Those workers whose working day lasts more than eight hours (with a five-day work week) are six times more likely to "burn out" due to mental and physical exhaustion and stress, British scientists have found. Fortunately, experts know how to deal with this and minimize damage.

Harvard graduate psychologist Joan Borisenko has studied the detrimental effects of overwork on women. According to her, every tenth British woman works more than 45 hours a week. That is why many workers are exhausted physically and mentally to a dangerous limit, the newspaper The Daily Mail writes.

A striking example is the story of Sunny Moran, a former employee of a London PR agency. Every day she got up at 6:00, spent an hour and a half on the road to work, and sat in the office until 22:00, and lunch breaks were not welcomed there. Sunny sacrificed her health and personal life for the sake of work for six years, but one day she found that she did not even have the strength to get out of bed. When Sunny told her boss she was quitting immediately, he didn't argue.

However, at risk are not only neat women and workaholics like Sunny Moran, emphasizes Borisenko, who has written books about the phenomenon of "burnout at work." The book is called Fried: Why You Burn Out And How To Revive.

The reason for this disastrous phenomenon is often downsizing. The load on the remaining employees is increasing, but they are afraid to protest, lest they themselves be brought under the next reduction. According to Borisenko, it is especially difficult for women: they are more likely than men to please others and ignore their own needs, according to an article cited by the website InoPressa.ru.

In a state of "burnout" a person loses motivation and vitality, hates his way of life, notes Borisenko. Many women notice this condition only when it is almost irreversible. Of the 2,000 women Borisenko examined, one in three took antidepressants. At the same time, 18% did not tell anyone about it, and 10% did not tell their husbands about anything at all.

43-year-old Helen McNellen, a trader from the City of London, ended up in a psychiatric clinic after a nervous breakdown. "I was afraid to appear weak, to lose my job, to lose my home," she explains. Helen even drove her car up to the tallest building she came across and thought about suicide, but still returned home. It ended in hysterics. For Helen, the breakdown was the beginning of a long road to full recovery.

Symptoms of "burnout" sometimes resemble depression, but medications do not help, Borisenko emphasizes. She recommends radical lifestyle changes. It is very important to learn to distinguish positive stress from negative. For many, troubles begin with the belief that nothing in life can be achieved without effort.

“When you exert yourself, productivity grows, but not indefinitely. In a state of stress, you chase the old “carrot” - the reward for your work, as you see it. And then you find that productivity decreases: you make more efforts, but the quality of what you do falls. This is how it begins "burnout," Borisenko explained.

Women in this situation develop a skeptical and negative attitude towards life. The feeling that everyone neglects them forms a "martyr complex" - a woman is offended by the whole world and considers irritability justified, Borisenko notes.

“In a state of depression caused by stress, the brain starts to work differently. The “center of fear” turns on, the activity of the frontal lobes changes, we lose control over our emotions,” the psychologist points out. "In each of us live Jekyll and Hyde, and in a state of stress, Hyde breaks out." At work, a person is forced to restrain his inner Hyde, but at home he vents evil on loved ones. So "burnout" poisons the relationship.

Borisenko herself was torn between science, raising two children and working on books for 10 years. "She realized that something was wrong when she realized that even in the most joyful moments she does not feel anything," the newspaper writes.

For working mothers in the current situation, when they have to work to feed their families, stress is especially dangerous, Borisenko emphasizes. She advises women to save time and rigidly exclude from life everything that encourages him to squander.

The best defense against "burnout" is an early diagnosis. Borisenko advises women to acquire a mental scale: from “I feel very good” to “I started to “burn out.” Regularly assess your condition on this scale and, in which case, take urgent measures, the psychologist advises. Each woman will find her own ways to relieve stress, often the simplest ones are to get a massage or retire from everyone for a while, to keep secrets with friends.

Sunny Moran changed her life after her burnout: she got a personal trainer, lost weight, and now conducts "New You" seminars for women suffering from the same problems.

Life in a modern office is no less subject to the laws of survival than in a primitive society. Read survival tips on WomanJournal.ru.

How to survive in the office?

Life in the modern office is no less, if not more subject to the laws of survival than in primitive society. As a mammoth, promotion and salary successfully act. Office workers divide spheres of influence like animals habitats. The realities of modern office life are such that they imperceptibly nurture in each of us a well-defined psychotype “successful office worker”. The consequences of failures on this front are stress, decreased motivation, and so on. But even for such serious things as work, it is worth, and sometimes it is simply necessary, to be treated with humor.

Office life is full of surprises, and at every step you are waiting for pleasant (oh! Vasya again left a box of chocolates for me on the table ... let's run to drink coffee!) And unpleasant (wow, someone already told the authorities that today my appearance is the same far from the dress code, like my dreams from the harsh reality) surprises.

But your success is the work of your hands, or rather, your brain. So let's see what happens to us when we go to work. And you will not notice how you will improve your personality in many directions.

How to survive in the office?

Mimicry on Wednesday
One of the properties of living organisms, which allows them not only to adapt, but also to merge with the environment, will help you adapt to a new place. It can also be successfully turned on if you want to remain inconspicuous (get lost in the crowd, fit into the landscape on the photo wallpaper) during harsh trials at the authorities.

