People look at me and say, “I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to do today.”
I respond puzzled, “Well, of course not. You’re not supposed to get everything done. This is state work. In state work, two things must always be true: 1) You must always have more work than you could possibly do, and 2) If somehow you manage to get everything done, you must always be given more work because #1 must always be true.”
“How does that work?”
“We work for the state. If you could get all the work done, we wouldn’t need you. That’s why you’ll never get everything done.”
It’s been my observation not everyone can thrive in this environment. At times, there is a willful slowing down of work when there’s a fear of running out which we all know leads to layoffs. At other times, there is a somewhat natural inclination to do as little as possible as the work seems insurmountable. Others of us like to keep busy, get a reasonable amount done, and feel an accomplishment.
I once worked as a file clerk for a very large agency. At that time, we filed paper quarterly reports for all employers in the state. We had thousands and thousands of reports to file in each employer’s file. Additionally, we were chronically understaffed because, after all, we worked for the state with the eternal urge to spend as little money on staff as possible. It was painfully obvious that we would never get everything filed. It took a certain doggedness to continue filing under these conditions. It required a mindset to just keep at it until the next break, or lunch, or end of the day.
Around my third year, we hired a new young woman named “Tressa.” She was inspired and started filing these reports at an alarming rate. We knew how much we filed because we measured the amounts of paper by inches and had a formula for how many pages made an inch which we reported to our supervisor. I observed her stellar performance knowing what was coming.
It wasn’t long before my coworkers started complaining to her that she was working too hard and getting too much done. At the same time, to hedge their bets, they started complaining to our supervisor that she was lying about her production. Naturally, she was incensed by both activities and deeply offended when our supervisor accused her of lying. I knew she wasn’t lying. I could see how much she was filing. However, I wasn’t in the frame of mind to interfere in this little drama. I wasn’t the supervisor. It wasn’t long before she applied for promotion, left, and everything settled back into the normal routine of us file clerks.
It did make an impression on me. I’m not sure what my conclusion was other than to not get caught showing up my coworkers if I didn’t want to be ganged up on. To this day, I try to avoid having someone remark on my performance in front of my coworkers. Although I appreciate the recognition, it is a might uncomfortable for me if too much public acknowledgement comes my way.
Over the years, I have also had to find a way to support those who are determined to work until they drop in order to get the work done. If my rules #1 and #2 don’t work on them. I have developed another line of reasoning for those high performers that are in danger of burnout while working extra hours.
After repeating to them rules #1 and #2, I add, “In order to make this work sustainable, you must figure out what is reasonable to do in 8 hours. Do that amount. Then, go home and forget about it. Otherwise, management will come to think all this work you are doing is your job and anything less than this is poor performance. You do not want to establish this.” I only say this to high performers. Regular folks will just take this to mean that they can do however much they feel like which is not the intent of this guidance.
Finding a line between being a good steward of tax payers’ funds and getting a reasonable and sustainable amount done is very tricky. If I had all the answers, I might be a fancy pants, high level executive. Instead, I’m just a direct service part-time state worker that has survived my state employment for 40 years. I believe this is without my coworkers or managers secretly praying I retire sometime very soon. And, I try to pass on my hard won wisdom to those folks wholly deserving of it.
With that, let me just say as I’ve so often heard, “Good luck with that.”
L’Chaim.
Joceile
11/26/18
[Picture in office setting of woman wearing red bow tie, white shirt, black vest, and light colored khaki pants with running shoes leaning against cubicle wall.]
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