About a year and half ago my company went through major transition. For a while we were not sure if our only client (contracted more than 30 years) was going to stay with us. During this time we lost about 80% of my department to them leaving for other jobs. After the situation stabilized we went on a major hiring spree during the first half of 2017.

I am one of the most experienced people left so for several months in 2017 my main responsibility was hands on training after our new hires spent 2 weeks learning the computer system. Unfortunately due to the low wage (compared to other companies in our area) my employer was offering our management had to hire less than desirable staff. Some worked out and some didn’t. Also unfortunate, my company will not let ANYONE go unless under extreme circumstances and they are not the same religion as the owner of the company.

One of the ladies I trained now works on the same accounts as I do. I’m so tired of fixing her mistakes. These are not just simple errors but complete laziness and a disregard for our standard operating procedures (SOP). She’s shining when it comes to production but in almost a year she has yet to pass any of the quality audits. Due to the fact she is an active member in our owner’s church as well as a member of his prayer team at work our manager cannot take any action against her, including write ups. Instead our manager is pulling her for special instruction while I’m cleaning up after her.

I recently started learning about Buddhism and am trying to improve myself after finally admitting I needed help with my mental health, especially anxiety. While I’m still a drifting agnostic Buddhism is helping me with coping skills but I’m still having trouble dealing with the situation. My manager has told me that hopefully when she gains some more experience she’ll realize why our SOPs were developed and start following them to serve our client better but I’m frequently running out of patience when it costing our clients and, therefore us, money.

To make things more stressful I recently found out that upper management is desperately trying to get another client. They cut our year end bonuses to a fracture of what they had been previously and when a team leader was having a meltdown he let out that upper management is not expecting our client to renew the contract after 2018 due to the amount of money they have lost since the transition. I’ve found that the client is hiring people who do our jobs so more than likely they are moving our jobs in house where they will save money by using their staff paid hourly instead of paying us 10% of all we collect for them. These errors that my co-worker and others are still making may be costing us our jobs at the end of the year.

I’m trying to improve my skills and gain some certifications that I need as well as going back to school for a degree. Also, I’m already applying for jobs with other companies. I believe I could get a job with our current client but the division I’m working in is under a different state and the wages they are hiring under is not enough for me to move.

Sorry about the War and Peace novel but I wanted to fully explain what was causing me the most stress right now. I’m following some steps and exercises my psychiatrist has given me as well as taking an anti-anxiety med but any tips or help on how to be more clear headed during this mess would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.