Intelligence service
Ears should always be on the top of your head, otherwise you won’t notice how you will be eaten. If you have the information, 50% of the success of any business is in your hands. The main thing is to learn how to extract this information and use it correctly. So now you are Stirlitz behind enemy lines.

high diplomacy
“Who are we friends against, girls?”, or building coalitions, is one of the main office principles: learn to select allies. Show your knees to the head of the neighboring department Vasya, say a couple of compliments to his hairstyle, and he will support you at the meeting. From now on, you are a diplomat, and your task is to recruit as many friendly partners as possible with a minimum of reciprocal obligations.

Demagogy
Sometimes you have to gather your courage and tell your subordinates why you can’t raise their salaries now, but you still have to stay late at work. The great art of talking a lot and about nothing will also come in handy in a conversation with your boss to explain why all the deadlines have passed, but there is no project. You must become such a demagogue that even the ancient Greeks would envy.

Acting
Think one thing, say another, and do a third, preferably with a wide American smile. No one should admit that your affairs are not going very well; pretend everything is okay. The office doesn't like losers. You will have to cultivate your acting talent. There is no need to strive for the glory of Sarah Bernhardt, the level of actors in television series is quite suitable.

The art of balancing
"Bypass us more than all sorrows, and lordly anger, and lordly love." The ability to maintain a neutral relationship with the boss with a positive bias (let you be appreciated and paid for your work, but without familiarity and dubious friendship) is not given to everyone, but this is the safest way to interact with management, which, as you know, is unpredictable.

How to survive in the office?

• It's easy to lose integrity in the office. Therefore: do not betray friends, do not set up other employees, do not deceive partners and do not abuse your position;
• in the office, it is easiest to forget that work is not the whole life. Remember that behind office walls you have your personal space and your interests.

And one more thing: we come to work not for an interesting conversation over a cup of coffee with a colleague, and not even for that handsome guy at the table opposite - we come to do our job. And everything else acts as an additional accompaniment (although how pleasant it is sometimes!).

There are offices where they work, and there are - where they only improve their survival skills in a team. We sincerely wish you to fall into the first category.

Since now, when I write these lines, I seem to be trying to remember my dream: as if I work as a secretary - I go in a jacket, I stand in morning traffic, I have lunch in the office cafeteria. Only in the most difficult moments can I, as in a lucid dream, say to myself: “Stop. This is not real!”

Interview

Tell me, Yulia, what is the best way to praise you? Would you prefer a raise or a thank you?

- Can't do both?

I am sitting on the fourth floor of a glass parallelepiped, which, like a mirage, rises in the middle of a littered industrial zone, far from the metro and human habitation. From the street, a white antique portico is absurdly soldered to the mirrors. I'm getting a job.

When I really tried to become a secretary ten years ago, I was usually interviewed by men and immediately began to unobtrusively begin to find out if I was ready to sleep with them. On this, in fact, it all ended. Since then, I have never taken a job in a real office. It turns out that during this time everything has changed: in any decent company there is a personnel department, interviewers are all women, insightful, picky and well trained. They ask strange, ridiculous questions: "Do you like to cook?" "How would you spend a million?" The questions are stupid, but it works.

- Camera? And then? On a big trip? And then what?

They didn't take me to this office. It was necessary not to show off and respond as expected. The trouble is that I'm used to "selling" myself as a piece of goods, and a good secretary is a serial product.

My dream takes a leap, and here I am already in another place - in the PUMA consulting association, where there are already 10 women psychologists, a whole large department. To them, in the personnel department, there are queues of applicants, everyone rustles with questionnaires. I also get tested, automatically ticking off statements like “I am sometimes irritable”, “Friends describe me as a sympathetic person”, and even “The customer is always right”. Then they give me a Russian language test and a computer knowledge test: “Is a virus a program, a bacterium, or a special device?”

I am almost sure that they will not take me: the handwriting is too bad for a secretary and everything is filled out sloppily. But for some reason, the next day they call me back and invite me for an interview with the manager. The leader is a businesswoman named Lyudmila. She has a tense mechanical gait, her hair is gathered into a knot, her eyes jump nervously along the walls and ceiling. “We have everything built on the principles of technology and optimization,” she says in a broken voice. It seems that talking to me is extremely unpleasant for her, but she smiles stoically, as if saying: “Yes, I understand, a person should smile in any situation.”

My legend: after graduation, I sat with the children, never worked anywhere, you have to start somewhere.

- Are you going to take sick leave if the children get sick?

- God forbid!

Again, I am almost sure of failure, but the next day they call me back: now I have an interview with the director. It seems to be purely formal. The director asks why I chose this particular company. "Because it's big." The answer suits him well. And I was hired with a three-month probationary period. I'm filling out a lot of paperwork. In particular, if I wish, I can officially waive my "right to smoke" - then the company partially compensates me for the costs of fitness clubs. “If you smoke, don’t sign,” the personnel officer advises. “We have such a principle here - “Honesty”, for violation they are fired.” I like it and I honestly don't sign. From Monday I go to work.

Habitat

The main thing is to run away from home before the children wake up. Otherwise, you will inevitably be late: the children will always find some cunning and naive reasons to detain me - pour juice, turn off the light, turn on the water, or just "sit with me." A nanny can do all this, but they still turn to me. And I sneak out of the house and go to the bus stop, wondering why people don’t look back at me, because I move with such dexterity on ice on my heels.

