With everything that's been going on, I can't even get excited about Fourth of July. That says a lot about my mental state right now.
I hate that State Farm is able to affect me so much that I can't enjoy one of my favorite holidays. Work should not be this stressful. And yet here we are...
3 years in ILR. Now "Auto"ILR. (Same sh.. different name). I volunteer to work holidays so others don't have to. July 4th 2018. No forced OT was issued that day. They offered OT in the afternoon.It was the first holiday I've ever seen with calls in que.
This was a while ago and I found another job very quickly. I was only out a month of unemployment so like $1k after taxes? I didn’t think it was worth fighting since they had hr on the back line and recorded me admitting wrong doings.
-hqz you are a middle management skirt. Good luck!
I received unemployment. I did not have an action plan. I was just fired. I was surprised. I think you should fight it if you were turned down for unemployment if you were let go for performance due to the shenanigans SF has put on employees trying to get them to quit.
There’s a story out there about how to kill a frog. If you drop it in boiling water, it will jump out to save itself. If you put it in room temp water and slowly raise the heat, it will sit there until it dies. Your water’s boiling, darlin’. Time to hop out. ❤️
True. A lot of us just let ourselves become frog soup.
Please all be aware... if you are working you butt off and it’s still no good, don’t sign anything and don’t agree with anything they say. Push back and state loudly you come in on Saturday to catch up. My unemployment was denied and i knew I couldn’t fight it. Don’t sign their action plans or anything. It might paint a target on your back but don’t. Has anyone been fired and received unemployment?
I was in a place similar to you last year. I hated my job, I was stressed out trying to keep up with the workload and was working a crazy amount of OT. I was stress eating and ignoring my health. My wake up moment came when I had my annual physical and the Dr. told me that my blood pressure was way too high, my blood sugar was way too high, and if I kept going the way I was going I would either stroke out or have a heart attack. I came to realize that the company was purposefully stressing us out, trying to see how many older workers they could force out. My spouse & I spent a lot of time discussing options and the one we chose was for me to leave the Farm. I have never been happier! There is life after the farm! If you choose this route, please, please be aware that there are downsides to leaving before 55 so consider those carefully. Also, it took almost 6 months to de-stress so don't expect to feel better all at once. Finally, don't be afraid to get a good therapist because your normal now is not what your normal should be. And that goes for any one still remaining at the Farm. Take care of yourself and plan to leave on your own terms, not when the Farm decides.
I understand. I did not sleep but a few hours from a Friday to Monday one weekend after a very stressful week. I was crying on and off, a wreak. Thinking how can I work harder, faster, smarter, because we had so many people out and they kept adding more and more to do, taking away support staff and limiting OT. I realized by Late Sunday they did not want me to succeed, to keep up. They want to press me so hard I would quit. I hung in there to the detriment of my health. I thought about quitting but was trying to hang in there for severance and the office closure and to reach early retirement.
After Years of working six days a week, trying to fit in OT. All the stress. When I didn’t cave and quit - I was fired. They use all your one on one sessions to say they “counseled” you when they send the termination request memo to Corporate. I had to have an attorney to get a copy of it. I was a 2/3 employee until they targeted me. They will tell you to work everyone’s priorities and don’t worry if calendars or file notes get a bit behind but then they will write you up for it later. So don’t let them drive you to medication of poor health. It is not worth it. Get your doctor involved, see if you need further assist. Put yourself first. You are important.
There is life after State Farm. We have become conditioned like an abused animal. There are supportive healthy work places out there with reasonable expectations.
Good luck, you are not alone. I am sorry for what you are going through.
1sck - I’ve been where you are. It’s toxic. It’s bad for your health. You have choices and options. This is temporary. There’s a big wide world out there. Find the strength to find something you enjoy outside of work. Lean on friends. Talk. There’s a story out there about how to kill a frog. If you drop it in boiling water, it will jump out to save itself. If you put it in room temp water and slowly raise the heat, it will sit there until it dies. Your water’s boiling, darlin’. Time to hop out. ❤️
@TZtzGgC-1sck sounds like you have a life choice to make. Rather than pace around wide awake at 3 because you can no longer stand the job or the company, move on and find your happy place.
