With Portland’s summers becoming increasingly hot and smoky as climate change worsens, early Fall is increasingly WHERE IT IS AT. The nice months are shifting from August and September, to now September and October. Crisp, fresh air, and weather in the 60s is ideal for running and spending time outside! One thing to be grateful for, eh!

The other thing on my mind on the employment side of things is the Hybrid Workforce Initiative (HWI) recently released by Multnomah County a few weeks back. www.oregonlive.com/politics/… After quietly observing colleague conversations in meetings, I realize I am not in alignment with the vocal opinion of most of my colleagues, for reasons far more philosophical than the obvious logistical ones I anticipated—valuable info I’m keeping in mind as I road map my professional trajectory.

I will say, the communication strategy for announcing and rolling out the HWI was visibly atrocious and poorly considered, emblematic of the County leadership’s weak reputation with failing to consider departmental input and feasibility. It’s a salient lesson for myself who aspires to leadership, where considering input from everyone isn’t only the right thing to do, to make people feel valued and appreciated, but necessary for a measurably successful outcome. (Side note: right around this time, I also noticed Washington County’s Kathryn Harrington faced scandal with unprofessionalism. www.opb.org/article/2… It’s interesting given I met her briefly twice. People’s true colors sometimes show up long after brief neutral-to-positive first impressions.)

Anyways, in a nutshell, my colleagues just don’t want to ever come to the office for any reason, no matter what. I completely sympathize with valid logistical considerations, not sitting in traffic commuting, paying for parking, having childcare or elderly parents, sleeping later, cooking at home, more time with immediate family, etc. I don’t think 5 days a week, all in-office, is necessary to meet the collegial connection goals either, but there needs to be something other than fully remote with very few meetings. The County also eliminated many cubicles and workstations with past leadership post-pandemic, so they shot themselves in the foot for a potential future partial back-to-office rollout.

That said, I find it disappointing that people don’t seem to care to connect. I find the apathy reflective of a larger societal problem leading to a loneliness epidemic on an unprecedented scale. Even coming in once a week for a half day seems far more reasonable than the status quo. They could even have a department fund for coffee and bagels, and make a business need excuse for a work training/lunch to connect. But from a public image standpoint, I think 3 days a week for employees eventually makes better sense. It could have been communicated and phased in much better first. The cart here was undoubtedly put before the horse by top County leadership.

Just as I’m “cleaning house” with relationships I have that no longer serve me, or more accurately, disserve me and rob value from my life, I feel similarly with my current employment, although it is a mixed bag. The pay and benefits are solid for what I do, but I’m quite lonely, bored, and under-stimulated by my career. I get very few opportunities to connect with my colleagues, most of whom seem likable on the surface, but I just don’t know much about them, since I rarely see them, even over Zoom at home.

My former boss, who I loved, retired a few months back. My new boss, who was my previous team lead before getting promoted, is so-so. She’s personable enough and takes the time to train on new work tasks seriously, which on one hand, I do appreciate compared to other bosses I’ve had. We both act professionally, but my communication chemistry just… clashes with her approach. Not all the time, and maybe not even most of the time, but often enough that I feel annoyed.

I find myself using contrived phraseologies, statements, and questions of reflection to placate off-putting emails and meetings, which have led to successful outcomes nearly every time (funny enough, I’ve been complimented on my communication and coachability by her, and I think I’m liked by her as far as who I am), but I also don’t like constantly feeling “on-guard” conversationally with anyone. Jefferson Fisher’s content has helped me here in the professional sphere too.

I think like a school teacher in asking open-questions to gauge someone’s understanding to mitigate over or under-explaining. Oftentimes I find niche new process expectations get under-explained, yet things I know well, like property tax mechanics, get over-explained. Thus I sometimes feel a bit patronized and misunderstood, despite respectfully clarifying with contextual specificity what I know and what I don’t. I’m all but certain there isn’t any ill-intent at all, which gives me some limited solace. The rare times though I do get asked questions instead of assumptions, they sound rather accusatory. None of these are facts. It’s just my subjective interpretation, but I do feel it’s a highly considered and justifiable one.

I applied for supervisory level jobs throughout last year, but failed to get interviews, despite my MPA degree. I was recently rejected for promotional opportunities for senior and supervisor promotions, but justifiably so, given the more experienced resumes of my competing candidates. It also illustrated how increasingly unhelpful the property tax appraisal career path will be for my future career goals, which means the time has come to change jobs when I can.

Some jobs I’m eyeballing include Management Analyst jobs to diversify my experience enough to move upward. After speaking with one of my fellow student alumni in my MPA program who is now an assistant city manager himself, and a couple years younger than me, it became clear that a modest pay cut and no supervisory experience may be required as a transitory step to get my foot in the door leading upward. Now that the economic uncertainty surrounding the Dickwad 2.0 admin early last year has settled into at least a more “plannable” form of shittiness, I’m taking it upon myself to refocus a bit more time and energy into finding something new and at least hybrid, if not in-person closeby.

I also realized pay or supervisory experience aside, I’d be far more happy spending my 40+ hours a week doing something different. I am excited to see what new opportunities await, both in terms of new Meetups and relationships, and this common variation on the theme with my professional employment.