And here I am, the secretary. My office is located on the sixth floor of a large Brezhnev glass building, with an endless industrial landscape opening from the windows. At the entrance to the company, I have to attach an electronic pass to the sensor to track working time - lateness will be deducted from the salary. Whoever is not late for a month is entitled to an incentive four-hour day off. I go to my department. In the center of the office is a large ping-pong table, next to it is a rack with golden goblets and pennants. The room I work in is built into the “mezzanine” so it has very low ceilings. The windows are from table level to the floor, and streaked daylight pours in through the blinds. Bookcases with documents are twined with light green indoor ivy. There is a stand on the wall with a poster "Department Competition" and some complicated graphics.

Lyudmila is sitting in the far corner by the window. With their backs to her are ordinary employees, they have an “open” position: it is clear what they are doing on computers. More advanced clerks have a “closed” position, and so do I: as a secretary, I cannot sit with my back to the entrance. As I later found out, the tables were arranged not just like that, but according to the rules of “office feng shui”. Sounds similar to the sound of the surf are regularly heard from the next room: “Ah, they are clapping. We're clapping all the time."

Coordinator Tatyana explains to me what's what. My workplace is a table on which there are two statements, green and red: receiving and transmitting documents. Documents are as follows: acceptance certificate, reconciliation certificate, contract, invoice, invoice, invoice and letter - it seems that everything. They bring me a document, I enter its six-digit number in the red sheet, carry it to a certain OIS, there it is entered into the second sheet, given to the right employee for signature, entered into the third sheet and brought back to me, and I write it down in the green sheet. After that, an employee of my department puts the document in a special cell and from there it goes to the client. That's all the work. There are usually 30 documents per day. The work is simple, even pleasant: when there are a lot of pieces of paper at once, I classify them with pleasure, label them and send them to the right employees. All this is not urgent: one paper must go through all instances, as a rule, in a week.

Tatyana and I order pencils, stickers, scissors, and a hole punch for me at the warehouse. Then we slowly follow them. Tatyana is calm, smart and feminine - she is never in a hurry and manages to do everything. She has a smooth beautiful gait, she is always ready to help, explain. Ideally, I should be the same. Tatyana has been working at PUMA for a year and a half: “I like it. Here everything is stable, everything is white. I used to work as an administrator in slot machines, there the attitude was different. There, for example, it was impossible to sit down if there was at least one client in the hall - you had to stand or walk.

Our company sells a certain product that cannot be touched, smelled, or eaten, although this is a rather important thing. Partly it is information, partly a service. For brevity, let's call this product Good. Dobro is produced by another company, and organizations buy it first of all - from small shops and kindergartens to large corporations. Individuals like me rarely need it. Goods need to be brought to customers once a week. I work in the OSD - the Good escort department. There are about 100 employees in the department, but most of them are rarely in the office: they travel around the city, deliver goods to customers and are called "specialists". On average, they need to go around about 15 points a day. They communicate with the bosses via SMS - they have a special code table.

Specialists are managed by foremen, foremen - by managers, and they, in turn, by the head of the department. The bosses address their subordinates as “you”, and those who address them as “you”. Only directors stand above the leaders, there are two of them - tactical and strategic. One basically signs contracts, the other composes corporate rules. The second director, Daniil Vorontsov, seems to be a great intellectual, a graduate of the Physicotechnical Institute. The company's website says that he loves Jarmusch, Hesse and Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Tatyana takes me through the company, showing me the huge sales departments, in which, like black chess pieces, managers in suits sit in their fenced cells. Their task is to find new customers among those who still do not know anything about Dobro. There is also a special unit where an employee calls various organizations and, posing as a person from the tax office or a compiler of a business directory, finds out if this company has Dobro. But the OIS is the information support department. Here, firstly, they make sure that the client does not refuse weekly deliveries, and, secondly, they strive to sell him new types of Good, of which there are a lot.

While my workplace is being set up, I start reading Over the Cuckoo's Nest, recommended by the director, Ken Kesey. Noticing this, the boss immediately provides me with good manuals and a guide to the company. It turns out that in order to pass the probationary period, I will need to pass a test on knowledge of corporate ethics and the principles of PUMA. These five principles are: “Be honest!”, “Keep your word!”, “Create value!”, “Help others!”, “Learn!”. The company has an anthem in which all five principles are set out in verse: “PUMA is us striving for a goal / One and worthy, for the benefit of the whole country. / There are many of us, we are all different, but only in every business / For Five main principles are especially important to us: / Honesty and openness are a reliable foundation for us, / We are accustomed to cherish trust in work. / And if you, my friend, give and keep your word, / That means you are with us! It may be difficult, but hold on! / And we have long understood that the price is not only experience, / And not the amount of work, not the weight of labor costs. / It is more important to be useful, to work conscientiously, / So that values ​​\u200b\u200bare created, the result was visible! The anthem, as they explained to me, is sung twice a year, during big corporate holidays. I also learn that the doors of the directorate are literally always open and that "couples in PUMA do not work, alas."

I'm not going to start a family here, but in general, I rather like everything that is written in the training manual - it seems that the person who wrote all this was sincere. The only embarrassing thing is that there is too much of this: decrees, orders, explanations, a table of ranks (the head is a diamond, the director is two diamonds, the founder is three diamonds, the expert is one branch, the leading expert is two branches), how many minutes a day are spent on smoking, as it relates to the lunch break… Reasoning about the nature of the five principles… Mission: “We contribute to the development of Russia by helping our client make the right decisions faster”… It seems that the author of the text cannot stop, again and again trying to convey to his subordinates something very important to him.

