Time is always running out at this busy time of year.
Since the beginning of the month, most of my meetings begin by commenting on the dark circles that hang under our faded eyes. We share our dismay at this busy period of the last month of the calendar. And although we clumsily tries to justify it, ended up simply encouraging each other: “We are not giving up. It will pass. “The same with my relatives, from teacher to luthier: fed up, insatiable fatigue… A nice gang of flat tires. Where are our spare wheels? Out of stock on the scale of many trades.
Human resources who cry, VPs who must retire, washed up, and coordos who no longer know where to place themselves. Layoffs here, resignations there. We are talking about a general labor shortage while our collective trauma has not yet been resolved.
It seems like happiness at work is in freefall and we’re all too tired to even notice.
Someone recently told me to hope for a reconfinement to save time. Someone else told me that I dreamed of seriously injuring yourself so that I had to stop.
This fall, one of our employees, exhausted, went part-time. Last month, our new hire lasted two weeks: the poor was already emptied before even starting. So I’m currently interviewing people and, without exception, they tell me about a history of exhaustion, either physically or mentally. Experienced ex-managers with deficient empathy and tarnished by malicious professional experiences. They apply here at the beak in the hope that we, as an organization focused on health and wellness, will walk the talk.
It goes without saying that we are very sensitive to that. We don’t just pay attention, we pay attention. Always on the lookout for signs and symptoms; open and flexible in terms of hours; adaptable to unforeseen events and advocating prevention rather than cure. And yet, although our lips really follow our boots, part of me feels like an impostor.
Impostor because inherent in the current situation is a bundle of insidious factors: stress, work-life balance, overload of affects, our offended ability to adapt, our upset morals, performance anxiety, too short a daylight …
Impostor because at the heart of the problem, there is above all time.
Last Friday, I took the afternoon off. I consciously used, from my vacation bank, 0.5 days. Not to go to the spa or to ski with friends, but to be able to do my grocery shopping.
We look forward to the holidays. Advent calendars are more than just chocolates. They are our anchor in reality, reassuring us that we will get there. We talk about these two weeks of the Holiday season as a relief, a break, a time to recharge your batteries. Like children with Santa Claus… Adults, it would seem that our fairy tale is to imagine resting.
Fourteen days will pass. Wine will be drunk, gifts exchanged, and surely a well-deserved day or two of lying down without the intention of getting up. Then, we will switch to anticipation mode. Denial of return, overwhelmed that time has evaporated. We will find ourselves on the other side of the New Year, the language still on the ground, although ready to do everything again.