(no subject)

[growler_south]

New york magazine has a great article on burnout. I always assumed it was something like a nervous breakdown only with less crying, but it turns out I was mistaken. It's what happens when your expectations dont meet reality in a work situation: Working too hard for not enough reward, appreciation, or results. Increasing efficiency only to find that the workload expands to fill available capacity. Working in a job where you are opposed to the values. Resentment grows, depersonalisation occurs, and the next thing you know you're cursing the job you used to love.

That would be me, then. Interesting.

Oh, and I loved this quote:
Maslach has always contended that burnout says more about the employer than it does about the employee. “Imagine investigating the personality of cucumbers to discover why they had turned into sour pickles,” she famously wrote in 1982, “without analyzing the vinegar barrels in which they’d been submerged!”

Though I'm not sure I'm an entirely sour pickle just yet...

Comments

[roybear.livejournal.com]

I've been through burnout. It might not feel like a breakdown yet, but it can certainly go that way. Depression is another possible outcome. I didn't realise just how sour a pickle I'd become until I left my hell, and it took me over a year to recover. If you can, move on and find something that you can love. Or at least resolve to do so. You're too talented, vibrant and warm a person to not be doing something that you love, in an environment that you love.

[beastbriskett.livejournal.com]

More tangy than sour ;)

When it's time, it's time. Nice to have a better understanding of why, too.
You have plenty going for you, and lots of great ideas for your next adventures. No doubt that whatever you do, it'll be superlative!

[f8n-begorra.livejournal.com]

Probably the most enjoyable course in my MBA program was 'Bisuness Organization & Leadership" where multiple theories about workplace satisfactions were examined and discussed. It's an incredibly important field of study as evidenced by the success of companies like Google in recruiting and retaining top talent. Most managers in smaller companies are oblivious to the steps then can and need to take to motivate and retain talent