Is this fair?

I work in a small creative team. My manager gives my colleagues more work which requires more responsibility because they have more experience than me - I respect that!

I‘ve noticed their behaviours change, thinking that they‘re better than me and they can boss me around.

I‘m not given much work because I have little experience, even though I‘ve asked all the time for something to do. I‘m just feel left with nothing... this has really lowered my confidence and I have really low self esteem issues.

I have a lot of strengths, and I know, I can do great things.

I have no one to reach out to because my boss is away on leave.

I don‘t want to compare,everyone is always prasing my colleagues, because they have work to show and I honestly have nothing!

Its a dream company to be in, but I have thought about leaving at times

It‘s really hard and I do get emotional sometimes.

Management is focussing on my colleagues more than to me, I hope I don‘t sound selfish

I don‘t know what to do :‘(

Reply 1

mmpi

You need to raise your concerns with your line manager, express how you're feeling regarding work load and that you'd like to be involved more so that you can get that necessary experience to progress. You mentioned that they are away at the moment, send them an email saying something along the lines of:

Hi [manager]

I hope you're having a lovely time away.
I would like to schedule in some time to review my progress so far and some long term goals when you're back, can we make a firm plan to meet when you return?

[your desired sign off and name]

With workplace disparity it can be difficult to remain objective, we are human after all but you must remember that it is a business and that may be an influence on why colleagues with more experienced are being tasked with projects - they have proven that they can deliver when necessary. This is something you can use productively in your conversation with management i.e "I've seen how well XX does on projects, would it be possible to have me shadow them while they work on this so I can see how they do things?". This will build your relationship with the wider team, as well as showing that you have an interest in what you're doing.

I know it can be incredibly tough, and I have been the manager in that position as well as being in yours and the most important thing I can say is to not take it personally. Others are being praised and you're not? Good for them, they did the thing they were asked and did it well, join in and praise them too. You're not being praised as often? Is that due to your work load being less, therefore giving less opportunity to commend you on your work or is it due to the fact that you or x y or z are underperforming? If you have an open conversation with your manager regarding your workload and how you'd like to progress it might be worth mentioning things along the line of, I work with such a strong team and I would certainly like to prove that I'm up to the task just as much as they are, how might we plan for that progression over the next year?

In terms of the creative industry, it can be a hellhole, speaking from experience. You will work on good, great and bad teams throughout your career, if you have this conversation with your Manager and nothing changes, get that portfolio together and start looking elsewhere. A 'good' job isn't what it looks like on paper, it's what you get out of it in terms of satisfaction, quality of life and wellbeing.

Best of luck, and feel free to drop me a message if you need more guidance, I did 10 years in the creative industry and it wasn't for me but I've certainly seen a thing or two during that time.

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