Oppression in the workplace

I have felt that the past week has been one of oppression. Work conditions at the hospital truly have been oppressive.

• There is a heavy air at the facility as it gets ready for state inspectors to come back at the end of this week to see if we did what we were supposed to have done.
  
• There is still the shock and disbelief over the termination of the hospital CEO and vice president.
  
• The replacement management is talking about cutting back even more in light the situation.
  
• People around me, especially my boss are expressing their concerns as to whether they will have a job?
• There are junior executives from the healthcare system asking lots and lots of picky questions trying to cover all of the bases to save the hospital and the healthcare system in general from losing Medicare and Medicaid. This has the net effect of slave driving given the current emotional state.
• The hospital has continued to be under extraordinary scrutiny from the state. It is getting old. It is getting tiring.
• The narcissist and borderlines that I supervise are even more wound up and reactionary, stirring up unwanted emotional turmoil and tension.
  

When this kind of stress keeps up at a steady rate I think that the effect is that of “oppression.”

It does not help that the unemployment rate in Louisville has reached 6.1 percent. It does not help that Seven Counties Services (the local public mental health agency) has laid off a bunch of people creating more competition for whatever few mental health jobs there might be in the local market. There are a number of environmental stressors outside the hospital that compound the feeling of oppression.

I have not heard much use of the word “oppression” in the past several years except when it was referring to the hot summer heat. In Louisville, the summer heat can be oppressive as it was the last few weeks.

Oppression usually means to be burdened mentally or spiritually. It can mean to be crushed. The connotation is that someone is acting in a tyrannical fashion, abusing or suppressing others.

However, as a actual MSW-bearing social worker, I also have been leery of the term “oppression.” The term “oppression” was thrown around at my Social Work school by anyone who wanted to call themselves and their ethnic or demographic group oppressed. Yep, they are victims and you should feel sorry for them and guilty for your more privileged status, and maybe you should be a nebulous advocate for them in ways that they cannot even think of at the time, which means that you should keep their victimhood and your guilt at the front of your mind 24-7 and feel oppressed along with them for no other rational reason.

There is only so much consciousness that can be raised, and I found oppressed by their claim of oppression, and I found myself turned off by it. While this is not politically-correct (read liberal)

I had begun to feel that the slogan “It's a black thing you just don't understand” was overused by certain people I knew at the time and I came to view their use of the slogan as their excuse to avoid their responsibilities for their own personal situations.

But I find myself concluding that I am feeling a sense of oppression now. I find a great weight on me. It is not just burnout. Burnout happens as result of the ongoing oppression. I think that any one can be burned out in any situation when they work too many hours—even if they enjoy the job.

In the oppressive situation, there is either a high degree of tension or anxiety that remains constant. The following are some examples that come to mind.

I believe that some work situations are oppressive by their very nature. For example I consider the entertainment field to be very oppressive. I consider any job in front of a TV camera to be oppressive. You have to look the part. You have prima donnas complaining about this or that imperfection. You have the paparazzi being intrusive and offensive all the time looking for that one photograph of someone being without underwear or being off guard or throwing a tirade. If you are successful, you have everyone wanting a piece of you in some way or another. Thus, many stars get addicted to drugs and alcohol to cope and have multiple marriages as a result of the pressure. (Thank God, I am an otherwise average joe bloke without acting or musical talent!)

I also consider the offices of politicians to be oppressive and working as a elected official's staff member to be oppressive. I have thought that a white house appointment would be fantastic. Spending more with your family is given as a standard reason for resigning from those jobs, but I really think that kind of appointment owns you, chews you up and spits you out. It is in that respect I am thankful that my wife has vetoed any jobs in Washington DC after I get my doctorate.

I think that many workplaces become oppressive when there is an especially dysfunctional boss. The boss in this case is a tyrant that rules by emotion and abuse. The boss acts by impulse and without judgment. The boss has no clue how to treat people with respect and dignity. People who grow up with an abusive mother or father figure likely migrate to this kind of tiny kingdom and stay that “realm” re-enacting family relationships. People who are otherwise stuck there (and despise it) because of lack of opportunity, engage in survival behaviors which make life a living hell for those around them—becoming perpetrators as bad as the boss.

