Why I left my job

So after nearly four years in my cuurent positionI have resigned my position. My last day was last Saturday and one week later I still have not found a job. Even though financially things are unstable and everyday their is a new realization in regards to the world of the unemployed I would not have done anything different. In fact most of those who are close to me are glad I made the decision and in fact wonder what took so long. Of course the most popular question is why are you leaving...so let me try to lay this out in a professional manner....

Workload: The position itself is designed to fail. With the level of responsibility and the lack of human resource in my mind there is no human being who could possibly be successful at all of the elements in this position. If you are not schizophrenic before entering the position you will be if you don't leave. I understand multi-tasking and in general this is one of my strenghts but there is a huge difference between multi-tasking and over-tasking. In fact in my time at the Y the position doubled in responsibilities and just before I left I was assigned a few more items..and at no point was I ever asked for my opinion or brought into the decision making process...which leads me to my next point.

No authority: I was never able to established my formal authority within the organization. For those of you who have taken Dr. Monroe's classes at USD you will know exactly what I am talking about in this section. Luckily I was able to establish some informal authority with those I supervised and that helped me survive there. But of course my formal authority, my boss, was really good at assassinating my authority. I can't be sure if he did it intentionally ( I assume there was some hidden issues, per Tavistot Primer I) but I can be sure that he did it often. I can remember about two weeks before quitting running a management meeting in his absence and felt we where getting somewhere to resolve a severe budget crisis. Then he walks in to the meeting and tears apart what we had worked on without taking a minute to hear us out. You could literally see how demoralized and unmotivated everyone became simply by their body language. We went from a meeting with a lot of energy and solutions to a room full of anger and disappointment. Even before I gave notice my boss was making decisions on salary adjustments to staff I supervised without even consulting me. Of course I would have agreed but why would he not talk to me about those things If ultimately I am responsible for my staff and the completion of facility outcomes.

Salary: On the note of salary my close friends know that it has never been about the money for me. Of course now with a family I have to make sure I make enough to support our needs but ultimately it is about loving what I do. Sometimes people don't realize how perceptive I can be and that I can read between the lines. But I have to ask the question why is my former position the lowest paid associate position in the entire association. In fact there are new associates who have less experience, less education, and less time and are already making more than I was. There needs to be some equity amongst the association in the positions they offer. A big slap in the face was when the position was posted at a higher starting rate than what I was making. So obviously it was not budget that kept them from adjusting my pay. In fact before I left three staff had their salaries adjusted. This really told me where I stood and what my perceived value to the organization was...

Support from the corporate level: I still remember the day I decided to leave the organization and I attempted to call our VP of operations to file a complaint and get some guidance. To this day he has not returned my call. I think the corporate office has become negligent in regards to the situation at the YMCA. How many people have to file complaints before real change will occur, where is the real tipping point. The corporate office is more than aware of the conditions that employees face yet do nothing. As I told the YMCA VP of Human Resources, the corporate office has failed this branches employees for too long. Especially when they have proven that it is not safe to ask for help without facing retaliation. It is by no accident that the two senior Latino directors at this YMCA resigned within weeks of each other. Who can live with this stress...what more does the corporate office need to see their is a problem....

Balance: For an organization that preaches balance of spirit, mind, and body they don't support that amongst their employees. The 12-14 hour days, the verbal and mental abuse, the lack of resources combined with poor pay and lack of recognition are not worth it. Especially when you go home and realize that the only time you see your kid is when their sleeping, or that you are behind on your bills, and that your health is suffering. Diabetes is no joke and this job was only making it worse.

Diabetes: It is so sad that I can pinpoint the reason why my diabetes was out of control and link it directly back to the stress of the job. For those who know anything about diabetes stress is one of the major factors affecting blood sugar levels. In fact every time I would finally be getting healthy there was something or someone who would derail it at work. In fact the straw that broke the camels back was when my blood sugar had dropped to dangerous levels (meaning I could pass out and enter a diabetic comma) and I brought food to a staff meeting and was denied the opportunity to eat it even after explaining why I needed to eat . At no point had food ever been denied from these meetings, in fact we had shared food at these meetings on many occasions. Talk about the lack of reasonable accommodations for someone with a disability.

I could no longer let this job continue to kill me...I made the difficult decision of moving on and facing the consequences of not having a job rather than staying there and continue to get sick and not see my daughter as we fell deeper in debt...I had to ask myself a question. After years of working on farm worker and labor rights what would I have done if someone came to me and express a similar situation to me...the anwser was clear and encapsualeted in the following quote...

"What is at stake is human dignity. If a man is not accorded respect he cannot respect himself and if

he does not respect himself, he cannot demand it."

-Cesar E. Chavez

I have a bunch of board members, other employees, friends, asking why I left but ironically my boss never really asked why I was leaving which made two more things clear to me:

1. It confirmed where I stood (as the lack of a call from the VP of operations)

2. That things will never change at this Y.

He did ask If I was sure I wanted to make this decision. I replied, yes that I had been thinking about it for a while. That is what it was left at. No attempt to find a resolution or address any issues. Once again reminding me of my perceived value. My mom always reminded me that no one was indespensible but I know I brought some unique gifts to the Y and it is their loss.

The VP of HR did aske but after we talked it think she realized the latter of the items above (Change is not ocming soon). Or that at least that for me it was too late. In fact I think she realized she had to play it safe with what she said to me because I had the makings of a real complaint to the Equal Employment and Housing Office. I have a lot of respect for her but also know she has a role to play.

So now I am unemployed and looking and once again there is no regrets. In my time at the YMCA I know I had a positive impact on those we served, the staff i worked with, and the culture of the organization. I feel I grew as manager, and employee and as a person. I made some lifelong friends and colleague's and I am proud to have serve the families within our service area.I am looking forward to my next opportunity where i am sure I will be able to have a continued impact.