(NOTE: For the purposes of this question I’m defining work as “actively contributing through some skill to a task that directly furthers your goals in your job as they are understood between you and the company/your superior”)
Typing this as I start my shift at my wfm job, where I’m feeling a little lost. Part of the issue is that I basically made the job up - I used to be part time contract until I pitched my current role to a superior during a talent inquiry a few months ago and then she decided it was a good idea, so there’s no well defined list of tasks I can latch onto. Don’t wanna go too much into it but half my time is spent doing the stuff I was doing on contract, which takes basically little to no effort, while the other half is left unstructured to me where I’m to do research, gather and consolidate feedback about user experiences, and act as a generalist “fixer” type for intermediate level tech and workflow stuff.
I feel like I spend so much time in my workday doing nothing, and I’m both scared that will reflect poorly on me for my continued prospects at the company and guilty that I might be slacking (only because it’s nonprofit, otherwise I wouldn’t care). Also probably a bit of :among-drip: syndrome mixed in there because this is my first non grocery store job.
Idk I just vomited all that out there. It’s a free website :shrug-outta-hecks:
I have done nothing all day except shop for food, look for something at another store, talk with a neighbor and listen to a pod cast. I have not touched my pc at all today for work
Yeah. Today constituted semi-busy, and I was working for…2 hours so far (if even). Went to eat with my dad, continued working on a woodworking project I’m doing, love on my cats
I honestly was like you at first op, vis a vis this:
I’m both scared that will reflect poorly on me for my continued prospects at the company and guilty that I might be slacking
Your boss is not gonna notice provided you do what you need to. I always do work as it relates to coworkers that I care about (and sometimes go beyond), but honestly, just doing the occasional additional effort for people I like (and /or doing things I like) coupled with doing your normal stuff properly will gain you a very positive reputation.
Gaining that is huge, because first impressions and what other people believe about you will matter almost as much as what you actually do.
the big secret is they have no idea how hard you were working both now and before.
I actually do spend the vast majority of my day at work physically making stuff for my employer. This is because I am one of the few people in the US still employed in a manufacturing position, however.
Bullshit job haver here. If none of my clients need my help in a given day, that’s fine they are living their lives and I assume no news is good news. I just gotta hold office hours in case something comes up.
Some days I’ll be there all day and working nonstop because a client has a really complicated problem. Most days I spend all day reading or internet. A couple times I’ve brought my soldering iron and some electronic projects.
My supervisor left and there’s no plans to find me a new one until end of the month, and nobody in the company really knows what I do anyways.
My job is pretty much dependant on how busy it is. I’d say on a good day I might have 4-5 hours of actual work. Smaller tasks that actually matter might make up another 30 minutes to and hour if that. Most of the rest is sitting around being bored or fighting with the company’s systems since they haven’t been working too well since late last year.
