First Person: As a worker, I am not a robot

They offered me a full-time job and I accepted. I had finally landed my dream job. I was incorporated in a team of highly skilled professionals and they all had over 10 years of working experience. They didn’t talk very much but I could tell that their knowledge far exceeded mine.

With the immense layers to this position, I skated through the years by listening, observing, learning and just doing my job to the best of my abilities. Where I saw and heard the most controversy was after meetings.

Staff stomped their feet of anger and mumbled to themselves out of frustration after these meetings. Once a month, the meetings would take place in the same boardroom, with navy blue cushioned chairs that were placed around the room and around a large table.

Everyone sat in the same place every month, the agenda was the same every month and down the list my manager would read through. The only time we could truly speak during theses meetings was during this section called “Initiatives.”

This section was dedicated to sharing with others in the department what you had accomplished outside of your regular duties. Otherwise, you kept quiet and listened. No one ever said anything or rarely did. I noticed who got along and who didn’t.

The government announced cuts. People in our department were going to lose their jobs. We lost four full-time permanent jobs that year and we were left to improvise to fill in the gaps. The workload got heavier.

Occasionally, the “head of office” would provide help from a casual staff, but they were just thrown into a new job for a few days and mostly didn’t know how to help. Everyone knew this was not helpful to our team, but nothing was being said.

One day I finally muscle up the courage to say it in the meeting out loud. Out of frustration, I just spit it out and said, “could you give us the same substitute every time, otherwise they don’t know what to do!”

I had never complained about anything before and after approximately eight years I figured I had built a good enough reputation to speak up. Well apparently, it was not a good idea. After the meeting I was called into my manager’s office and I was told that what I had said could have offended the replacement. And that I should be careful next time when I decide to speak up.

After a solid number of years working and getting nothing but excellent performance reviews, my suggestion was worth nothing. I realized at that point why it was consequently quiet in our meetings. The fear of getting reprimanded.

Staff have bills to pay and mouths to feed, people don’t want to lose their jobs. Staff kept quiet and stayed emotionally detached to avoid deception or furthermore frustrations.

This goes without mentioning all the everyday trauma from our regular workday that we endure.

Tell me, what happens when someone is emotionally detached from their job?

Being able to share our feelings about different situations can only help our departments and our souls. Being able to communicate is crucial for an effective workplace. We cannot all live in silence. Not being supported when speaking up can prevent everything and anything from happening, good or bad.

Over time it was eroding from my sense of self-worth and it took me further away from my core values of empathy and compassion.

Empowering employees to speak up has never been more important. The only power I have is to change jobs and walk away from this ugly mess. My fear of encountering rejection during this process is tremendous.

“Most people feel like other employers won’t want them, or can’t visualize how to transfer skills to a new job, or absolutely dislike the instabilities you can encounter with a change of employment,” said Philip Davidson, co-op student advisor and student talent development.

I would like to say that most people change jobs for their own pleasure but the reality is when you get a good salary with a pension and benefits you don’t want to leave your job and the people that are leaving is because they are truly and highly unhappy.

“I work for the government in my country as a psychologist, I am here changing careers, and I am studying business, I can’t do this work anymore,” said Gabriela Vindas, 42-year-old level-1 business management student.

In the last year, I have seen a lot of people quit their jobs, and these are top salary jobs. I have never seen so many people quit.

I feel like, I am not a robot, and I feel like I am not alone.