New Job Frustration: Is It Normal to Have No Work as a Newbie?

Dear everyone,

I'm a new employee, and I have come to my organization full of energy and zeal to make a difference. I had read all I could about work-life and associated long hours and stuff. Being prepared for it, I really did not mind when my boss asked me to stay late for a few days. But now I am frustrated because, after being psyched up so much, I do not have any work. In fact, I'm writing this in the office itself. Kindly tell me if this is a normal part of work-life, or is it because I am a newbie? Please do share your opinion.

Regards,
Leks

Dear everyone,

I'm a new employee, and I have come to my organization full of energy and zeal to make a difference. I had read all I could about work-life and the associated long hours. Being prepared for it, I really did not mind when my boss asked me to stay late for a few days. But now I am frustrated because after being so psyched up, I do not have any work. In fact, I'm writing this in the office itself. Kindly tell me if this is a normal part of work-life or if it is because I am a newbie. Please share your opinion.

Regards,
Leks

Hihih yup, or else you will become John... read this <link no longer exists - removed> and hang in there. Ye kaisa jamana aagaya hai... people actually want to work... :wink: hihih... Na first day of work, I too was bored for the first 15-30 mins, then my boss arrived, and we started talking. It went on for a good 2-3 hours, and then she asked me to observe around. I tried to listen to calls of my colleagues. My first day was good... Hey Leks, observe the work culture, talk to others, try knowing about them, chill, and have fun.

Regards,
Sunayna

Thank you, Sunayna. I know it's a bit weird that I want to work 😄 (even my friends say so). But after about 2 weeks of enforced idleness, I am getting a bit vexed. Being a new setup, there is so much to do... but I cannot do it because my boss doesn't have time for me. 🙄 Why can he not utilize this energy and enthusiasm that I have and very evidently show as well. But anyways... and I definitely don't wish to 'pull a John' on my company or boss. 😊

Regards,
Leks

P.S. I still do not have work and hence the long reply

Hey Leks :D,
How are you doing? I know I shouldn't ask this to you, but to make you feel a bit relaxed, I want to share something with you. I am in the same situation as you. Even my boss doesn't have time for me. He still hasn't approved my work, which I did months back. I show lots of enthusiasm, and I want to work hard, like you said you had prepared your mind to work for late hours and stuff like that. My situation is completely the same.

I have been in the organization for almost 6 months now. I have communicated everything I feel to my junior boss, hoping she would communicate with my big boss. Now let's see what happens. As a professional, I don't want to waste time like this. Otherwise, after some time, I may get used to such an environment and spoil my career.

I hope that we both will get out of this situation soon.

Thanks,
Preeti

Hi Leks,

Don't worry, yaar... this is a very common thing in everyone's life. Each one of us has to go through such a time where we get frustrated either because of lots of work pressure or because we don't have any work, as in your case. Don't worry. I think you should avail your free time to learn some new things related to your subject and improve your subject knowledge. But don't get frustrated in such a way and get disheartened. Try to be cool and enjoy your work environment. Only then will you be able to find success in your job. If we cannot enjoy our work and accept it as it is, it will be difficult for us to grow in our careers. So don't worry and just relax. Give it some time. The right time in our life has to come for all of us. Until then, just accept things as they are. Okay, please feel free to share all your feelings with all of us. We are all very lucky to have so many good friends. Thanks to citehr!

Regards,

Sudha

Hi,

Thanks, Preeti and Sudha, for your encouragement. I suppose I will simply take some more time to stop feeling guilty about sitting idle :D I am trying to create projects on my own but the lack of guidance is glaring at times. Even though I have joined in quite a junior position, I only have one senior boss - Head HR, to deal with. And that is why he doesn't have time for me - because he has to do everything himself. I am hoping that as and when our department grows (which it will soon), the workload on my boss will be less, and hence I will get more time. Due to my inexperience, I am not even able to help him out. I am trying, which is the most that I can say right now. I'm so thankful for a forum like this to air my feelings.