Anapa. Ankara. Alaska... Is it a city or not? By evening, there is less work, foremen, in anticipation of reports, play "in the cities." Someone has creatively drawn a silhouette of a business woman in high heels and with a briefcase in a computer, the rest are discussing the merits of her bust. “Let's go play,” the female employee says to the male employee. "Tennis?" I happily ask. “No-o-e-e-t, what are you, we have a business game ...”

I'm still waiting for the phone and computer to be delivered to me. I have already read everything about the company and about Dobro and I am wandering around the office. Cleaning women sit at the tennis table and put stamps on some brochures. I take pictures with my cell phone. In the corridor along the wall under the Shock Workers of Capitalist Labor stand, there are IKEA tables about waist high, on the tables there are computers, behind which young employees, shifting on their heels, look at some sites. I photograph them too. "What is it?" I ask. “This is internet access. And what are you doing here? Do you work for OSD? Well, go ahead and work." I try to go to my mail, it turns out badly and slowly - the computers are old, everything hangs, and besides, it's uncomfortable: this is the most passable place, everyone sees what you are doing. Now you have to get used to the fact that they don’t “sit” on the Internet, but “stand”.

Suddenly, a piercing bell rings out from somewhere, like at school. "Attention. Blocking. Doors. Attention. Blocking. Doors. says the automatic man from the loudspeaker. This means that the work shift is over.

I finally got a computer, but only fifteen minutes left before the end of the working day. I asked Lyudmila to postpone the study of the system until tomorrow and went home, where the children pounced on me like phantoms of Solaris, unable to spend a single second apart from their creators.

business games

Before finally starting work, I have to go through a two-day training along with other new employees of the department. I go to recruit classes and immediately feel like a black sheep: nine guys and me. However, this gives me the opportunity to behave freely, without fear of exposure.

Classes are conducted by the staff psychologist Fedya - a small stocky man in jeans, with round hamster cheeks. Fedya is witty and shines with professionalism: “I’ll tell you honestly: PUMA is the best,” he says. Guys are shy, naive and ambitious. They, like me, work for the first time in a large company and are very happy about it. Almost all of them are from the Moscow region and are looking for an apartment. At first, their salary will be like mine - 13 thousand. Classes begin with the fact that everyone is divided into two teams, each of which must build a paper tower at least 180 centimeters high in 10 minutes. The guys are having fun rushing into battle. "Faster! Faster! - shouts the novice. “We must make it higher than theirs!” I laugh: no one said that the tower should be higher. "And what? Fedya says. “Competition is natural, it is the main principle of nature.” I look at two paper towers and understand that Fedya and Freud really know something important about life.

— What is the most important thing? Team spirit? Right! Clear plan? Right! Fedya writes on the blackboard. In general, he writes everything on the board - up to the point that you have to greet the client. Specialty classes begin. We play in the accompaniment of Good. We are specialists, Fedya is a generalized conditional client, who for some reason is always called Inna Lvovna. Fedya very funny and convincingly portrays this Inna Lvovna - a narrow-minded soviet aunt who is not very interested in Good, but with our correct behavior, she is able to get used to and love him.

“Hello, Inna Lvovna,” we repeat in unison. - I'm from the company "PUMA"! I will come to you once a week ... Inna Lvovna, you can read the magazine "Vremya Dobra". This is a magazine published by our company, in which you will find an overview of Good for the last week and interesting articles.

- Great, and now the same thing, just add: "Here is my business card."

Hello, Inna Lvovna. I'm from PUMA. I'll be coming ... damn, I forgot about the business card ... - the tall Eduard gets confused, blushes like a schoolboy, and starts all over again.

We must learn all phrases by heart. The welcome scene plays dozens of times. We go out the door, knock and repeat everything again. “He’s already fucked up,” the guys in the corridor complain. I try to somehow diversify the script, I say: “Here, read our magazine ...” Fedya immediately stops me: “According to the text, please.” (Stop! This is all not real!) Then, in the same way, we learn the options for our actions in cases where Inna Lvovna behaves inappropriately: we know what to say if she does not have time, if she is dissatisfied with Good or she has a question that can only be answered at PUMA. “I understand, Inna Lvovna, the question is serious. It can be answered by our hotline specialists. Do you have access to the city in nine? Let me pick it up." The task is for Inna Lvovna to get used to PUMA and learn to call there as often as possible. Fedya does it naturally, we don't do it very well.

You can’t say any negative words, such as “long”, “slow”, “expensive”, you can’t ask questions that can be answered with “no”. Fedya teaches us to smile, not to talk on the go (it turns out that this is very important) and strongly requires that we all have something “breath fresh” in our pocket.

We break up into pairs, now I am Inna Lvovna. I get a sad forty-year-old Jew who stands out in this company. He has been working at PUMA for a long time and came to the training to “refresh his knowledge”. He tries very hard, tells me in detail about the Good - as if he is actually talking to the client.

“Something you look painfully plaintive, ingratiating,” I notice.

“This is my mask,” he replies proudly.

