Do you like or want to - work?

I do have a full-time job in a local council as a receptionist; for the most part the pros include better pay/benefits package, a proper work-life balance and also progressional opportunities and a supportive environment. I am however trying to look into a career as an art therapist as I don't feel office environments are for me. It is more so dealing with the general public (as most people come across very entitled).

I worked as an admin assistant in the care industry for 2 ½ years and I hated that job mainly due to toxic managers. I got on well with my colleagues (and still keep in touch occasionally) but the managers ran their company poorly and engaged in dodgy practices which put me off office work to be honest. I also feel offices can be stifling sometimes, I get fidgety on quiet days (although I like the chillness) when there isn't much going on.

Maybe this is just me, I don't like the modern working culture as there is a constant obsession for hustling 24/7. What doesn't help is that employers expect you to be available all the time (which I sadly experienced in my previous job above) and you have no time for yourself as everything revolves around work. I feel that your worth in society is measured based on job title and earnings. If you work in a corporate role, people respect you as you have access to better salaries and opportunities (particularly if you are in the council like myself or in the civil service depending). Minimum wage workers are looked down on and judged. If you are NEET or on benefits, the judgement is worse as people automatically assume you are a leech to society - you have no value if you don't work.

Another thing that bothers me is the lack of support for employees with disabilities, especially hidden ones like autism. If autistic it is difficult to disclose as an employer will instantly see you as a liability; coming from previous experience as someone who recruited, employers look to save money anyway they can and will mostly refuse to put in accommodations if they are required to pay out of pocket (although this doesn't directly relate to autism, I had an experience in my previous job where I was denied DSE equipment when my desk was inadequate for work as in their words, other people would complain if I had it). Even if you disclose, an employer can easily fire you and say you weren't a good culture fit. I don't blame autistic people for not wanting to work as most workplaces are rampant with bullying, office politics etc. You can't just do your work and get paid, you have to participate in the BS otherwise you risk being a target. In most cases, autistic people get shoved out of the workplace and become too traumatised to work.

Also, autistic people can easily be shoved into unsuitable jobs by the Job Centre (although I suppose it applies to everyone) - mainly zero hour jobs that expect you to do the work of 3 or more people for minimum wage. The work coaches mostly want to reduce their caseloads by shoving people into any old job to meet targets. 

Government Jobs attract the Narcs, like flies to s**t! It's a perfect opportunity to abuse authority positions.

I can agree here. Same goes for the care industry; in my role as an admin assistant (as per mentioned) I witnessed so much dodgy practice I don't know where to start.

Managers would pocket money from their own staff by overcharging for employee expenses such as DBS/trainings and use the cash to go on holidays every month (mostly taking 2 to 3 weeks off all whilst paying the majority of staff minimum wage), inexperienced staff were sent to homes, documents were forged for inspections, the list goes on. I unfortunately had stress issues and depression partially caused by this job and had to be signed off for 2 to 3 weeks before - managers always called you out of hours (as without myself and my colleagues in the admin team, nothing could be done and management had no idea what was happening in their own company as they were hardly there!). My colleagues and I had triple the workload each and management hardly assisted us when deadlines came up, just yelled at us for not doing enough.

I experienced having a panic attack when the former operations manager called me more than 10 times out of hours and when I explained to them I didn't want out of hours contact (as it infringed on my personal time), they said every company operates this way which was BS (as in my current job with the council work and life balance is highlighted as important and when on leave, I can enjoy time off knowing nobody contacts me out of hours). Also, I was the only senior admin present until leaving that job last year and had to do the work of 3 people whilst training my colleague's replacement who was not only getting £2+ more than myself and my senior colleagues, they also had no admin experience and was unable to communicate properly in English (in this case the replacement was a permanent staff with a visa sponsorship and all staff in this group got pushed into every role although most of them didn't have the qualifications or experience in care). When explaining about the amount of pressure I had to deal with, the operations manager gaslit me and implied I couldn't handle pressure and needed me to delegate duties to the new admin. When I did delegate, all duties got pushed onto me because the manager's excuse was that the new admin didn't know what to do (although they hired that person to begin with).

One of my former colleagues who resigned 6 months before myself is neurodivergent and they too had similar experiences to myself which caused them to resign. That and they were unfortunately had an experience where they were spoken to inappropriately and groomed by the general manager. I won't go much into this but it was kept hidden and the general manager told the deputy to cut off contact with my colleague (who informed them about the situation).

