, it may very well be the burn of extended, heightened stress. For employees surveyed, flexible work hours and mental health support were more popular than even a four-day work week or unlimited PTO. The point then is lots of professionals like their actual work, they just don’t like the restrictions and environment. Giv…
The passive-aggressive lie that is "unlimited PTO" is part of the growing toxicity of startup work environments.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would you be miserable? Union dues? occasional union communication? I'm just trying to understand what hypothetical issue you feel would be super arduous.
Unions end up punishing good workers and rewarding bad ones. Believe it or not, some people enjoy their job, and enjoy being able to excel at it.
You're not looking very hard for counter examples.
Is the screen actors guild punishing Will Smith and rewarding struggling, untalented commercial actors?
Is the NBA player's association punishing LeBron and rewarding D league players?
Is there even such a thing a "superstar" plumber? I mean, I'm sure there are awful plumbers and amazing plumbers - but do how much can they scale, realistically?
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would be so miserable if it had to deal with a union. Though to be fair I am not overworked or undervalued. I imagine there’s a lot of engineers who large companies just grind through.
Why would you be miserable? Union dues? occasional union communication? I'm just trying to understand what hypothetical issue you feel would be super arduous.
A lot of unions can be very 'by the book' and there can be malicious compliance. There can also be multiple unions with very specific roles.
From a quick search:
> If your booth is a 10×10 or smaller, you may install and dismantle your own exhibit – provided you meet these requirements:
> 1. The Set-up can be accomplished in 1/2 hour or less.
> 2. No tools are required.
> 3. Individuals performing the work must be full-time employees of the exhibiting company and cary identification to verify this fact.
> Exhibitors are allowed to unpack and repack their own product (if it is cartons, not crates). They are also allowed to do technical work on their machines, such as balancing, programming, cleaning of machines, etc. Exhibitors may “hand carry” or use nothing larger than a two wheel baggage cart (rubber or plastic wheels only) to move their items.
* http://www.absoluteiandd.com/union-rules/new-york-trade-show...
> Convention center guidelines dictate that any gear one person can't carry with their hands alone must be handled by official union labor. In other words, you have to pay for people to lug your TVs and booth props from the loading dock to your booth, and it's not exactly cheap.
* https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-02-21-the-costs-...
Now if you have similar rules internal to your company, if you annoy the wrong people, they can simply act in a strictly 'compliant fashion'.
Re: Vacation isn’t the answer to employee burnout
#20I'm burnt out right now. Layoffs, a spin-out, and huge situational challenges related to both.
Vacation is great, but I agree with the author here. Vacation _can_ be a tool to combat burnout - but burnout is often a result of other things besides hours worked. I've worked times of 80+ hours. While feeling worn out, I never got burnt out. I've worked times where I can barely put the effort into 30 hours/week.
Right now, I'm attributing my burn out solely to the fact that we have huge amounts of "keep the lights on work" to complete the spin-out while continuing to deliver product. Neither the workload nor the type of work is bad. There's just so much of it and it's wearing.
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For me, a vacation doesn't solve much for me. I'll be back to "more of the same". What's really helping is the change in pace of my work and the ability to get back to things that engage and excite me.