At the same time, it turns out that we are scouts - in the client's office, we need to understand to what extent the products of the main competing company can be present here (let's conditionally call it Evil). If we see a business card, a ballpoint pen or a calendar with the symbols of Evil on the table, we must report this to the manager on the same day. The war between Good and Evil is legendary - they say that in the nineties, when Good separated from Evil, it almost reached the point of assault. Now everything is civilized, but until now, the phrase “Good and Evil are one and the same” can still fine the entire company. I guess I accidentally said it...

Those who catch an Evil spy or other competitors in PUMA are entitled to a bonus. “You can do this for ideological reasons, but if you wish, it will be rewarded with a bonus from 1 to 12 (annual earnings!) of your salary, depending on the volume and value of the information. We abide by the principles in relation to our employees, customers and suppliers (we are not at war with them). The situation is different with competitors, we are in a state of marketing war with them. And in the war - as in the war ... ”- explains director Vorontsov.

During a break between trainings, I go to my department. Fedya is sitting at the boss's table with his back to me. I hear him say: “I don’t know about the secretary ...” Lyudmila interrupts him: “And here is Yulia herself ...” Fedya leaves, Lyudmila looks at me with prickly, unseeing eyes: “Tell me, why did you photograph our employees yesterday with a mobile phone? Several people have already expressed their bewilderment… Besides, on your first day of work, you left fifteen minutes early. This is the second. And I don’t understand how you can read Fiction in the office. I know you've been at home for years, but now you've come to work for the company. Remember: not work for you, but you for work. Her metallic voice touches some very deep childish complexes in me, I confusingly apologize and promise not to do anything like that in the future. She softens, gives me a captious motherly look: “And do something with the hair. And then you look like you just got out of bed.

A crisis

Sign, Inna Lvovna, - I am clumsily trying to joke with the manager who took my escort exam.

“Don’t call me Inna Lvovna. It is there that I am Inna Lvovna, but not here.

By the end of the first week, I was quite comfortable with my work. I seem to be coping well, it seems that nothing fundamentally new is expected in the coming days. I ask Lyudmila for permission to travel with one of the client specialists, maybe I can sometimes replace someone. She reluctantly promises to think about it, but the next day she refuses: “Now is not the time. It is not necessary for your work. You are tied to the office with a long chain.”

My colleagues took me for granted. No one asks me any questions, my attempts to communicate are answered in monosyllables. I bring documents to them, they sign without looking. I already know everyone by face and by last name, but I just can’t choose who to sympathize with, because everyone manifests themselves the same way. Outside the company, they are probably very different people, you can see it. The immense Shishkina, a former director of a travel agency, most likely does not at all look like a smart, swarthy Volzhskaya - but there is no way to check this. I can only guess. It seems that with only one person I felt a rapprochement - or, maybe, I invented it. This is a modest fifty-year-old manager in the far corner, with a sad smile reminiscent of Akaky Akakievich. He kindly explained to me for several minutes how best to fill out the form. I would like to talk to him, but I can’t: he doesn’t smoke and always leaves work at exactly six, and I have to sit until seven.

I have to sit at the computer and read corporate humor and creativity of employees - this option is available to me, as well as work e-mail. Among the jokes about blondes, the praises of the company, football chants (“There are no more men in the world yet / Men are better than PUM”), I suddenly find someone touching poem: “Autumn is coming, it has become cloudy, / Something is leaving, someone is gone , / Life stops, it becomes quieter, / The sun in the sky descends lower. / People from work and to work, / Everything is tired, it would be Saturday soon, / Well, after that it's Monday again, / People shout: Get to work, loafer! / I would find a place where people, fun, / Maybe my mood will return, / Life will become better, more wonderful and more beautiful, / You can go to the cinema, but again not on ours ... ”The author is anonymous.

Several times a day someone is scolded in our office. Basically, managers scold specialists: “According to the rules of our company, you can’t make calls from your phone on your questions while at the client’s!” “You didn’t get to the client, and I’m responsible for this!” Then Lyudmila scolds managers, for example, because they forgot that February 25 is a day off: “You won’t answer, I will answer!” The accused really never answer anything and go to their jobs with sad faces.

In the middle of the day, one of the managers asks for attention. His face is serious and concerned: “Last week, while I was on sick leave,” he announces grimly, “one of our employees had a birthday. Congratulations, Dima! “Hello!” - employees chant in chorus and immediately disperse to their places.

In general, in our office, someone is always praised and congratulated. Now I understand why applause is regularly heard. “This week, the leader of the escort was the Mokrukhina brigade. Congratulations! “Specialist Malyshev made great strides this week. Congratulations! Malyshev is handed a Beeline phone card worth 250 rubles. The criterion for quality work is a certain number of KPIs, which is calculated based on the number of customers, the proportion of failures in agreements, and many other factors. Efficiency indicators for teams are posted weekly for everyone to see. Depending on the efficiency, the best foremen, the best managers and the best department are appointed. Somewhere I recently saw this ... And, here: “Everyone in the department is proud of how the patients cooperate. We have a brass plaque nailed to a maple board: "Congratulations to the department with the least staff." This is a prize for cooperation. It hangs on the wall above the logbook exactly in the middle between the chronicles and the acute ones.

And I am a secretary, there is no one to compare me with, so they only scold me. Once I was 20 minutes late for two days in a row. “You start your work with systematic delays. It is not normal. It calls into question your probation. Remember: not work for you, but you for work, ”says Lyudmila.

