Overtime: Open Post
Vent. Rant. Confess. This is a safe space for admin and support professionals to speak the unspeakable. I might even spotlight a few of the worst next week.
Feel free to comment below with your own horror stories, tips, and tricks for interviewing and surviving toxic work environments.
Not sure what to write but want to chime in anyway? Go ahead and answer one of the following questions.
How did they guilt you into staying late, picking up extra work, or staying quiet?
What’s a benefit they dangled that turned out to be more of a leash?
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done to survive the toxic?
>What’s a benefit they dangled that turned out to be more of a leash?
Unlimited vacation.
Sure, it *sounds* great! Except... They don't actually mean "unlimited." If you take too much? You're gone. How much is too much? They never answer.
Worked at a job with 25 vacation days, but had a bad habit of never taking them (I liked my job, and my coworkers). November rolls around, and HR pulls me in. Tells me I *have* to use my vacation days. Take some time off, relax, I've been working too hard. So I do, I use up most of the remaining days, go and see a girl I was flirting online with. It was actually a pretty good experience.
Next job? Unlimited vacation. Well, I never received any such courtesy call from HR. The year came and went, and I still don't know how many vacation days I took. It definitely wasn't 25.
So okay, that's on me, just make sure and take more vacation next year. Well, easier said than done. With arbitrary deadlines and training periods, there was a 50/50 shot your request was declined. Still no reminders that you've only taken 10 days. And underpinning it all, a quiet fear that you may be taking too much. Everyone I talked to said that the so-called "unlimited" vacation resulted in probably 20-30% *LESS* vacation taken overall.
It's all a big psychological game.