What's Wrong with Work?: The 5 Frustrations of Work and How to Fix them for Good

Chapter 5. Frustration 5: Unfairness

THAT'S NOT FAIR

The group sits in a semi-circle, eyes directed towards one of their colleagues who is close to tears. She is recounting how she slept in her car yesterday afternoon between sales appointments because her schedule is so hectic that she works into the small hours and catches up on her sleep in 10-minute bursts during the day. She has asked her boss whether he can provide another pair of hands to help with the workload but, despite the fact that he talks about the well-being of his staff as being of the utmost importance, his response was to explain that everyone else is fully utilized and she needs to keep her head down and "power through" this difficult time.

"And then", she sniffs, "he told me to get a good night's rest and everything would look brighter in the morning".

Her colleagues nod sympathetically and a chorus of "That's not fair" rings around the room.

What had started out as an optimistic and forward-looking workshop about leadership and team work is starting to sound like a Middle Managers Anonymous support group. The opportunities for managers to get together, away from their workplace, and talk about the problems they face are limited. Workshops and offsites, especially those facilitated by an outsider rather than another employee of the company, enable managers to verbalize some of the frustrations they feel, learn about the pressures their colleagues are under and develop a bond borne out of a sense of shared experience. ...