Stress at Work
Stress at Work
(OP)
What produces stress in your job and what do you do to handle or reduce this stress?
Some things that produce stress in my job are: impossible schedules, overly demanding managers and/or clients, scope creep with no additional time, changes, etc.
Some things that produce stress in my job are: impossible schedules, overly demanding managers and/or clients, scope creep with no additional time, changes, etc.





RE: Stress at Work
RE: Stress at Work
RE: Stress at Work
Best Regards,
Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2006 SP 5.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
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NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
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Never argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience every time.
RE: Stress at Work
RE: Stress at Work
If we cannot do it then we have to put an estimated lead time and cost on as a quote. Research into how to do it only happens if they place the order. Oh these have to be quoted in 2 days so no time for any reaerch at this point just a quick discussion on them.
I handle the stress by martial arts, weight lifting basically anything I can let my aggression out on
RE: Stress at Work
RE: Stress at Work
IS - Insufficient Support Dept
RE: Stress at Work
I have learned that the only way to cope is
1) down time (reading, relaxing)
2) exercise at least 5 times a week
3) saying no
Tropx
RE: Stress at Work
Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)
RE: Stress at Work
As a stress reliever I play with my 1 year old daughter and play squash (not with my daughter, of course).
Medeng
"Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt."
RE: Stress at Work
I now walk to work. The half hour exersize inthe mornings and evenings seems to help.
RE: Stress at Work
Architects who make too many changes during design, make changes at the last minute.
Contractors who don't know what they're doing, contractors that "have been doing it this way forever".
I use to get stressed out by my boss's poor communication regarding projects, but I've learned to manage him for the most part in that respect.
RE: Stress at Work
RE: Stress at Work
RE: Stress at Work
Especially stressful given that in late November the senior VP for the division said similar in an all hands meeting. Second week of December 10 people were let go.
RE: Stress at Work
Charlie
www.facsco.com
RE: Stress at Work
To fully understand this I work away from home during the week and usually get to go home Thursday night and spend 3 days with wife and kids before I go back to work. My wife has a long weekend due to Martin Luther King Jr day and we'd planned for me to take Monday too giving us a long weekend together.
The task is by no means low risk and is an area I've never worked on before. The current responsible engineer is unlikely to be much help as he is facing disciplinary action for his poor performance and has made it clear he doesn't want to work extra hours.
Failure would not be good for me or my department, especially given we've just had lay offs and may have more.
To reduce the stress/handle this I said no.
Rant over, sorry
RE: Stress at Work
Ben
RE: Stress at Work
I just hope you have a job come Tuesday...I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
RE: Stress at Work
I divide work goals into achieveable and non-achievable deadlines:
I try to treat all achievable goals as a personal challenge rather than a problem (even if they are only just barely achievable).
For non-achievable goals, honesty is usually the best practice as the management will have far more options early on in the project rather than last minute.
RE: Stress at Work
It's not all over though. I guess it's stirred up a hornets nest and at this point I'm not sure what the outcome may be.
RE: Stress at Work
Job stresses there include AK-47’s and the possibility of sudden death due to suicide bombers or IED’s.
Everything else is a minor problem.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Stress at Work
My hat's off to you for putting all our minor worries into perspective! Good luck on your next tour over there!
Patricia Lougheed
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.
RE: Stress at Work
The ability to see that things are only a minor problem is the best way to manage stress. Of course if you have nothing major to get stressed about it is easy to get stressed over minor things, avoid doing that and you are on the right road.
RE: Stress at Work
The entire order entry and engineering system, or lack thereof. The lack of participation of long term employees to do anything than the 'head bashing in a brick wall' that they've done for years.
Coping mechanism:
Making sure all my 'stuff' is in one sock, doing the absolutely best that I can with the information provided, and disseminating said information and my work as quickly and efficiently as possible to the parties that I'm responsible to. Understanding that I am one person, and can't be an all-aspect solution to every multi-million dollar project that I'm working on.
In addition to that, I go to the pistol range for some .45 caliber therapy then come home and have a beer. (Please consult local laws and age limits before attempting either of the above.)
--
Erik
MO P.E.
RE: Stress at Work
As to the causes of this stress, I usually encounter:
- Boss who wont listen to my ideas (or at least appears not to) and then quotes them verbatum in a meeting later as his own.
- IT dept that overregulates the network traffic and constantly harasses me over my space quota, even though I've explained that part of my work is video editing for training purposes (I need several GB to store data).
- Coworkers who appear to only have high school diplomas...
- Resistance to change or even listening to anything related to change.
- Etc. as this can go on for a while...