And you can guess... all of my work got over by 11 am in the morning... :lol:

Regards,
Leks

Hi Preeti and Leks,

First, I am so excited to see people like me. My story is the same as yours. There is nothing much to add in my story. Life is too annoying and frustrating. But what to do? I also tried speaking to my boss, and he asked me to bear with him for some more time until he gets work for me. (I don't know why the hell they recruited me!) Anyway, I am taking things lightly and waiting for some miracle to happen. Let us give ourselves some time, and later, we could think about some other alternatives like looking for a new job. In the meantime, we could try doing things like below:

- Enrolling ourselves into some course or certification
- Reading books
- Developing personality skills
- And above all, LEARNING PHILOSOPHIES FROM OUR LIFE... !!

What do you say, guys?

Hi all,

Do not worry, this happens with most HR personnel in small and middle-level firms. I suggest that instead of being reactive, try to be proactive in your approach. Interact with people, observe them, do your homework related to what can be done to improve the working from an HR perspective. This exercise will keep you busy and will be helpful for you in the long run.

Cheers,
Archna

Hey, people!

I have started creating work for myself. My boss still doesn't have time for me, but that's okay. I have found a few lacunae in the filing system, performance appraisal system, and recruitment system. The latter two require my boss's approval for any change, so I'm concentrating on the first, which means I'm doing good old manual labor.

And don't worry, Anurao, is all I can say to you. Our bosses are grooming us to be like them! :D

Thanks for the suggestions, Archna. I am trying to implement them.

Regards,
Leks

Dear All,

Nice to hear all this; let me share with you my initial experience in IR which I hope might help you.

1) Initially, my only work was to file all papers into respective files and go through the paper movement and files.

2) After that, I was given the task of drafting regular letters. The drafting involved changing names, dates, and other relevant details. It was just a fill-in-the-blank exercise.

3) I was not given access to computers, and I had to do everything in pen and paper.

4) After a couple of months, I was first allowed to listen to discussions that used to take place between workers, Union Leaders, and my boss. I did not have the permission to comment.

5) I did not have any permission to alter, change, or modify any documents, letters, and the like.

How much I used to curse my boss and feel so frustrated and dejected, but now I feel they are very valuable lessons my boss taught me.

1) Due to the filing system, I was able to understand the whole concept of how official communication works. Which papers should be kept and which papers should be discarded. In short, how to effectively communicate, keep track of documentation and communication, and effectively use the same to my advantage.

2) The drafting taught me to evolve a system of effectively communicating and understanding the importance of maintaining a specific format for a specific set of matters to get the maximum effect. For example, when you are dealing with Salary Discrepancy, the Accounts executive who is looking into the matter does not have the time to go through the entire communication. As a result, in most cases, he sets it aside to look at it later. But if you are keeping the same format, he will just have to look at a few places to understand the whole matter, and his time spent on the matter gets reduced, enabling him to execute the work quickly.

3) In the absence of Computers, I have learned to be more careful. You simply do not have the backspace, delete, copy-paste, insert options. If you make a mistake, you have to redraft the letter. This has taught me to be careful both while typing and reading any documents. Never be casual with documentation.

4) As I did not have the permission to comment in those discussions, I learned to listen and take a problem as a whole. It has enabled me to control my expressions, both verbal and non-verbal when dealing with people.

5) Since I did not have the permission to change anything, I learned the following:

a) To understand why a system is in place. The people who had framed them are not fools, and they must have a reason. Once you start to find out the logic and reasons, you will start giving respect to your senior and their experience. And once you understand the logic, the change becomes more effective and acceptable.

b) Change for the sake of change is always counterproductive. Since once you make a change, you need to have the whole organization get accustomed to the change. Now, what you really have to find out is if the change is really worth the effort you put in or if it is really necessary.

Further to the above, I have also learned how much effort and how valuable it is to become a Team Member in the true sense.

I would only suggest that:

1) Be positive, proactive, and

2) create such a position that every time your boss needs help, he will turn to you.

Kind Regards,

SC

Hey HR Champions,

Well, hats off to the site members. I mean, I was really frustrated with all my work and office situations, as I used to compare it with my other friends who were enjoying their jobs and were really happy with their lives. But here, as I got to know that many people are like me who are really not happy with the kind of work they are doing, and every day is a fight for all of us to find work and the eagerness to learn something new. It felt really good that other people are there to guide us, show us the right path, and also direct us through the medium of CITEHR.

Really, had CITEHR not been there, I would have gone more frustrated.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts and encouraging us to fight.