1sck totally agree you should not have to take medication to go to work! However, please try to find a good counselor in whom you can confide. There are exercises and plans they will help you with, to get you more in control of your daily life reactions and your future. Whether it means leaving or not, this would help you and i speak from first hand experience. Taking steps to control your own attitude and future are critical to your mental health and ability to make good decisions. Good luck, God bless you, and all of you are in my prayers.
Have been up since 3am pacing the floor in the dark crying and full of anxiety about a day in the office. I'm considering leaving the company after the latest shake-up not delivering what it promised. I'll be damned if I'm going to start taking meds so I DGAF at work. That's not me -- that's not who I am. The company has failed me after I have thrown my absolute all into serving them and their customers. My 4th of July offered me a brief escape from the mayhem at work but now I am anxiously counting down the minutes before I have to return. I'm a physical and mental mess! In my whole career, I have never been treated this poorly. Kudos to my management who empathize but have absolutely no control over any of this. They're basically in the same boat as me. Upper management are like ostriches . . . and no sign of pulling their heads out until they've made those extra couple of billion to push the company past the $100 billion mark!
100% accurate. This is a tenured employee purge to reduce costs to the detriment of employee job satisfaction, leading to crappy customer service and the lack of ability to sell the product and keep customers.
But if the dots are green we all win.
Seems almost purposeful anymore to get people to quit or retire which is What is happening.
Pretty simple, if you have the supply of human capital to meet the demand of the customer/workload, you don't have mandatory ot and your service level objectives are met.
Yeah your sanity is not worth that place. The OT money is nice though. Stash as much as you can, get your finances in order and be prepared to quit if anything. I’ve been there. Was unemployed for almost 5 weeks and bam, started a new gig. I look back on those 5 weeks as some of the best in recent memory. When will the idiots on top realize this metric system isn’t working? An attempt to make it more efficient is only costing them more money. Other companies tried it, failed and abandoned it in favor of having a happy workforce.
I feel for you. I was in in claim in the 80s and 90s and the job was stressful then but the company environment did not add to it. Try to keep your head up! You are doing honorable work to care for yourself and possibly those who rely on you. This will pass. Your memories of a great 4th of July will not. Now go fire up the grill and tell those you are with what they mean to you on this important day. I promise, you will feel better tomorrow for it. Happy 4th!!
@TZtzGgC-uoi, no what I am saying is the OP is indicating how the company is invading his life outside of work. Anti-anxiety meds take that edge off and it gives you the power to feel like you don't give a fxck about work, I know this from personal experience in claims currently in a demand pool that has TMs doing CS work and CSs on never-ending mandatory OT. The only other solution is to move on from SF and find something that is not destroying you.
It’s criminal the way claims people are being treated. Only those who’ve had to work in that environment understand. And what all of these idiots that have jobs n marketing, sales and “analyzing “ don’t get is that here will be nothing to market, sell or analyze if customer facing employees continue to be treated like dirt. There are very few experienced people left in these positions due to horrific work conditions. Turnover is at an all time high too.
Person below, what are you saying? We all just need to get on meds so that we just DGAF about how we are being treated at work?
I too am struggling to enjoy this holiday, feeling the burden having to complete mandatory OT and pressure to come in today (on the 4th of July!) to get some of that done. But really, what the hell?! On a day to celebrate our country's birthday and freedom, SF wants its overworked, tired, harassed claims staff to produce, produce, produce.
It could be worse, you could have had to work the holiday or come in on your day off to finish mandatory OT.
Talk to your physician, there are several anti-anxiety medications that take the edge off and you will be much happier.
many Claim Specialist Proximity jobs available in beautiful locations around the country....Happy 4th !