RE: Stress at Work
It makes me feel stupid, and then I get angry because I know I'm not stupid. And then I want to start looking for a new job. And I want to ask him why he didn't go to school for structural engineering since he knows everything. And then I think about getting paid on Friday and I just nod my head and agree. I've learned to just tune it all out.
Yesterday he ripped on his own son (works here as a detailer) and the rest of us just sat here like we couldn't hear. If he wants to do something like that, he should do it in his office, away from the cubes. But hey, payday is just a few days away. Being able to pay my bills has helped lessen the effects of work stress.
I've sold out, I know...
RE: Stress at Work
That's not selling out. If you are like most of us, then you do this game for very good reasons.
1 Money for the essentials in life
2. Money for the non-essentials in life
3. Money for A DRINK on a Friday night to release the fever and stress of having to listen to/deal with everyone elses problematic way of getting through life.
4. All of the above (next week again)
Remember that Friday (or POETS day) has all the above taken care of and Monday is just a way to get to Friday. Paychecks ahoy.
PS I get paid monthly, my Fridays take a long time to come round sometimes
Kevin Hammond
Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK
RE: Stress at Work
Documenting them in company format.
Having an email sent by QA to all CAD users and a few others saying they are in force.
Ensuring the above email had links to the secure folders the documents are in so people can find the documents.
Getting an email a week later from my boss saying "The population is asking for a link to the DRM. Do you have that handy?"
To handle it I vented to anyone that would listen and sent him a reply referencing the original email and a couple of other links and posts on our internal 'wiki' that I'd made.
RE: Stress at Work
Maui
RE: Stress at Work
I get stressed out when I can't figure out what the FEA job I'm working on has failed for the n'th time. The solution is to walk away and do something else. I'm lucky in that I can think of a solution to a problem that I didn't know I was in my mind at the time; I solved a really complex problem in the shower once - almost ran out naked shouting "Eureka".
RE: Stress at Work
I've had that one too, at many different jobs and many different bosses, usually with the added pecadillo of being made to feel stupid for trying to express my opinion. Still makes me angry, but I've figured out a fairly long term solution: only offer my opinion when I am quite sure I'm right, then listen to the "no that won't work" answer and do it that way, making sure to say "okay, we'll do it YOUR way". When that doesn't work out, suggest again my idea. Slowly, very slowly, over time, the right answer wins (ain't physics/chemistry/science great?) and wiser people begin to whisper "hey, that kid might just be right this time". The whispered rumour makes the rounds and eventually gets to the boss.
Then he fires you.
I also like to take walks. At my current job, the shop is about a 30-second walk away, and out the back door by the scrap wood pile are some ratty bushes that are becoming overgrown. A 2x2 scrap, about 24 inches long, makes a nice blunt instrument to do a little pruning...
RE: Stress at Work
I often do that... for a number of reasons.
#1 - the number of people that I want to keep "in the loop" is more than the number of people I can call.
#2 - The important receivers of the information deserve to be called because things can fall through the cracks on email. We are told important information deserves to be communicated face to face (first choice) by phone (second choice) or by email (least reliable).
#3 - Often the person I call is a manager whose time I value. The way I figure, it's better to get a phone call saying: "What I'm telling you is on email". That way the receiver has the option to say "Ok, I'll read it when I have the time and let you know if I have questions". Also if they pull it up during the conversation, they can probably absorb it faster than listening to me explain it without the email.
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RE: Stress at Work
Force = Mass x Acceleration
Mass = My Boss (weight of his personality alone could account for a large proportion of the universe's dark matter)
Acceleration = A very large number (bordering on physically impossible) considering distance from his office to my desk
Area = My shoulders (quick measurement reveals roughly 40,000 mm2, feels smaller as the day wears on)
Therefore
Stress = Aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh
Kevin Hammond
Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK
RE: Stress at Work
The ‘force’ is diverted on down to those below you.
From what I've seen it's mainly employed by middle managers and project managers, don't know if it will work for you as it requires someone below to catch it or it will just bounce straight up and hit you in the fundament; but hey, there must be an intern, apprentice or cleaning staff that can take the 'force'.
RE: Stress at Work
Remember I am a contractor (lowest form of life in the Eng Dept) which makes it fairly difficult to find the required scapegoat.
Kevin Hammond
Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK
RE: Stress at Work
RE: Stress at Work
For example:
1. The never-ending stream of free junk food that I haven't adequate discipline to resist. I gained about 3" worth of belt in 9 years, in large part due to this.
2. Principals who worked less than me, and were less effective, showing up in new BMWs, going on expensive vacations, and buying $500k houses.
Of course, I had a lot of the same issues as others: terrible scheduled handed to me by principals, obnoxious architects, etc.
Yeah, I know: I have emotional problems and a lack of character, LOL.
I could whine about it, deal with it, or move on. I chose the last option!