Regards,
Preeti

Dear Swastik,

I simply don't have words to describe how very thankful I am. The tasks that you mentioned are exactly what I am doing currently. Your justification of them is just what I needed. But Swastik, all the cribbing that I am doing in this thread is not because I don't want to do filing or because I want to change any system. My complaint is that 80% of my office time is spent waiting for work. From your vast experience, can you give suggestions to tackle that?

Sincerely,
leks

Dear All,

Nice to hear all this. Let me share with you my initial experience in IR, which I hope might help you.

1) Initially, my only work was to file all papers into respective files and just go through the paper movement and files.
2) After that, I was given the task of drafting regular letters. The drafting involved changing names, dates, and other relevant details. It was just a fill-in-the-blank exercise.
3) I was not given access to computers, and I had to do everything in pen and paper.
4) After a couple of months, I was first allowed to listen to discussions that used to take place between workers, Union Leaders, and my boss. I did not have permission to comment.
5) I did not have permission to alter, change, or modify any documents, letters, and the like.

How much I used to curse my boss and feel so frustrated and dejected, but now I feel they are very valuable lessons my boss taught me.

1) Due to the filing system, I was able to understand the whole concept of how official communication works. Which papers should be kept and which papers should be discarded. In short, how to effectively communicate, keep track of documentation and communication, and use the same to my advantage.
2) The drafting taught me to evolve a system of effectively communicating and understanding the importance of maintaining a specific format for specific matters to get maximum effect. For example, when dealing with Salary Discrepancy, the Accounts executive who is looking into the matter does not have the time to go through the entire communication. By keeping the same format, his time spent on the matter gets reduced, and he will execute the work quickly.
3) In the absence of Computers, I have learned to be more careful. You simply do not have the backspace, delete, copy-paste, insert options. If you make a mistake, you have to redraft the letter. This has taught me to be careful both while typing and reading any documents. Never be casual with documentation.
4) Since I did not have permission to comment in those discussions, I learned to listen and take a problem as a whole. It has enabled me to control my expressions, both verbal and non-verbal, when dealing with people.
5) Since I did not have permission to change anything, I learned the following:
a) To understand why a system is in place. The people who had framed them are not fools, and they must have a reason. Once you start to find out the logic and reasons, you will start giving respect to your seniors and their experience. And once you understand the logic, the change becomes more effective and acceptable.
b) Change for the sake of change is always counterproductive. Once you make a change, you need to have the whole organization get accustomed to the change. You need to find out if the change is really worth the effort you put in, or if it is really necessary.

Further to the above, I have also learned how much effort and how valuable it is to become a Team Member in the true sense.

I would only suggest that:
1) Be positive, proactive, and
2) create such a position that every time your boss needs help, he will turn to you.

Kind Regards,
SC

This is awesome, a fine example of someone who knows how to be creative and find work even when there isn't any. Kudos to Swastik from my side. Two thumbs up. :D

Dear Leks,

I might be sounding a bit philosophical, but remember two things which helped me.

1) Always look at what you have and what can be done, and not what you could do with what you don't have.

The free time you have can be used to start things that you feel are missing from the office. For example:

(i) You have an excellent opportunity to interact with people in your organization and build a relationship, which is one of the foundational pillars of HR. 90% of an HR's work is done through the relationship network he creates.

(ii) You can start a birthday wishing program.

(iii) You can draft various manuals like Induction, Discipline, etc.

2) The next thing to always remember is that you should be competing against yourself. Always ask yourself, "Am I better than I was six months back?" If yes, then find out what more you can do to improve. If no, try to find ways to overcome the shortfalls. Once you start competing against others, you will always feel frustrated and dejected. The grass always looks greener on the other side.

Thank you, Sunayana, for the compliments.

Kind Regards,

SC

Hi friends,

I was just going through the post "Waiting for Work." First and foremost, thanks to all of you for taking the initiative and replying to the post and sharing your experiences. It feels good when we get to learn new experiences. Life is full of new experiences each day.

Swastik, thanks for explaining things so beautifully.

Hey, in my case, I am looking out for a job; there is no work at present. Looks like my situation is completely different from yours. 😉 Swastik aptly said, "Always look at what you have and what can be done, and not what you could do with what you don't have. Be positive, and things will surely fall into place the way you want."

Regards,
Priya