I've recently finished an on-call period that lasted two weeks, and even though it's been over for a week now, I'm still feeling wiped out. My on-call shifts are supposed to last from the beginning of the work week to the next, but with a holiday in the mix, this one was shorter than usual. During that time, I got woken up 10 times and even received calls while trying to enjoy my personal time. Most of the calls were due to user errors, like not following instructions related to system updates, and fixing those issues often required me to spend hours on uninstalling and reinstalling software for users with poor connections. I'm tired and stressed, and I used to handle this better in my late 20s. Now that I'm approaching my 40s, the stress is taking its toll. Recently, my company has made changes that have increased our workload, and now, it feels like I'm on call all the time without any real breaks. I'm looking for advice on managing burnout from being on-call, as I'm hoping to switch fields eventually because I can't focus on learning anything new in my current state. Any tips or tricks to help me recover?
2 Answers
I made a similar switch after years of being on-call. The constant stress was unbearable. Moving to a company without on-call duties made a world of difference for my mental health. If you can, look for roles that respect work-life balance—it’s crucial.
On-call should really be limited to actual emergencies, like systems going down, not for easily solvable issues like account lockouts. It seems your role is demanding more than it should, and that's not okay. I'd recommend bringing this up to your boss if you haven't already. They should know that you're an overworked resource and might need to adjust what's considered an emergency call.
Totally agree! If they keep calling you for non-emergencies, they're just burning you out for no good reason. It's time for some serious discussions with management.