3 months into job and already getting backlash from people

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So I have been in my job 3 months. I was excited to be working again and it helps greatly that I work from home. However, as time passes, the issues start to arise. I worry that I will once again make enemies. My boss and the guy who hired me of course, love me. There are a couple of others, who no doubt are autistics as well (I have known many for 20+years) and they are thrilled I am back. However, the new people I believe are starting to complain.

As many autistics, I understand certain things very easily, I hyper focus and get work done very quickly. Of course my boss and the guy who hired me love that, and a couple of others. But some whom I have to deal with, which by the way, are in India area already starting to complain that I send too much their way. That it's too fast. That they are overwhelmed. HUH? So what? So now I am being told to "slow down" so that THEY don't get overwhelmed. I did not take it well. That's not who I am. I am a very good worker and I work fast. I don't have much patience for having to slow down my pace because others are lazy or stupid and can't keep up...

Does anyone have advice? Right now I am really just trying to stay out of trouble because I need the job. But I am not sure how I am supposed to handle this. In my first job at a major airline over 25yrs ago I had the same issue. My boss literally told me to slow down because I was making others look bad. WTH? So instead of others being expected to do better, I am constantly told to slow down so that "others don't feel bad". I know that's where that empathy thing comes up...I really just don't get it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

As long as your supervisors are happy with your production, the other workers can pound sand!
OTOH, if you have to work with these people with any frequency; you may need to dial it down a bit.

After all, in the big picture; you are the FNG there and it takes awhile for people to adjust to new co-workers.
Change is good, but people don't like change; especially at work.

If you think this is bad, wait until you get a promotion .

YMMV

Simple solution: Tell them, if they can't keep up, they should hire more people at their end. If they say they don't want to do that (because of the cost of new employees), then tell them to do overtime. If they say they don't want to do that either (for the same reason, or perhaps they don't want to work longer hours), then tell them to stop goofing off and get to work, as you aren't going to dumb down your speed for anyone! And, do use the phrase "dumb down your speed". It will let them know they are out of line with their request.

You are essentially asking others to be understanding of you when you have just demonstrated that you are not willing to be understanding of others.

I'm not a particularly fast worker. In fact, like many with AS, because I process information differently I often work slower than others on certain tasks but I am certainly not lazy or stupid; in fact, the quality of my work when I'm finished is usually far superior to that of others. When I read your post it was very apparent to me by your perceptions that you are not very well versed in how the brain actually works, but I refrain from calling you stupid (as you have called people such as your co-workers and others who do not work as fast as you) because I am fairly knowledgeable on these things and I know that just because you have deficits and lack of knowledge in some areas, does not mean that you have deficits and lack of knowledge across the board. However there are many individuals who would not think you were very intelligent based on the comments you made.



I get it. Yet because I do, and you don't, is that reason for me to call you stupid? Are others on the spectrum stupid because they have language delays even if they can solve complex puzzles? What about people who can't read because they are dyslexic? Are they stupid because they have trouble reading simple words even if they might be able to work long math problems in their head? Are people with dyscalculia stupid because they can't do simple mental arithmetic, even though they might be able to spell any word off the top of their head?

And what does it matter if someone has a high performance IQ anyway (that is likely what you have), if their social IQ is so low that they alienate everyone and get fired all the time?

This is what I would do if I were you.

1. Keep working at the pace you feel comfortable working but pace out how fast you pass the work along to others. No matter how much your boss likes you, if enough people complain about you, you will likely get fired.

2. You don't have to understand how someone can struggle with things you do easily. However you should try to accept that they struggle with them and accommodate that to some degree. At the same time, you should try to convince yourself that that doesn't make them stupid because they might be good at things you struggle with.

That will surely get her fired.

Last edited by Chronos on 05 Feb 2012, 6:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

That's just messed up. You do good at your job so others want you to not do as good because it makes them "look bad" yet I highly doubt they would want to make any accommodations for you if they were the ones ahead and you were the one lagging behind.

There is a difference between him slowing everyone else down and everyone else slowing her down. She cannot run the company on her own yet they can run the company without her.

The most important thing when working in a system with others is cohesion and synchronization.

She can continue to work at the pace he does. She should simply heed her boss's advice and delay passing her work along to the next department.

I worked in industrial quality control for several years, and I think I can help with this situation.

Your job is just one part of a larger organization. It's part of a system. If one part of the system is operating out of synch with the other parts -- regardless of whether it is operating more or less efficiently than the other parts -- the system will break down. This is what is happening in your situation. Doing your job well isn't so much a matter of doing it quickly, it's a matter of doing it in such a way that the overall goal of the organization is met, and at the moment your efforts are not working toward meeting that goal.

Request a meeting or teleconference with your superior and ask what your daily throughput should be in order to ensure that the system works efficiently. They should be able to give you a number. If they can't, then you can gently suggest that they confer with the supervisor of the workers downstream and get back to you with a number. Once you have the information, meet that daily throughput number, but no more. Any more than that, and you will be no longer doing your job at maximum efficiency. Let them know that they will have to inform you if the throughput number changes in the future. It may be that once the initial backlog is worked through, you will be able to increase your throughput again.

It's not a race to see who does the most. You have no way of knowing if your part of the job is as difficult or as involved as the part the workers downstream are fulfilling. There may also be unavoidable delays from further downstream that you simply don't know about. The point is to work with your team, not compete with them, and to show that you are willing to do what it takes for the organization as a whole to succeed.

You work from home? So why is it so hard to chill out a bit? You can do a little of your work and then do something else while you wait for them to catch up; cruise the internet, read a book, play a video game, take a degree course inbetween work sessions, or whatever else you would like to do. Sounds great to me. I can't envision ever being in that situation. I usually do stuff too slow, due to being disorganized and concentration problems.

I could understand it being a problem if you were at work hanging around with 0 opportunities to amuse/educate/occupy yourself.

I agree with both pschristmas & Moog. You need to ask how you can work within the system. I have the same problem. In some areas I can work extremely fast, focused, & efficient. I've learned how to pace things in order to me demands/expectations. I've also learned how to get things done quickly, then chill out for a while. We all have to make adjustments in our lives at various times.

Good luck!

i noticed others at my workplace are slow they do things at last moment
i cant do that
well i just dont know how to go about so i just stopped
interfering and doing my share of work