Enshitification of the job.
My job has recently gone down the path to enshitification. I’ve worked for the same company now for 14 years (i won’t say which because they have a policy against talking about them on social media). I come in every day with the goal of doing the best job i can. I’m early every single day even before a big crackdown on employees routinely dragging in 15+ mins late and taking extended extra breaks. I don’t talk, i don’t mess around, if I’m scheduled to be working you’ll find me at my desk working. I even come back from lunches and breaks early and have been recognized for this by my manager.
I work in a field that sometimes has software upgrades come along that reduce the need for human workers. We’ve had a number of layoffs over the past 14 years but i’ve held on and have done a good job. 1 1/2 years ago i had a serious health issue. Blood clots in my lungs which landed me in the ER for almost a week on morphine and 2 months leave after that. I came back to work and was told i wasn’t needed anymore. I could either take severance or whatever job they happened to have available in another department. After some debate i took the job. This department is a shit show. Managers are often out for extended periods of time leaving leads to run everything, my manager’s manager switched to work from home and rarely drags in (unless they’re firing someone). Recently they enshittified by instituting new policies on errors and metrics and everything else. If you’re late. A write up. If you get 1 error (i work in data entry) a write up and while it used to fall off our record after 3 months they QUADRUPLED that to 12 months. If you’re not making your stats. A write up. 4 of these will get you fired. Now on top of everything they’re counting efficiency against us which is our system time. If you’re red at the end of the month. You guessed it, another write up. As i said I’ve been with this company for 14 years and despite screaming about their method of figuring their numbers being broken, they’ve done nothing. A prime example, i was always dark green on efficiency at around 85% in my earlier department. In the current one i do THE EXACT SAME THING, and am red at 72%. That means i don’t get up for bathroom breaks or talk or anything. If I’m supposed to be working, thats where you’ll find me. I’ve complained multiple times about this and they just brush it off as me doing something wrong. I’ve started having health problems again and am trying to take care of those while i can, while i’m still employed. My depression is worsening day by day. Its getting hard to cope. I have panic attacks and chest pains from time to time. Its hard coming in doing the best i can and still being kicked in the balls. I try and tell myself its probably for the best in the end if i’m not here anymore but i have alot of friends over these years i’ll never see again. Some are planning on retiring just to get the hell out. One guy planned on retiring before this year but decided to stick around for the insurance and they fired him right before Christmas.
I’m getting up there in age, i’m 53 and have done corporate or computer jobs most of my life. Its hard to even think about doing something else or interviewing in today’s world. Any advice?
Thanks for reading.