WFH affecting confidence

strawb_shortcake

Has anyone else found that WFH is hampering their career and confidence?

I moved teams virtually earlier in the year, in what was meant to be a development move. For various reasons some projects haven't programme as expected and work load is incredibly low. 

I've asked numerous times for work, and its just not coming. The work I have been given much of it is new to me and I'm just left to try and work it out for myself, and not really being taught or mentored in these unfamiliar tasks. I've tried asking for guidance and told to just do my best.
I have wondered if my line manager is out of their depth at times as there has been occasions where II've pointed out mistakes in the processes.

My line manager quite often ignores me, once they didn't contact me for nearly two weeks when I came back from holiday. Came back after being Ill and ignored again, never even asked if I was feeling better.

I don't know who to talk to, the chain of command just doesn't feel supportive to raise my concerns, and a lot of people that I feel would have been good to talk to have either left or away.
When I've asked for feedback, its always been very positive but I can't see how as I feel my opportunities to demonstrate my capabilities have been minimal.

Realising just how much my confidence has slipped I now feel worried about speaking up, and wondering if I'm just overreacting or worse it's all in my head. 
Progressing in my career feels so far away, though I have been actively encouraged to seek promotion by both my old team and new.

Appreciate this is as much a rant as a question, I just can't work out in my head how to fix it.

For reference I am a civil servant, HEO and directed to WFH for the foreseeable.

TY

MovingForwards

I'm PS not CS, but have experienced most things you've said.

My role has vastly increased as I was given the majority of another, while retaining my original one. Training doesn't relate to the work / current systems and I'm self-teaching the best I can; it's slow, painful, frustrating.

Everyone assumes I know everything and when I point out I don't and have to learn or create things to do it:
- some people apologise, compliment me for getting on with it all and wait to hear back.
- others make sympathetic noises and hand me even more unknown work.

To get through each day I group similar work together, that way I may learn a tiny bit more. I also know 1 day a week will be things I can clear quickly as I already know how to do them. Then there's days where I'm flitting between everything and not getting much done.

The chain of command don't know what they are doing, admitted queries are ignored in the hope the person resolves it for themselves. Asks me who is doing X, Y or Z in my department and is surprised when is always told 'me'; I'd provided a breakdown overview of everything I do! 
- same happens with high level management.

I don't have to ask for feedback as that's freely provided; I'm the best thing since sliced bread, but knowing the previous post holder it comes as no surprise as I do get the work done and not ignore it.

My morale is up and down like a yo yo, usually within 6 months of starting a job I've got to grips with it. Being repeatedly told I'll never learn anything and there's no promotion prospects makes me wonder why people stick around.

I'm also trying to work out who does what in other departments and find different people to pick their brains, it means I'm slowly building up a contact list then when I get stuck with one aspect I can approach person A to talk me through it, person B for something else. Even though these people have been doing it longer, they've only got a bit more knowledge in something and somehow we figure it out.

What I've done is tried to focus on personal development, grab training for my benefit, use common sense when writing policies, dealing with people and doing my work, drawing on my previous career / knowledge and that's made some tasks easier.

None of this really helps you, but there's a lot of us about in the same situation.

strawb_shortcake

Thank you @MovingForwards
Now I've had a bit of a vent I do feel a but better, and knowing I'm not alone helps though I'm sorry others are struggling too. 

I just need to work out a plan of action and try and find someone to help endorse and support my development.

Motivation with myself and others is low,  I've never known us lose so many staff as we have in the last year, which probably doesn't help either. 

I will be finishing my qualification this year, so i do have something to work towards and achieve.

TELLIT01

I thing may people in the same position as the OP will be struggling.  In a new role the availability of people to turn to for face-to-face advice or infomation is vital and that has been lost with WFH.  A new staff member joined the department my wife works in a couple of weeks after the first lock down started and nobody expected the situation to develop as it did.  They still struggle now with some of the more complex parts of the job, and it's only in the past 2 months that they have started spending part of the week actually working in the office.  I know I have always learnt best by seeing what to do, be that doing it myself or watching other,  trying to learn from a voice on the phone must be a nightmare.

onylon

There is always stuff to do. If your manager is struggling, is there anything you can do to support them? 

I'm in a similar position to you and I get quite down if I don't feel useful so I'm fixing the things that annoy me most. At the moment that means getting programs give useful error messages rather than "an unexpected error occurred". Not exciting, but it will make things easier for me and anyone else who does my role in future. I'm also doing a bit of self study and documentation. 

The hard bit is getting started. You will gain momentum as you go and once you can show results it's likely that your work will be appreciated. If you are still ignored then keeping busy will give you things to talk about in the next job interview. No point sitting at home by yourself while your mental health suffers.

Thrugelmir

WFH isn't what the media portray it to be.  To solve problems and improve your mental wellbeing. Try going for a walk in the local park or in the country. Surprising how much you can solve by freeing up the mind.  

strawb_shortcake

Thank you all for your replies.

I think there is a lot I can do to improve the situation, and making more of an effort to look after myself needs to be my first step.

I have identified a few people to try and create a support network as that's really missing at present. 

On top of that, I have been told today that I will be having a change of roles at work, which was most unexpected but very welcome.

kayleighali

Anna you have my absolute sympathy. I am also in a similar position to you and the project work is going the same way. I have staff members who must be bored but there is just nothing I can give them to do

Hopefully this change of role will help things for you. In the meantime, is there another manager you can speak to about your concerns, perhaps one of the wider team? Not speaking to you for extended periods of time is simply unacceptable, especially during the current situation!

strawb_shortcake

kayleighali said:

Anna you have my absolute sympathy. I am also in a similar position to you and the project work is going the same way. I have staff members who must be bored but there is just nothing I can give them to do

Hopefully this change of role will help things for you. In the meantime, is there another manager you can speak to about your concerns, perhaps one of the wider team? Not speaking to you for extended periods of time is simply unacceptable, especially during the current situation!

Thank you, it seems my post has been a catalyst for change, had a previous colleague get in touch today out of the blue, which was very positive and we've arranged a catch up. 

I had a brief chat with my LM and that was quite productive if I take them at face value, I'm not going to analyse if it was truth or an excuse. Also having a chat with a senior manager tomorrow.