I quit my Job last friday.
I used to be an employment consultant in the Disability Employment Services area for a Not-for-Profit organization. Mentally I wasn't doing well and struggling. I wasn't doing any of the things I loved - Art, Op-Shopping, Crafting. I think late last year I burnt out and never really recovered. Nor have I physically recovered from having COVID in 2022.
Late last year, early this year our region was hit with a cyclone and a massive flood and economically, our region has not recovered. So I wasn't making my KPIs - I was however meeting my Administrative, Marketing and Outcomes KPIs but not my placement KPI (getting people into work which was the 'important' one) - in spite of changing everything I was doing to try and meet it and keep on top of the training they were putting me through to meet it.
So I ended up in a Performance Improvement period for the last 12 weeks. I met the first one, only made 50% on the second and in spite of everything, failed the third.I was second guessing myself constantly and I knew I was THE most experienced person on the team and knew my shit back to front and upside down - that's how bad it was.
And then there were a series of changes within the company that put me on edge. The company expanded into 2 other states and planned to go global in a very short period. The CEO and Founder retired due to poor health and suddenly everything became about making money. The company fired 4-5 Area Managers 8 weeks into the PIP, some who had been with the company 8+ years, without notice.This of course did nothing for my mental health, except to make it worse. So when HR set an impossible goal for me to meet in a 2 week time limit, I crumbled.
It was the hardest decision I had to make, but for my mental health I knew I had to give it up. I put in my two weeks last Friday and basically the State Manager said to finish up that day. I wanted to say goodbye to my clients, but it was protocol, They paid for 2 weeks of full time hours, my leave and gave me a good reference which all that really matters.
I loved my Team, and the majority of my customers and will miss them a ton. It's nothing like the job before this one - that company was rotten and gross and did not care about it's employees. But Employment Services has a reputation for being a stressful, mental health ruining.
So back on the job hunt I go - well I might take a few weeks before I really knuckle back down into it. Sure as heck not going back to employment services, as rewarding as it had been, I need a job that's just pure Administration, boring, go in get work done, get paid and go home. I want to try and stay in the not for profit sector, maybe even with disabilities, just something where I don't have to deal with KPIs again.
