social_salamander
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I am 30 and work as a senior planner for a midsized community for five years. I make good money for the area (frankly the highest I have seen by a long shot barring any higher positions) and the benefits are excellent… but I am starting to burn out and hate my job. I think it goes beyond the Drew Carey quote: “Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar.”
Anyway, I heard about this community and maybe I can gain some perspective. I’m posting this as part seeking advice, part venting session. I’ll start with what I love about my job:
Is this how most public sector jobs are? What other careers are adjacent to urban planning that might offer a more fulfilling life? Am I not going to find what I want without going into a more tech related field? How do you prevent burn out?
Anyway, I heard about this community and maybe I can gain some perspective. I’m posting this as part seeking advice, part venting session. I’ll start with what I love about my job:
- Public sector benefits are excellent. My salary allows me to live the life I want. My workplace is relatively flexible with time off, however, I do wish I had more PTO. The hours are manageable, and the commute is not horrible.
- I love project management. Seeing projects through from beginning to end is extremely rewarding.
- I love budgets. I enjoy managing money and capital improvement plans.
- Problem solving is fun. I like the complex and detailed projects and the big picture thinking.
- To start, coronavirus is not being taken seriously at the administration building. My coworkers do not always follow City set policies like social distancing or wearing a mask in communal areas. Leadership is also lax on policy. I raised concerns with HR about the lack of response and all that was done was a City-wide email restating the policies. We worked from home for a bit and it was the happiest I had been in a long time. I got my entire workload done efficiently and responded promptly to everyone and anyone. I had time to think without someone poking their head into my cubicle to ask a question I have answered before numerous times. I had my fancy coffee set up, I did not have a commute, I did not have to wear business attire, I could take my dog on a walk during lunch, I could do a few squats or pushups in the middle of the day, I could run a load of laundry. My relationship was better (and it is so great already!). My mental health was better. Once I finished my work, I did not have to pretend I was working by having my butt in a chair. Returning to the office has been miserable. I am anxious all the time about having to ask folks to put on a mask or wait for me to put my mask on. Coworkers come into my cubicle and ask “quick” things without a mask so I do not even have time to ask. Coworkers have held meetings in a small conference room without proper distancing or a mask in sight. I am frequently on the outside because I keep asking for the meetings to be accessible by Skype so I can take them from my cubicle, but I can’t help but feel like I’m getting painted as a doomsday weirdo. HR and leadership have clearly shown that they are not committed to following CDC guidelines (i.e. people who can work from home, should do so). After being back, I requested to continue to work from home and was denied as I am a vital employee.
- While I do not deal with elected officials often, I feel like I was taking crazy pills when I do. I can never pin the City mayor down on direction even after tailoring my questions to be very pointed and direct, only to receive overarching opinion that do not answer the question or flat out ignore it. I have wasted hours talking in circles with the mayor. The direction from leadership changes depending on the weather (or in MANY cases, who the applicant is on any given project). They are hypocritical and do not use any normal form of logic. The only thing I can think of is that they want to continue their fiefdom and will do anything in their will power to do so. They are constantly late for things and miss meetings scheduled well in advance. They love to talk about best practices, but when it is time to put the rubber to the road, everyone freezes up. Our City talks the talk, but does not walk the walk.
- Lack of opportunity for advancement. When I was first hired in five years ago, I had a carrot dangled in front of me for a great promotion. But due to several factors (including my lack of experience which was reasonable), they did a 180 and said I should not even apply.
- I started a project to make us a better candidate for grants and opportunity of development. I checked in with the decision makers every step of the way and received documented nods of approval the entire way through. I got to the next step and all holy hell broke loose. When asked about what went wrong, leadership said I was not going about the project the “right way”. I showed the records to leadership how I had approached this project (meeting times to discuss, emails stating that phases were “okayed”) and this was met with silence. Anyway, the project was taken out of my hands and, according to my knowledge, is on permanent hiatus.
- I do not feel like there is much autonomy in decision making. I also struggle a lot in the “gray area”. Some projects are treated differently and it bothers me to no end (even if it is only small things like letting the more well-known developer bend the rules a bit for less ). I’ve definitely quoted my boss on something he said about another similar project only to be told, yeah don’t say that to them. I’ve pointed to the code saying “this says we can’t do that” and I will get overridden.
- I knew going into the public sector meant a lot of interaction with residents, grinding out site plan and permit reviews, and night meetings. But with everything else going on, I’m feeling very worn down. I’m exhausted and bored. I’m having a hard time with even putting on a fake customer service voice.
Is this how most public sector jobs are? What other careers are adjacent to urban planning that might offer a more fulfilling life? Am I not going to find what I want without going into a more tech related field? How do you prevent burn out?