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Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/886/22115
From The Socialist newspaper, 27 January 2016
"I have left work many times in tears" - a council worker comments
Workplace stress, photo by JC Count (Creative Common) (Click to enlarge)
I work in an office for my local council supporting social workers. Some days I really enjoy my job and I feel I help social workers with the paperwork side of their job, so that they can focus on the more critical parts.
A lot of social workers are very grateful for the support I provide and I feel valued by them.
However, I do find there is a lot of 'office politics' that comes with the administration side of the work.
There have been a lot of changes to the definition of an 'administration task' and in what the social worker is expected to do themselves.
This is due to the many restructures that have taken place. It can lead to some of my colleagues feeling very awkward when they have to say they cannot do what they have been asked.
It can be a very high pressured environment and people can sometimes be short with one another. As someone with a 'hidden disability' this can be very difficult as people do not understand how they can deeply upset me. I am open about my disability, however I don't wish to be defined by it and am cautious of people using it against me.
Hope
I have left work many times in tears from feeling very overwhelmed. At times my depression has been greatly heightened due to being in the workplace.
There have been positives of being in work. From where I was three years ago, when unemployed, I have grown dramatically in confidence. When I work on computers I am in my element.
Senior managers should have more awareness on the effects that high workloads have on people, because I struggle to tell people that I'm not coping before it's too late.
That is my hope but I think we as a workforce and trade union will have to fight for it!
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
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In The Socialist 27 January 2016:
Socialist Party news and analysis
Housing: smash the Tory wrecking bill
Davos summit: a broken capitalist system
Google pays pittance for avoiding £2bn tax
Red doors and wristbands scandal
Steelworkers may face benefit cut-off for not seeking bar jobs
Oscars snub black artists: fight racism and austerity in the arts
Labour councillor smears TUSC policy as 'BNP'
Top tweets: #TraditionallySubmissive
Teachers under attack
Teaching: a perfect storm is brewing
Teachers need national strategy for a national struggle
A day in the life of a teacher and mother
International socialist news and analysis
New wave of protests in Tunisia
India: student death exposes caste oppression
What we think
Tories 'Prevent' civil liberties
Council cuts and the fight in Labour
Labour councillor suspended for fighting cuts
Dave Nellist's byelection appeal to Jeremy Corbyn: 'let's discuss how to fight the cuts'
Labour election post-mortem: nothing to report!
The dark arts of Labour's right
Councillors must fight to defend our services
'People's budgets' and local democracy
Lewisham: no backsliding in council cuts fight!
Workplace news and analysis
"I have left work many times in tears" - a council worker
Trade union bill will stretch resources and limit action
Birmingham teachers strike to resist academy attack
Care services under threat in Haringey
Readers' comment
The end for deep coal mining jobs in Britain
Obituary: Dean Meehan 1962-2016
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Protesting against closure of Huddersfield A&E
Coventry children's services closure protest
New Socialist Party branch fights against St Austell austerity
Socialist Party discusses the fight for socialism
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