I frustratedly leave to smoke on the stairs.

“Pay no attention,” my colleague Vitya comforts me, whom, to my shame, I always confuse with my colleague Denis, although they are not at all alike. - It's a matter of habit. Everyone is scolded. My method is this: listen, nod, and forget.

“You can’t do that, they will deprive you of the bonus,” says another guy.

- Well, to hell with her.

- The manager will also be deprived of bonuses.

- What about you? I ask.

- But what about, a bad relationship with the manager - this means you can’t take time off, exchange with someone. Everything is connected here.

“Let’s go on strike,” the guy jokes. - We will come to the office and refuse to work, we will sit here with posters.

- Yeah, so that we all were fired and recruited new ones in three days? Thank you.

- They say that half of the department is leaving the OIS. They have such a system - if the client "jumped off", it is a minus for them. No, you will get your 20 thousand in any way, but there will be no bonus until you make up for this minus with sales. And selling is luck, rarely anyone succeeds. So they sit, work hard for 20 thousand. If you accidentally went into the minus - it will always be so. And how does he know why the client stopped buying Dobro? Maybe he doesn't need it at all.

Yeah, now I think I understand why there is such a huge personnel department. Nobody lasts long?

Every time around 4 or 5 p.m., I am overwhelmed by unbearable fatigue. Numbers of contracts are floating before my eyes, jokes in the computer are not funny. I start to look at the clock every minute in anticipation of the end of the shift. Colleagues in their free time continue to discuss the bust of a computer woman drawn last week. I really want to move. "No one wants to play ping pong with me quickly?" I ask. Everyone is silent, only Vitya politely explains: "It is allowed only after 19.00."

In order to somehow change the situation, I quickly cope with the next portion of papers and go to the common room, where there is tea and a black leather sofa. While the tea is being brewed, I sit on the couch. What if you close your eyes? I think about Lyudmila: I wonder if she has a family? Dog? Does she listen to music? Clerks at adjacent tables chat about the meaning of life, their conversation merges into an even hum. It's the noise of the train. And I’m like a guide, my job is to choose happy ones from six-digit contract numbers, where the first and last digits give the same amount. These numbers should be posted on the honor roll and awarded with a prize. I slowly make my way through the long reserved seat car and collect tickets from the managers. The faces of Shishkina, Volzhskaya, Mokrukhina swim by, and in a dream it occurs to me that they also need to be numbered so as not to write down the names every time, it will be faster and easier - optimization. Where are we going? “Our goal is to be a leader in sales and service by constantly improving the quality of our services to the client,” the train leader replies. Suddenly I see that I have lost my shoes, and I go to look for them. I look into different departments - OP1, OP2, OIS1, OIS2, OPKK, OPD, OPS, OKO, ORP, OPH, ITO, OA - and I just can’t find them, and I walk with bare feet. The wheels are knocking, in time with the wheels, clattering with their heels, my older sister passes by me, and I understand that this is Lyudmila: “Come to me,” she says and leaves. The orderlies in the rest room turn to a whisper, and through my sleep I think: they are good people after all, they don’t want to wake me up.

Before me is Tatyana, the coordinator. She is in despair.

- Why did you do that? Why did you even come here? Why did you sit on the sofa?

— How much time has passed? Judging by the clock, my sleep lasted twenty minutes.

- I do not know. When Lyudmila finds out, it won't be good.

Pay

Stop! It's not real! The next day, I try to shake off my lack of will, dress nicely, come early, treat everyone with oranges, smile, say that today is Orange Day, everyone laughs.

- Come to me.

At lunchtime, Lyudmila fires me.

You've been criticized before. But what happened yesterday is IMPOSSIBLE!

— How did you know about it?

The head of another department entered the rest room. He reported THIS to the personnel department and even took a picture of THIS on his mobile phone, - proudly answers Lyudmila.

Before I get paid, I stop by to talk to the director Vorontsov - the very author of the company's internal ideology, who loves Kesey. I had a lot of questions for him: “How is it? What for? Why all these hymns, efficiency, badges with diamonds? Why did he, an intelligent and educated person, choose such a style and path for himself?

It is very easy to meet him. Any employee can make an appointment with him via Outlook. Vorontsov is not a cynic, as I thought. He is a very good person - honest, smart, a little shy, but really open to communication. “Just when employees don’t have any questions or objections to me is an alarming symptom.” He is a kayaker tourist, he gained leadership experience in university mountain trips: “When everyone needs to overcome an obstacle, everyone has their own responsibility and a common goal.” He had only two positions in his life - a researcher and a company director (“In the nineties, the state stopped funding science, and I had a wife and a small child”). Yes, he read Over the Cuckoo's Nest ten years ago, it's a really important book for him. If you don't like it, he says, you can leave PUMA, it's not compulsory treatment, like Kesey's. “There, after all, only two or three people are treated voluntarily ...” I take out a book and quote:

“Actually, in our department, very few people are treated forcibly. Only Scanlon and... I think some of the chroniclers. And you. And there aren't many in the hospital. Very little…

- Tell me why? You complain, you whine all day long about how disgusted you are here, how disgusted you are with your sister and all her dirty tricks, and it turns out that no one keeps you here. I can still understand some of those old people. They are not normal. But you, of course, you don’t meet such people at every turn, but what kind of crazy are you?

