Job Burnout—Part 1
Job Burnout—Part 1: "A Personal Story

I’ve experienced job burnout. Before this job I worked for a small high-tech firm that provided complicated programs for companies nationwide, including a very well-known company that would kill my firstborn if I divulged its name. I was responsible for this and other major accounts.

The technology-based programs we provided were supposed to function nonstop. I found myself monitoring programs and heading back into the office late at night or in the wee hours of the morning to reset systems or alert technicians to do so. This was on top of assisting the president’s overworked assistant in managing the company during the two weeks each month he spent at his vacation home, managing two departments, and taking on whatever else needed to be done.

I thrived on the responsibility. What led to my burnout were the inability to give our customers the service I thought they deserved and promised, my strong reluctance to go along with the president’s instruction to be less than honest with our clients, and the organization’s failure to resolve certain issues. The job conflicted with my values. I was mentally and physically exhausted and suffered from chronic stomach problems.

Before finally making the decision to leave the job, I identified the issues that were contributing to my burnout, came up with suggestions for what both the company and I could do to make things better, and discussed my ideas with the president. Eight months after our meeting, nothing had changed. I gave notice and left both the job and my chronic stomach problems behind."
- posted by Gp @ 10:21 AM