I would never subject myself to working in the care industry again, although I never worked in the homes behind the scenes is no better and I also can't stand working in a place where managers are OK with faking DBS certs and sending inexperienced staff to work with vulnerable people, knowing any incident can take place. I think in my previous job what didn't help was the clear lack of training for staff (as iirc there were a couple of days of inductions and 2 weeks of online training). Also, I got this admin assistant role through the Kick-start Scheme back in 2021 and the whole thing was handled poorly as majority of Kick-start candidates at my former workplace had no work for 6 months. I pushed and pushed for them to get work but management just refused to give them anything and would blame me for keeping them on although they hired them. They essentially rotated between groups for cheap labour and it sickened me. I even had to report them to ACAs due to a year's worth of pension contributions missing (which I thankfully got back).

In the case of my former managers, they were the types to come across friendly and supportive and would always gaslight or undermine you in any way possible. God forbid if you asked for a pay increase (which I tried to do) or even accommodations. If they had to pay out of pocket for anything, they wouldn't do it 99% of the time unless it was for themselves. 

I can agree here. Same goes for the care industry; in my role as an admin assistant (as per mentioned) I witnessed so much dodgy practice I don't know where to start.

Managers would pocket money from their own staff by overcharging for employee expenses such as DBS/trainings and use the cash to go on holidays every month (mostly taking 2 to 3 weeks off all whilst paying the majority of staff minimum wage), inexperienced staff were sent to homes, documents were forged for inspections, the list goes on. I unfortunately had stress issues and depression partially caused by this job and had to be signed off for 2 to 3 weeks before - managers always called you out of hours (as without myself and my colleagues in the admin team, nothing could be done and management had no idea what was happening in their own company as they were hardly there!). My colleagues and I had triple the workload each and management hardly assisted us when deadlines came up, just yelled at us for not doing enough.

I experienced having a panic attack when the former operations manager called me more than 10 times out of hours and when I explained to them I didn't want out of hours contact (as it infringed on my personal time), they said every company operates this way which was BS (as in my current job with the council work and life balance is highlighted as important and when on leave, I can enjoy time off knowing nobody contacts me out of hours). Also, I was the only senior admin present until leaving that job last year and had to do the work of 3 people whilst training my colleague's replacement who was not only getting £2+ more than myself and my senior colleagues, they also had no admin experience and was unable to communicate properly in English (in this case the replacement was a permanent staff with a visa sponsorship and all staff in this group got pushed into every role although most of them didn't have the qualifications or experience in care). When explaining about the amount of pressure I had to deal with, the operations manager gaslit me and implied I couldn't handle pressure and needed me to delegate duties to the new admin. When I did delegate, all duties got pushed onto me because the manager's excuse was that the new admin didn't know what to do (although they hired that person to begin with).

One of my former colleagues who resigned 6 months before myself is neurodivergent and they too had similar experiences to myself which caused them to resign. That and they were unfortunately had an experience where they were spoken to inappropriately and groomed by the general manager. I won't go much into this but it was kept hidden and the general manager told the deputy to cut off contact with my colleague (who informed them about the situation).

I would never subject myself to working in the care industry again, although I never worked in the homes behind the scenes is no better and I also can't stand working in a place where managers are OK with faking DBS certs and sending inexperienced staff to work with vulnerable people, knowing any incident can take place. I think in my previous job what didn't help was the clear lack of training for staff (as iirc there were a couple of days of inductions and 2 weeks of online training). Also, I got this admin assistant role through the Kick-start Scheme back in 2021 and the whole thing was handled poorly as majority of Kick-start candidates at my former workplace had no work for 6 months. I pushed and pushed for them to get work but management just refused to give them anything and would blame me for keeping them on although they hired them. They essentially rotated between groups for cheap labour and it sickened me. I even had to report them to ACAs due to a year's worth of pension contributions missing (which I thankfully got back).

In the case of my former managers, they were the types to come across friendly and supportive and would always gaslight or undermine you in any way possible. God forbid if you asked for a pay increase (which I tried to do) or even accommodations. If they had to pay out of pocket for anything, they wouldn't do it 99% of the time unless it was for themselves.