'Absolutely physically knackered': UK workers on intensifying conditions

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... -exhausted

Teachers have to fill in social worker gaps while postal workers report being physically exhausted after having to walk miles with heavy bags at speed

People at increased risk of burnout due to more demanding workdays, TUC says

When Karen Wilson started work as a secondary school teacher almost 40 years ago she had plenty of energy for life outside of school. She loved singing in choirs and opera groups and enjoyed her evenings.

But in the last decade that all changed. “The intensity has definitely increased,” she said. “Teaching becomes your whole life because you don’t have any energy to do anything else.”

We end up looking after the young people into the lunchtime because we don’t have enough staff to cover it
Wilson’s experience is echoed by people across professions, more than half of whom report in research for the TUC that work is getting more intense.

Wilson, 62, works in Clackmannanshire in Scotland and specialises in supporting children with additional needs. She now works part time after retiring on health grounds.

She said cuts in funding from central government had a knock-on effect on specialist teachers’ workload, since schools could not afford the additional workers needed to give them a proper lunch break. “We end up looking after the young people into the lunchtime because we don’t have enough staff to cover it.”

She added: “I’ve got a friend who by the end of term is absolutely exhausted. And she becomes physically ill by the end of each term, because she’s working such long hours. When I was in a similar post, I was working 55 to 60 hours a week, just to keep my head above water, and she’s doing the same.”

She said that the extra paperwork, pressure from parents and cuts to local authority budgets leaving teachers to take on the role of social worker, all made the job more intense.

“There just aren’t enough social workers to help so we end up doing things to help young people which strictly speaking is a social worker’s job, like going out and visiting the home, but if we don’t do it then who does?”

Amy Ash, 31, a postal worker in south-west London, said her job was changing fast. “I’ve only been there six years and the job has changed dramatically, even in that short stretch of time.”

She said at the end of a working week she was “absolutely physically knackered” because postal rounds had increased in size, with more addresses added. Parcels also make up a bigger chunk of the workload, making postbags heavier while letter-writing continues to decline.

“I wear a Fitbit and it monitors how many steps I’ve taken and usually, during my delivery, I’ve done between eight and 12 miles of walking.

“By the end of the week, your shoulders, your knees, your back, it’s all hurting, even your feet. And obviously, we carry a heavy bag as well.”

[Jack1960]

Cant remember when i last carried a heavy bag, its what the HCT is for.

[DirtyHarry]

Good job we have the CWU, or things would be much worse.

[hans solo]

Cant remember when i last carried a heavy bag, its what the HCT is for.

Correct I will never carry a pouch again
I’ve even cut the straps off the pouches leaving just the loops