“We Aren’t Surgeons”: Person Is Confused Why Tasks Are Handled With Absurd Urgency In Corporate Jobs
Interview
I believe all of us who have been in the corporate world have experienced a situation when a boss tells us that this particular job needs to be done right now because it’s an emergency. And most of the time, we listen to our boss, right? So you skip lunch, work late hours, cancel any plans that you had and do it, no matter what cost. You are afraid to lose a job or let down your boss, so you do it every time they ask. Hey, but what about your mental health and work-life balance?
More info: Reddit
When we care too much about our career, we tend to forget about our mental health and the consequences in the long run
Image credits: fauxels (not the actual photo)
This woman has had enough and shares her frustration online about a false sense of urgency in the corporate world
Image credits: u/brx9446
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
She shares that she always felt terrible if she didn’t do a job within a deadline but then realized that nobody is saving lives here, so how is this an emergency?
Image credits: u/brx9446
Image credits: Jordan Benton (not the actual photo)
After being in constant stress, she realized the absurdity of it and is now working on shifting her mentality to adjust to this change
A few days ago, a Reddit user decided to share her insights regarding emergency situations in the corporate world; well, to be more specific, the absurdity of it. Seeing that in just 3 days, it got more than 17.3K upvotes and almost 1.4K comments, it is clear that a lot of people feel the same way and it was finally said out loud.
She starts by sharing her story, that she has had many corporate jobs in which she was constantly told that some specific tasks were high priority. Like every responsible human being, if she failed to meet this deadline, it felt awful. And then there was a turning point where she came to realize that this is absurd – nobody in the corporate world is saving lives.
Even though companies also have clients, in this case, if the deadlines are not met, there are no serious consequences as there would be for doctors or firefighters. The author highlights that the corporate world has made her constantly stressed because every little job is an emergency. And as for now, she is working on shifting her mentality to reflect this change.
People in the comments shared their personal stories and agreed with the OP’s opinion on this. “This is what I have said as well. Everything is a high priority, meaning that it’s normal. So I work at a reasonable pace,” one user wrote. “All that urgency isn’t even about your clients. It’s all about shareholders and executives. The more efficiently and quickly you do your job, the bigger their bonuses,” another added.
Image credits: Pixabay (not the actual photo)
Bored Panda reached out to Hallie Crawford, who is a national career expert, certified career coach and the founder of Create Your Career Path career coaching. She kindly agreed to shed light on the challenges that employees face with constant deadlines and the best way to deal with it.
According to Hallie, the most common challenges that employees face with urgent deadlines are higher stress levels, burnout, exhaustion on both a mental and physical basis, and tense relationships even outside of the workplace.
Now, speaking about how to manage stress and still have a healthy work-life balance, the career coach says that good communication and ability to disconnect from work outside working hours are the main keys. “For example, set defined boundaries for your work and personal time. Also, it’s important to take time for things you enjoy that can help you to de-stress, such as hobbies, time with family, or physical exercise,” she emphasized.
Hallie also shared a few strategies she recommends for better work prioritizing. “It can be helpful to check in with your boss and let them know what tasks you have on your plate for the week and ask them to prioritize what needs to be done first.”
“This can help them be more aware of what you are working on and you will also ensure that you work on the most important tasks for your boss first. Then it can also be helpful to write down what needs to be accomplished in the week and then separate your urgent tasks from ones that can be done later in the week,” the expert says.
So if you find yourself stuck in a similar situation as the author of the story, remember that it’s extremely important to communicate with your manager and be honest while doing so. At the end of the day, you’re not a superhuman and your supervisor should be able to understand that.
Redditors shared their frustration, personal stories and agreed with the author on this issue
If you work at a place where everything is urgent then nothing is urgent
Alternative point of view, everything is urgent = they should be hiring more staff. If you don't have the time to do everything when it needs to be done then you're understaffed. Pretty simple.
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I used to work with a lot of people who were like this. Everything was urgent, they would raise a ticket on the help desk then immediately escalate it to our it director who would moan at us about “the noise”. We would just argue back and point out that the ticket was raised less than a minute before being escalated. Roughly 100% of tickets were urgent due to lack of planning of the part of the requestor.
I was always honest about exactly how urgent my requests to IT were. I'd say "No, it's not urgent, but if you could do it within the next _ days, that would be great." Strangely enough, they were always very helpful to me and would genuinely get to it quickly when it genuinely was urgent...
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That just creating burn-outs, chronic stress (I got that and it affected my health and life immensely), depression,... and for what??
If you work at a place where everything is urgent then nothing is urgent
Alternative point of view, everything is urgent = they should be hiring more staff. If you don't have the time to do everything when it needs to be done then you're understaffed. Pretty simple.
Load More Replies... I used to work with a lot of people who were like this. Everything was urgent, they would raise a ticket on the help desk then immediately escalate it to our it director who would moan at us about “the noise”. We would just argue back and point out that the ticket was raised less than a minute before being escalated. Roughly 100% of tickets were urgent due to lack of planning of the part of the requestor.
I was always honest about exactly how urgent my requests to IT were. I'd say "No, it's not urgent, but if you could do it within the next _ days, that would be great." Strangely enough, they were always very helpful to me and would genuinely get to it quickly when it genuinely was urgent...
Load More Replies... That just creating burn-outs, chronic stress (I got that and it affected my health and life immensely), depression,... and for what??
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