Yes, he forgot a lot, but, in the end, this is not the main thing, but the main thing is that "freedom must be inside." The company came naturally to him, like a biological structure. He didn't plan ahead. At first there were three people in the firm, then 10, then 50, now 700. Yes, he read American textbooks, some of them took root, some did not take root. Has he tried something completely different? Of course I tried. Suffered losses. For example, at one time there was a free visiting schedule for all employees. People found a second job, tried to combine, lost interest in PUMA, left.

In general, during the leadership of the company, he learned a lot for himself. “For example, I was surprised to find that many people love monotonous work. And most of these people, can you imagine? They feel more confident where they are competent. When faced with new challenges in unfamiliar territory, they experience fear and discomfort.” Why efficiency and competition? “People don't want to be equal. Many are ready to do anything to stand out from the team, to be the best, at least out of five or six. And it turned out to be such a powerful motivational stimulus that even no money is needed.”

As for my dismissal and denunciation: “Let it remain on the conscience of that person. I would never do that myself. I do not encourage whistleblowing."

Why all this corporate rubbish? Why suggest to a clerk who signs contracts that he does it not for his own sake, but with deep meaning? Well, we sell Good, we get money - isn't that enough? Or does no one take this whole ideology seriously?

“I don’t see any exaggeration or dishonesty in either the goal or the mission,” Vorontsov replies. - PUMA is engaged in an important and useful business for society. Moreover, PUMA is not an intermediary: the volume of additional services to the client seriously exceeds the cost of products purchased from manufacturers. That the main purpose of money is not true. It's the same as if I told you that your main goal in life is health. I can also tell you a classic example about two cleaners in a research institute. They were asked: "What are you doing?" One replied: "I'm flooring and I get money for it." And the second: "We launch rockets into space." And remember, both are right. It's a matter of awareness. Now think about whose work is more interesting and complete.

Philosophy

Thank you Daniel. It seems to me that with your help I looked at everything from the other side.

Well, what about the other way around? Vorontsov is interested. — How is it in the escort department?

“Terrible,” I confess frankly. - Boring, gloomy, psychological pressure, someone is scolded all the time, everything is very formal.

“Disorder,” Daniel replies. - We'll figure out.

I leave with the pleasant feeling that I have finally done some good for the company. Maybe now he's really starting to figure it out. Someone will improve, someone will be fired, others will take their place, they will work conscientiously and with meaning, the company will come to life, flourish, sell a lot of Good ... Damn it, did I snitch on my employees? With the best of intentions, huh?

I think about meaning, about conscience, about my great-aunt, who "launched rockets into space." For the sake of her husband, a physicist, she sacrificed everything, gave up her career, left for a closed scientific town where he made a bomb, and explained to everyone around her that this was out of a sense of duty to her homeland. Everything in the family was subordinated to the bomb. Then in the nineties, with the same fervor, she argued that the bomb must be destroyed. And the director of their institute committed suicide. But maybe only physicists reason like that? No, it turns out I think so too.

I think about the Russian Reporter magazine, where I actually work. Is it very different from the factory, the Kesey plant and the PUMA company? Very much. But if you look closely, you will find the same mechanisms, only much more humane and blurry. You probably can't run away from this. But now I know how even in the worst dream to stop and say to myself: “Stop! It's not real!" And wake up.

Mobilography: Julia Vishnevetskaya for "RR"

Photo:Victoria Ilyinskaya for "RR"

Whoever they are, they are predictable. Narcissists will climb onto the pedestal at every opportunity and push you out of there. The defenseless will always complain. Sneak and Podliza - walk near the boss's office. Buller - to bully and scare newcomers.

While it's not always possible to predict when the next show will start, at least you know what the topic will be. Use it to your advantage. Most likely, if the conflict takes you by surprise, the first reaction will be instinctive - irritation, anger, surprise. You will respond impulsively and without thinking. Either under the influence of a general nervous atmosphere, or under the influence of captivating emotions: resentment or indignation. And this is not an option. All this only aggravates the situation and brings obvious pleasure to the one who started it.

Such colleagues are obvious manipulators, and therefore the more chaos and irritation arises around the conflict they have caused, the more energy they receive from it. You can only act against them using their own methods if you yourself are a manipulator - which is unlikely. In addition, the cards that they hide up their sleeves and their methods are far from the ideas of a decent person. In this sport, they have an advantage, backed up by years of training.

Instead, use one of the principles of martial arts: do not make an effort to strike. You go forward without resisting the blow, and deflect until the opponent loses his balance. Then use his own gravity and acceleration to unbalance him and "drop" him to the floor.

Perhaps a colleague feels insecure and uses provocation as a shield.

Do not react to the emotions with which a colleague breaks into the working atmosphere. And even more difficult, do not react to the emotions that he seeks to arouse in you with his actions. Keep your interactions as short and polite as possible.

If you are forced into a conflict, do not start a fight and do not find out who is right. Say calmly: "Let's admit that we have different views on this issue" and invite someone to make a decision: "It seems like it's better to call Suzanne, we'll do as she says." Don't expect the decision to be in your favor - now it's more important to get out of the line of fire unscathed.

It is very difficult at first not to follow the natural instinct to protect yourself. But if you answer with restraint and without emotion several times, a colleague will stop receiving from you what he needed - your energy and emotions. He will go in search of someone who will play this game with full dedication.

