Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Anything to do with the traditional world of get a degree, get a job as well as its alternatives
Post Reply
130
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:37 pm

Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by 130 »

The Situation:
Crappy corporate job in overly bureaucratic state government organisation, but fairly well paid.
A large number of toxic 'guardian' types actively rooting out odd balls, the usual corporate intimidation and bullying.
Have got myself on the outer by questioning the status-quo and some decisions, and am now getting the 'treatment' so to speak.
Slow job market, been looking and applying over 6 months, only two interviews so far and no bites.
Reluctant to quit with the job situation as it currently stands.
Am a third of the way through an apartment renovation, so right now can't rent it out or sell it.
Looking to LRE, Late Retirement Extreme..., some of us are very slow learners unfortunately. So less time to fix lapses in income.

The Options:
* Tough it out?
(The choice so far, but the novelty is wearing thin and eventually it must surely affect ones health.)
* Pull stress leave and take ~90 days leave to get the apartment finished, or close to it?
(I have two issues with this.
1, While this appeals there would be repercussions job wise, most people who do this lose the job pretty quickly afterwards. And it may affect future potential employment. But it gives me time to get the apartment on the market, once sold then I can move inter-state to find a new job.)
2, I am having a decision dilemma, is this breaching one of my values, or am I just overly conditioned by work/society against doing this, or is it just fear of the unknown, or is there really something morally bankrupt in doing this? How do I figure this out? )
* Resign myself to the mind numbing bureaucracy and a-holes, making it work as well as I can get it too for the next three years if possible?
(Not really sure this is an option.)
* Just quit?
(Would be leaving a lot of benefits and income on the table with no chance of getting a reasonable job locally any time soon.)

I am so close to a tipping point, from past experience this is not always a good thing. It would be better to pre-empt any emotionally triggered decisions.

If you would like to provide a point of view, or things to consider, it would be appreciated. Thanks
Last edited by 130 on Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

wood
Posts: 355
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:53 am

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by wood »

I suggest:
- tough it out and work on your own mentality to find some positivity in current environment (hard task I know)
- keep applying for jobs and if you get an interview and potentially new job, make sure there is a 1-3 month gap between jobs so that you get some holiday and time to finish the apartment

I wouldn't call a stress leave abusive of work benefits. You are under stress and could use a leave, right? I think you question the morals of this because it seems frowned upon by your corporate surroundings. But even if you find it okay to do a stress leave I wouldn't ignore the potential consequences. If it could lead to losing your job, don't do it.

130
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:37 pm

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by 130 »

@wood, thanks for the comment. I suspect you may be right. There is no problem in taking the leave, it is a ridiculously stressful situation at the moment that is near impossible to ignore, the problem as you pointed out is the repercussions.

SandyKaryOke
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:47 am
Location: Tampa, Florida

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by SandyKaryOke »

The repercussions and the perception brought about by your corporate surrounding really plays a major role when it comes to this type of decision-making.

130
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:37 pm

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by 130 »

@SandyKaryOke, I really don't have too many options at the moment do I. :evil:

Riggerjack
Posts: 3180
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by Riggerjack »

I'm guessing from the terms you use, you are some form of European. I am American, so there could be some cultural difference I am missing.

You are in Government, and close to retirement, right? And, office stress is piled onto the stress of a remodel (no going home to unwind, and even taking the evening off is surrounded by all the work left to do.)

Am I right here?

If so, I recommend taking a full evening, and run some scenarios to their full extent. Try to disengage emotionally, and look at what the worst case is in each possibility.

What would happen if you just completely lost control at work? If you just screamed, and stormed out? If you punched out your boss? If you just took off for parts unknown, never to be heard from again? Get wild with it.

Now, having spent some time exploring the most extreme options, which worked out best? Which brought the most satisfaction? Both long and short term. How can you temper that scenario to get the best results? Remember, your life is not programmed, every day, you choose to follow the path you have followed, you always have the option to jump off the trail you are on, and blaze a new one.

This should help with the trapped feeling.

Next, take a good look at the sources of stress at work. What is the worst they could do, if really motivated? Get you fired? Probably not without you giving them cause they can cite. What else? Circulate nasty rumors, cut off you avenues of promotion? So fucking what? You are almost out. You are damn near unfuckingtouchable. They have no hold on you, that you don't give them. Go watch office space again. Be free in an office where this is unknown. I'm not suggesting you need to knock down your cube walls (while that scene is inspirational, I have put together enough cubes to know it wouldn't work like that. Sometimes knowing to much is knowing too much.) I am suggesting that by putting the petty parts in perspective, they go from petty sources of stress to sources of amusement.

I found that once I had an office position, and showed I was competent, I still didn't fit in with corporate office culture. So, I toned down the parts that caused the most problems, then settled in with audiobooks and headphones. I am no longer the most productive employee, in fact I am in stiff competition for least. But I am among the least stressed, and happiest people I know. I treat my job as the place I go to rest up between weekends. You can too.

