Not enough to do at work

There are times at work where I find myself sitting there not doing anything and it gets me down when it happens.

Some background: 

I work for a large organisation. I work in the comms team, made up of about 15 people, some have left due to a re-shuffle. My job specifically is working with a press officer (let's call him Chuck!) who is visually impaired and needs someone to work with him. I'm the third assistant he's had, previous were both men. 

My previous job was a social media, marketing esque job that I enjoyed but had to leave (I'll probably go into that another time) but I enjoyed the nature of the job. I liked the creative aspect of it. 

I get to do some things that are somewhat creative. In particular we'll go take some photos or film people for a story and I enjoy the video side of it. I actually enjoy video editing, as time consuming as it can be! I also do some social media which can be fun, but also tedious.

But aside from that? It's... Fine, I guess. I prep a press release here and there, find a phone number, upload an already written blog post, spellcheck stuff. Not fulfilling for me.

There are some days (like today) where I have barely anything to do. If I do do something it's something that takes a minute. It makes me feel useless and not needed. On top of that it's boring and I feel unprofessional. I find myself scrolling through social media or doodling most of the time. It makes me uncomfortable. 

This did lead me to have what I guess you would call a breakdown a few months ago. I'd been on hormonal medication that was making me feel off for a while but things just quickly escalated and I blew up. So they know it's an issue for me, but not much has been done about it. They also know I'm Autistic. 

When I enjoy my job, I really do enjoy it. I like working with Chuck, I like (most) of my colleagues, I get to wear what I want (very important to me!) and so on. 

I'm just wondering what I can do? It really does get me down when it happens. I wish the way I work could be different. There's no structure, I never know what I'm gonna do that day, which is not great for an Autistic person. 

(Sorry I know this was long!!)

Parents
  • I get this, so I understand how having little to do can sap your self esteem and lead to demotivation.

    The way I experience it is that the way to get more interesting work seems inevitably to lead to taking on leadership tasks, which entails more "people stuff" - and for me, that led to burnout and dangerous mental health.

    Unfortunately I haven't yet found a way out of the situation, so I guess I'm just writing this to express sympathy. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful :-(

  • Hey, no worries. I actually had the opposite problem at my last job - my boss expected me to do too much and of course it was my first job so I said yes and basically my mental and physical health deteriorated and I ended up losing the job and being very very ill. It took me over a year to find a new job, the one I have now.

    Can't I just have a job with a nice, even workload? Joy

Reply
  • Hey, no worries. I actually had the opposite problem at my last job - my boss expected me to do too much and of course it was my first job so I said yes and basically my mental and physical health deteriorated and I ended up losing the job and being very very ill. It took me over a year to find a new job, the one I have now.

    Can't I just have a job with a nice, even workload? Joy

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