One personal experience in this case was a mental health agency (that's right a mental health agency) in an east central Indiana city. The old woman who ran the department ruled by her emotional whims and insecurities. She was controlling and abusive and patronizing in the 1.5 years I worked there. She enabled the other borderline therapists to run things make decisions about my job performance. I was under some kind of probation half of the time for some b---s--t reasons that I almost walked. She acted stupid when I tendered my resignation. She and her lieutenant in retrospect were both borderline personalities and had no insight as to why they had such high turnover. I just knew that I had been treated better in other agencies. My personal responsibility to myself and my wife was to get out as soon as I could land another job in an area we wanted to live.

One other personal experience was when I was working at a Cellular Phone agency of “US West” in Minneapolis before I went to Social Work school. This was before I really developed emotional intelligence. I had no inventory to sell and little support in the way of good leads. The owners of the agency were somewhat exploitive—they controlled the phone calls in and made most all the sales while others scraped by. I sold very little during the one year I had been there. I look back and ask myself: “What were you doing in that crappy job?” My answer back to myself continues to be: “I did not know any better and it is okay. Nobody gets all the smarts at the beginning of life. You get them as you go.”

One last example of possible oppression that is relevant now is in times of economic hardship and recession. I have talked with numerous people over the years about their worries as to whether they will continue to have jobs? Will their factory or workplaces stay open? Employers seem to take great liberties when they have employees by the economic neck or male body parts in the lower half of the body that exhibit excruciating pain when grabbed or hit.

I have talked about examples of oppression, but what does it do to someone? In sum I think that it leads to burnout and depression.

In my current context, it has taken my mental edge off. I found myself forgetting today that I had already told my Sunday School class my story of work. I also found myself having less energy to do things.

I also find myself engaging in probably not the best coping activities. I also found myself engaging in comfort food snacking, which is not helping my diet.

I have had less motivation to do certain things like clean up my home office. I also believe that it is taking me back to job burnout again.

I have found myself preoccupied with work on the weekend when I have usually been able to forget about work and clients. I had a work dream last night, which is usually my signal to do something about it.

Okay, now what to do about work-place oppression? As usual, the answers are not easy.

First, I think first, it is important to be mindful of the oppression. I look back and I realize that I was not mindful of the oppression until later in the earlier jobs. I realize that what is going on is oppressing.

Second, try not to dwell on it. It does not mean that you are denying it. Denying means you are sticking your head in the sand. When you are refraining from dwelling on something, it means that you are seeing that there is more to life than just the oppression you are going through.

Third, try to see gray areas. Oppression is a time when people go to black and white thinking such as “always” and “never.” They also dwell on the most horrific or catastrophic possibility, even though there is only a remote chance it would happen.

Fourth, make choices thoughtfully. I think that the concept of oppression overall means that a person under oppression has no choices. You have some choice today. You have a choice to do something. Making a choice and being mindful that you have made a choice gives a sense of some power. Make a choice to have a grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwich today if that is a choice you can make.

Fifth, think about options (for a time-limited period). I have given a little thought as to what could happen if the hospital closes down due to some tyrannical state inspectors. I could be getting another job sooner than I expected. I may have defer the new siding and windows I am going to put in my house. I could be filing for unemployment. I could be applying to some hemophilia aid services to help my son continue to get his blood factor medication. My wife could be getting a better job as a necessity. But there limits to analysis—too much analysis leads to dwelling and dwelling leads to worry. Analysis is only good if you can really use it to improve a situation or take care of a problem.

Last (at least for now) make a survival plan. There are many times we have to make survival plans. My survival plan for this week includes: 1.) a cup of Starbucks coffee at least three times this week in the morning, 2.) video games where I destroy something, 3.) painting my garage floor at least one night this week, 4.) having something good for lunch every day, 5.) watching the “Big Brother” TV show, 6.) wear my ear plug and listen to the radio while at my desk in the afternoons so I do not have to listen to the borderline personality nurse who can't shut up about her worries, 7.) talk about it to my friends at church and of course 8.) write this note to myself and whoever else cares.

This as usual has been an imperfect discussion about dealing with a subject. I recognize that there is all kinds of oppression in the workplaces of the world. I close with this, while I may feel it and can do nothing about the sources of it, I can take some responsibility today for me. I hope that you will consider doing the same for yourself.