Fish
Posts: 570
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:09 am

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by Fish »

Riggerjack wrote:
Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:58 am
I treat my job as the place I go to rest up between weekends. You can too.
I really like this approach. This is how I operate too. :D

130
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:37 pm

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by 130 »

@Riggerjack, you had me laughing. I can see the perspective you are looking at it from, for me, becoming that disengaged is a real struggle. They are however beating it into me.

You are right, I am close to pulling the pin permanently anyway. Oddly enough that seems to make the problem worse. When you absolutely have no other options, you deal with it one way or another. What I am finding is the more f-you money I have, the less I seem to be able to tolerate all the BS.

Re running scenarios, you have evaluated it well, there is not too much they can do if I don't give them cause. And even if they did fire me, I am not really that vulnerable financially.

For the 'Office Space' I am guessing you are talking about the television series, I have never owned a TV and can't even muster the interest to watch the stuff online. I have read this guys articles, which I think are about the show, see 'https://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/'. I would put it in the 'know thy enemy' category, which of course does help to the extent you know the principles of the situation.

Like you, I don't fit into the corporate culture. I am very competent at what I do and suspect that is probably why they tolerate having me there. I guess if I really back it off and use it as you say 'a place to rest up between weekends', at worst they have to go through the whole process of performance management and an uneasy balance of engagement/disengagement will be reached. But seriously, what a crappy way to spend the increasingly finite amount of life's energy left for me.

These sorts of situations leave me with an increasing amount of contempt for the human race in general. We protect dumb and idiotic people from the consequences of their actions and then to add insult to injury they are allowed to breed as well, so the problem perpetuates and devolution sets in.

That said though, thank you for taking the time to add your thoughts and perspective on the matter, it is appreciated. :)

Riggerjack
Posts: 3180
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by Riggerjack »

You seem to be stressing, because the world does not match your world view. Specifically, it's not the meritocracy you think it should be.

Let me help. It is the meritocracy you think it is, but the skills it selects for are not the skills the "competent" are attracted to, or encouraged to develop, or even recognize.

That dumb brunette who was hot 20 years ago, and has broken every project she touches for the last 30 years, but always has a smile for the boss? She knows what is expected, and has conformed to the need. She is providing all that she should.

The guy with 3 fantasy football teams, who always has something to say about the game just over or the games coming up, but thinks spreadsheets exist solely as a team development aid? He is conforming to expectations, and getting the job done. He wasn't hired as a water cooler sportscaster, he has simply shaped his job to his strengths. Smart guy.

Your boss, who is aware that he has a team of ten, and 60% of the work is produced by one guy? He is doing his job. The team is accomplishing the tasks assigned, and keeping the group functional by ensuring that the guy doing 60% of the work stays where he is, doing all the work.

The guy doing 60% of the work, seems to misunderstand his role and importance. By getting more done, all he is doing is allowing his co-workers to specialize into their preferred roles, while at the same time being somewhat stressed, angry and perhaps worryingly disgruntled. That he shoulders the load is important to him, but nobody else. He has a poorly judged sense of what is important in the office, and his co-workers would help him understand, if they could. They probably have, but he was, um, learning resistant? He already knew what was important, and wasn't willing to learn from those he judged incompetent.

Now I could be entirely wrong. There's lots of supposition in there. But if you are stressed, in an office that only expects 40 hour weeks (I admit that there are high stress offices and high stress professions, but they rarely only work 40's) odds are good that the stress is both self induced, but also based on false premises.

And that is why I recommend office space, a 1.5 hour tutorial on re-evaluating office assumptions, disguised as a comedy. It is available online. Good luck.

130
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:37 pm

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by 130 »

@Riggerjack, ah... learning resistant, if only it was that straight forward.

All the things you have mentioned are true and of course at the same time incomplete. I do however appreciate you taking the time to put it all together in the blog for me though. It does help clarify my thinking around this.

The situation certainly has one benefit, it has me looking again, very hard at what do I really need and how low can I get the number necessary to leave.

I will search around for a copy of the Office Space.

130
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:37 pm

Re: Would You Comment on Using or Abusing Job Benefits?

Post by 130 »

@Riggerjack, after some consideration there is another side to this. What we are talking about is relationships ultimately. If society dictates the relationships that it considers functional, but requires in return something that is unbalanced, this must inevitably result in problem?

So my question is why would I want to invest in the current paradigm if it is just going to spit me out because it perceives I don't fit in. Even though it requires someone competent to do the stuff that can't be done by the others involved?

And I guess I have answered my own question. It doesn't care at all until it breaks irrecoverably. And I need to expedite Jacobs strategy as soon as I can.

F... this is a s... situation. The worst part is it is of my own making. :evil:

----

Adding to that, society is what the current system dictates and is only looking to replicate. That take me back to were I was before. If the only real option is to first look after yourself, at all cost, how on earth is that sustainable?

Why do I find this so hard? Everything you said is true at the current level society operated at? How can human life be so disconnected, that its own survival is relegated to such a short term view point?

----

Alright, rant over... Back to reality. :|

Post Reply