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I get hyper anxious whenever I get a call from my office. I am afraid that I might have to work overtime or may be asked to report to office during this pandemic (my office, even though is IT based, does not have work from home provisions unless it is Govt. forced).

I am into it for around 10 months, but still looking for a job change, because the pay is very less compared to the work. However, due to this pandemic, even getting job offers is limited and that adds to my anxiety, maybe because I think I might get stuck in this company forever.

All this anxiety is causing lower performance, and I cannot discuss something like this with the company management, mostly because except some , most senior level people are worthless.

What can I do?

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    Anxiety can also be a medical/psychological situation. You may want to get an evaluation from a psychologist/psychiatrist. I believe that it's not uncommon, especially in turbulent times like ours.
    – obe
    Jun 11, 2021 at 10:13
  • Possibly (not certain), there may be a slightly different root-cause issue lurking beneath, or actually two of them. If you are afraid of being asked to work overtime, the issue may be (1) differing ideas of how much effort they get for what they're paying, combined with (2) the power relationship -- they are able to squeeze you more than you feel comfortable with. This combination can very well produce anxiety. I would self-examine whether you have troublesome levels of anxiety elsewhere in life. If not, break it down in terms of the two aspects above.
    – Pete W
    Jun 11, 2021 at 14:34
  • Can you provide some input on why being asked to work overtime makes you feel anxious? Is it that you don't want to and are afraid of the confrontation? Is it because you're paid salary and overtime doesn't generate you any additional money? Is it because the heads up provided for things like overtime is very minimal and it interferes with other plans? Something else?
    – Pyrotechnical
    Jun 11, 2021 at 14:52
  • Have they actually been asking you for overtime and to come in to the office, or is this just a mental scenario you’ve created?
    – mxyzplk
    Jun 11, 2021 at 15:05
  • @mxyzplk They were asking me to come to office. It was because of the lockdown imposed by the Govt. that they cancelled it. Regarding overtime, yes, it does not happen often. But it still happens, even when I am least prepared for it. Like I am still working on a project (say Project 1), and suddenly on Friday, they asked me to do a single page web application (another project, say Project 2) urgently. They told me to copy most parts of a previous project (say Project 3) and just put it here in Project 2.
    – Skumar
    Jun 13, 2021 at 4:51

3 Answers 3

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If you feel the working condition (ex: going to office during pandemic etc.) and compensation is not as per your expectation, first talk to your manager (Looks like you're arriving at conclusions without even talking to them). Let them know of your problems, and if possible, propose a solution.

If they refuse to listen / pay heed to your problems, keep the job search on. Sooner or later you'll find another opportunity which will match your expectations. Until then, continue working with whichever capacity you can.

That said, it's also a good idea to see a counselor if you feel your anxiety is out of control. Most people tend to ignore this, but mental health is a very serious problem and needs to be treated with priority.

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  • It's not like they dont listen, but they wont. Because they dont have a good managerial system in place.
    – Skumar
    Jun 11, 2021 at 10:58
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I get anxious when the phone rings at anytime. It's not natural for human beings to be contactable at all times.
If outside work hours, turn the phone off.
The world will not end.

The alternative is a mental breakdown.

People get upset at me, for 'never answering the phone'. You see, many people think that their phone call and their life is important, and don't understand you have a dozen other more important people trying to call you. If it is not time to work. Ignore them. In one hundred years, it is very likely that their important issue will be forgotten. Dust in the wind.

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I get hyper anxious whenever I get a call from my office. I am afraid that I might have to work overtime or may be asked to report to office during this pandemic (my office, even though is IT based, does not have work from home provisions unless it is Govt. forced).

I don't think this is specific to your current job. Any job you get, if you're working from home, can do this (I guess maybe they can't call you into work depending on the sector and your specific responsibilities). So I don't think finding another job is a particularly productive course of action, as it won't actually solve your problem.

I think you need to put some perspective into your situation. Does your company often ask you to work overtime? Do they often ask you to work a lot of overtime? Do they pay you for your overtime? How much overtime are you willing to work without being nervous about it? You're not going to get a job where you will be guaranteed to work zero overtime ever, that's just not going to happen, so you may as well get used to it; if that is a dealbreaker for you and makes you anxious, then I'm sorry to say perhaps you're not cut out for the workforce and maybe you should find another life plan which doesn't require you to work (I don't know what such a plan would be, so I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader). Conversely, if you're OK working a little bit of overtime here and there when necessary but you feel like your current job takes it overboard, then maybe you should speak to your manager about how much overtime you're working and ask him if he can do something to cut it down. He'll probably say no, at which time you find another job.

As for not being paid a good salary, this usually indicates that you should find another job. Conveniently, you are working remotely, so scheduling interviews should not be too difficult assuming you can make up the work elsewhere so your current job doesn't know you're interviewing. However, if you don't have a lot of good jobs available in your locale, at least a job with a below-average salary which pays the bills, is better than no job at all, so keep that in mind.

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  • Well, I am quite sure that there is nothing in the world which does not have overtime. So, I am okay working overtime. But it is just that they are asking me to work during weekends or holidays all of a sudden. I am working on 1 project, and suddenly they gave me another one (small one) one Friday and asked me to do it in one day( by copying from a previously completed project). Sometimes if there are consequtive holidays, like Sat, Sun,Mon, the team manager asked me to work on monday, just because there are 3 days of holidays. Also ,I am paid 198$ and no overtime compensation
    – Skumar
    Jun 13, 2021 at 5:03
  • I work in a startup company, so working overtime(without compensation) with less monthly pay is common. But some of their demands are ridiculous. I am more afraid that I may be stuck in this company forever, even when the pandemic situation becomes normal.
    – Skumar
    Jun 13, 2021 at 5:05
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    @Skumar Requiring you to work on holidays, especially on short notice, is not acceptable. Requesting you to work on holidays is acceptable, provided there is a real probability that you are allowed to say no (and you should, most of the time, say no, for no other reason than to try to make them not request work on holidays). The important thing is you are never stuck at a job, you can always quit and try to find another job (usually better to do it the other way, find another job before quitting), so don't worry about that.
    – Ertai87
    Jun 14, 2021 at 14:54
  • Thanks. I appreciate.
    – Skumar
    Jun 16, 2021 at 2:29

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