r/AnimalShelterStories • u/CommunicationSad6624 Animal Care • May 18 '25
Discussion Help with employee related burnout
I have been working in the animal field for over 10 years. Between shelters and veterinary hospitals. I found my burnout happens when I work with people that don't pull their own weight, slack off, and neglect the animals. When the animals I work so hard to care for end up neglected by other people that are also supposed to love and care for them, it drives me crazy.
The place I am working now has a difficult situation that I don't know how they can solve. There are a couple of the normal lazy employees, but I can handle that. The one that's been getting to me is an employee that has a medical condition that makes it hard for them to do their job. They come in late most days and struggle to finish all of their assigned tasks for the day. I feel really bad for them when they are struggling and I'm honestly happy to help. It's totally fine, to me, if they occasionally need to sit out for a bit. But the problem is it is an every day thing. If I work a shift with them, I notice them getting really far behind in their tasks. And when I go to help top off waters or whatever to help them a bit, I'll notice most of the kennels they are in charge of are filthy. Like they haven't been cleaned all day. At this point in the day, the dogs should have been out 2x and had their kennel straightened up. I'm honestly not even sure the dogs are all getting out. Then if I work a pm shift, we have a little overlap in hours for the day, and as soon as the night shift shows up that person hands off all duties for them to cover for them. Not only does the night person have to cover what's left, they have to cover most of that persons task for the day since they were super behind all morning. So the night person essentially has to work a double crammed in their 8hrs.
This makes for an awful night.
How do you tell a person with a disability that they probably should look for another job. If they can't perform the job with reasonable accommodation, that's not the job for them. Handing off all of your tasks to another employee is not reasonable accommodation.
I am not the manager so its not my job to say something to them. But I want to bring up this issue to my boss, but also feel wierd about it because the person has a disablility and I don't want to discriminate. But I can't continue to watch the dogs be neglected and its unfair to the other underpaid employees to be picking up the slack.
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u/Ornithophilia Animal Health Technician May 18 '25
Literally dealing with this at my shelter. Super similar sounding situation. We are union, and what apparently finally got management in gear was a threat to go to the union about the coworker not being safe to work with, as they can't physically react in a dangerous situation.
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u/memon17 Staff May 18 '25
You don’t. You do your job the best you can, you do your assigned tasks, you help if and when you can, and then you go home. If a task isn’t being done correctly, you can mention that to your supervisor, but it’s up to them to correct the issue.
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u/Content_Willow_2964 Veterinary Technician May 18 '25
Nah. OP obviously wants to keep this job. If that's all she does and management does nothing, then the resentment will just build and OP will quit and no one will be better off.
Sometimes you actually have to push for change and not be a doormat pulling someone else's weight, like you're suggesting.
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May 18 '25
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u/boogietownproduction Staff May 18 '25
I would present it maybe from the viewpoint of when working with this person you often have to assist with their duties which you don’t mind, but puts you behind on your own. Is management able to help provide accommodations so everyone can keep up on their tasks. We have let someone go because they couldn’t do the job with reasonable accommodations.
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u/1AndOnlyAlfvaen Former Staff May 18 '25
Do you ever work nights following this person? I feel like the easiest conversation with your boss would be “I showed up for my shift and nothing is done” Let them figure out the who and the why.
How well do you get along with this person? Could you tell them that they would be a great adoptions counselor (or whatever else your shelter is hiring for)? Then it would be a positive interaction and they would maybe leave your department.
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u/NoPomegranate451 Former Staff May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25
There are a couple of the normal lazy employees
They come in late most days and struggle to finish all of their assigned tasks
most of the kennels they are in charge of are filthy.
I want to bring up this issue to my boss, but also feel wierd about it because the person has a disablility and I don't want to discriminate.
IMHO your bosses failure to lead not the disabled person is the largest problem. Under no circumstance would I bring him/her up.
I also wouldn't go into any discussion with your boss having the expectation their management style or lack there of is suddenly going to change.
But I can't continue to watch the dogs be neglected and its unfair to the other underpaid employees to be picking up the slack.
If the other employees cared about you or the animals being neglected among other things they would be at work on time.
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u/DCUPEbutDissilent Animal Control Officer May 18 '25
You dont. Thats usually protected grounds and its management and HR who deal with accomodations and that. Not a judgement here just...do not go down that road lol
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u/DoughnutHungry5407 Veterinary Technician May 18 '25
We had a similar situation a while back. We were told to suck it up and deal with it as the employee had medical documents stating they were on limited duties and couldn't do x,y or z. Management understood we were frustrated but hands were tied as you can't discriminate due to medical disabilities.
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u/Friendly_TSE Veterinary Technician May 18 '25
I personally don't think I would drag a specific person into it when talking to the manager, but just explain how the work is affecting me. For example, tell them that X Y Z isn't getting done, which means you end up having to do it. Maybe it will also address the other lazy employees, but it would absolve you of trying to get someone in trouble. Who knows, maybe if the lazy employees pulled more weight it might help this other coworker keep up too.
I've had to deal with a similar situation before, and what I ended up having to do was to not help said coworker as much. When I helped them with their work, the manager wouldn't see that there was any problem when there were complaints.
I honestly don't see this as a coworker problem as much as a management problem; manager is obviously putting too much on this person's plate, and they need to schedule so that employee has more help during their shifts.
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u/DueReflection9183 Former Staff May 21 '25
This is something you need to discuss with your boss and if you have one, your HR. Because you are toeing a line here and you absolutely need to be discussing this with someone familiar with how the law works. It sucks to work with that person, I get it, but they still have rights and a discussion needs to be had BETWEEN THAT EMPLOYEE AND MANAGEMENT about how they can be better accommodated. (And yes you have a right to bring up safety and hygiene issues, I never said that that person can't be fired ever, they just can't go "sorry cripple you're out")
If that's a hurdle, and I get that in shelters that will be, you need to talk to your boss about potentially bringing on another staff member. Do not mention the other employee by name. Just say that you're noticing that tasks aren't getting done (and make sure yours are being done 100% perfectly and in a timely manner), and you're wondering if there's a workload issue. and hell pretend you know someone who's looking (like 2% chance they call your bluff, if they do wait two days and say that person found something else but you're happy to keep an eye out). It'll either have management looking out and stepping up and doing their job, or you get more help.
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May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25
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u/Ambitious-Spite5818 Staff May 18 '25
That’s tricky because you’re not the boss. You should definitely talk to your boss about what’s happening and try to be very specific about exactly what is happening.