When once again the office turns into a buzzing hive, from which angry individuals fly out into the corridor, do not forget that a minute before that everything was quiet and calm in it. The work went on as usual. So, it's only about who started it, and not about you. In some ways, he feels insecure and uses provocation as a shield that will cover up his incompetence or lack of social skills.

In any case, even if he found fault with you, do not make excuses and, moreover, do not question your professionalism. Instead, consider what you might have in common with him that would help you coexist civilly in the same workspace.

Let's practice

Let's say a colleague is used to blaming you for something you didn't do at all. If this is repeated repeatedly, then it will not surprise you the next time, no matter how blatant the lie.

Your task - the next time you hear her "quote you" to someone, do not jump up with a cry of "Not true!" or “In what dream did you dream about this?”.

Instead, say softly and politely, “I’m sorry you think so. What did I do to make you think I…?” It is possible that further a colleague will get a real scroll of all conceivable and inconceivable sins that you made in the distant past.

Show a colleague that you are on her side because you want to solve the problem

Listen to everything calmly, while others will also be interested in making a conclusion about how, for example, your colleague is vindictive. Say that you would like to focus on a real, specific issue so that there is an opportunity to correct everything. Try to compromise.

Why do it? First, you pass the ball to the opponent's field and get to know the essence of the problem, how it looks in the eyes of a colleague. Secondly, let her let off steam and even agree with her. Thirdly, you are on her side because you want to solve the problem, which means that the conflict has no reason. Well, the main goal of your communication with such an employee has been achieved - to start and end it without drama and attracting the general public.

What is best to avoid

There are several moments that work to "warm up" the situation, making it explosive and unpredictable. How to avoid escalating a conflict in which a colleague is interested, not you?

• Avoid sarcasm and ironic snarky comments.
• Don't make excuses.
• Avoid emotions. Speak calmly and quietly, do not raise your tone, do not rush, and do not talk excitedly or with suffering notes in your voice. It is difficult to keep the intensity of passions at the same level when you are answered calmly and indifferently.
• Avoid the word "you" (or worse, "you yourself") and any judgments ("Don't talk nonsense"). Speak for yourself or for both of you: “I don’t quite understand what you want to say”, “How can we solve this problem?”
• Do not get involved with all your soul in what is happening, do not let it capture you without a trace. Figuratively speaking, let a part of you be somewhere in another, normal world and remember that there are many more important things for you in it besides a pointless argument with a colleague.
• The longer the attack drags on, the harder it is to remain calm. If you can leave, say, “It's hard for me to understand you when you're screaming. Perhaps we will try to solve this problem a little later, when we both calm down. And get out of the room if possible.

Look for another place

If you've tried everything you can think of and the situation is only getting worse, consider moving to a different department if you work in a large organization.

The recommendation that many psychologists give to talk to the boss may well end up with the two of you offering to leave the office for you. Stranger things have happened in office wars, too. But before you venture to extreme measures, do one more thing...

Ask yourself frankly...

And this will be the most difficult question: are you really an innocent victim of an insidious colleague who comes from nightmares, or are you making your small and feasible contribution to the problem? Is it possible that - purely hypothetically - you also challenge someone with your behavior? For example, highly professional employees are often perfectionists. They do not show tolerance for mistakes - neither their own nor those of others, and are often impatient, and some are arrogant.

But do not forget the main thing: colleagues have no power over you, except for what you yourself give them, reacting to their behavior. And it is in your power to deprive them of this power.

Conflicts can arise everywhere, regardless of the people around you and the circumstances. An evil boss or unscrupulous subordinates, demanding parents or dishonest teachers, grandmothers at bus stops or angry people in public places. Even a conscientious neighbor and a dandelion grandmother can cause a big conflict. About how to get out of the conflict without suffering damage - moral and physical - and will be discussed in this article.

It is impossible to imagine a modern person who is not subject to stress. Accordingly, each of us is in such situations every day at work, at home, on the road, some sufferers even experience stress several times a day. And there are people who constantly live in a stressful state and do not even suspect it.

Life is a strange and complicated thing that can throw up dozens of troubles in one day. However, it is worth remembering: any trouble is a lesson that will definitely come in handy sometime in the future. If a person is an honest student, then he will remember the lecture the first time. In the event that the lesson was incomprehensible, life will confront him again and again. And many people take this literally, complicating their lives! But sometimes you should not endure some things, looking for life lessons in them! What specific situations should be stopped?

Everything seems dull and gray, close people annoy, work infuriates and there are thoughts that all life is heading downhill somewhere. In order to change your own life, it is not necessary to do something supernatural and complex. Sometimes the simplest and most accessible actions for everyone can significantly increase the level of energy and make you feel much better. Try to introduce 7 effective practices into your life that will dramatically change your life for the better.

Everyone who is engaged in self-development knows that he cannot do without a feeling of discomfort. Quite often, people confuse discomfort with a black streak in life and begin to complain, or even worse, try to avoid change. But as experience shows, only by going beyond the comfort, you can find and acquire all the benefits that we need.

Many people cannot imagine their day without one or more cups. And it turns out that drinking coffee is not only tasty, but also healthy! If you do not complain about serious health problems, then you can drink a few cups of this delicious drink without remorse and enjoy its benefits.