Last time (see "How to Stop Being Overworked: I," Point Lookout for October 12, 2011), we examined strategies for controlling overwork when the cause is our own behavior. In many cases, though, the cause is a supervisor's abusive behavior. Let's now examine what can be done in such instances.
- Know how to identify abusive overloading
- Abusive overloading can be general or specific. When it's general, everyone within the abuser's span of control is subject to overwork. When it's specific — aimed at an individual or individuals — it might be bullying, or possibly a tactic of discrimination or harassment.
- In either case, the abuser is usually aware that people are overworked, and might even acknowledge it. Some experience a feeling of elation or joy when the people overworked complain, falter, or show signs of stress. Or they might express perverse pride in the group's productivity, especially when there has been obvious personal sacrifice.
- Know the policies and procedures of your employer
- Your employer or union undoubtedly has policies and procedures pertaining to expected work hours. Learn what they are. Learn how to file grievances. Unfortunately, in most jurisdictions and for most employees, there is little legal protection against abusive supervisors, unless the employee is a member of a protected class, which is a legal term that describes factors that cannot be targeted for discrimination or harassment. The factors include race, sex, national origin, religion, and the like, but in many jurisdictions, you might not belong to a legally protected class.
- Even if you do, before filing a grievance, be certain that there is protection from retaliation. The best measure of protection is past behavior. If there has been retaliation against others who have filed grievances, then think twice.
- Know your own role
- It's possible that you yourself are playing a role in the abuse, especially if the pattern has persisted over time. For example, never having investigated how to use the formal grievance process, even on an anonymous basis, could be an indicator that you have done nothing about the situation. Ask yourself, "Have I let opportunities to invoke higher authority go by?"
- If you It's possible that you yourself
are playing a role in the abuse,
especially if the pattern
has persisted over timecan reasonably conclude that you've been at least passively complicit in the abuse pattern, the next questions are even more difficult. They pertain to your motives, and what you've gained from the pattern of severe overwork. For instance, excessive hours at work can provide a haven from unhappiness, emptiness, or other troubles in your personal life. Investigating this side of things on your own is possible, but it can be challenging unless you have the aid of a counseling professional.
Always keep in mind that internal transfer or changing jobs may be the best — or least bad — options. No matter how depressed the economic environment, if you make the right changes, a change in job can be the path from overwork to a fuller, richer life. First in this series Top Next Issue
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Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
- My Boss Gabs Too Much
- Your boss has popped into your office for another morning gab session. Normally, it's irritating, but
today you have a tight deadline, so you're royally ticked. What can you do?
- Extrasensory Deception: I
- Negotiation skills are increasingly essential in problem-solving workplaces. When incentives are strong,
or pressure is high, deception is tempting. Here are some of the deceptions popular among negotiators.
- I've Got Your Number, Pal
- Recent research has uncovered a human tendency — possibly universal — to believe that we
know others better than others know them, and that we know ourselves better than others know themselves.
These beliefs, rarely acknowledged and often wrong, are at the root of many a toxic conflict of long standing.
- I Don't Understand: II
- Unclear, incomplete, or ambiguous statements are problematic, in part, because we need to seek clarification.
How can we do that without seeming to be hostile, threatening, or disrespectful?
- Avoiding Speed Bumps: II
- Many of the difficulties we encounter when working together don't create long-term harm, but they do
cause delays, confusion, and frustration. Here's Part II of a little catalog of tactics for avoiding
speed bumps.
See also Workplace Politics and Managing Your Boss for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
- Coming May 15: Should I Write or Should I Call?
- After we recognize the need to contact a colleague or colleagues to work out a way to move forward, we next must decide how to make contact. Phone? Videoconference? Text message? There are some simple criteria that can help with such decisions. Available here and by RSS on May 15.
- And on May 22: Rescheduling Collaborative Work
- Rescheduling is what we do when the schedule we have now is so desperately unachievable that we must let go of it because when we look at it we can no longer decide whether to laugh or cry. The fear is that the new schedule might come to the same end. Available here and by RSS on May 22.
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Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group