Quality of Life while Working a “9-5” in Corporate Environment

Alright folks, I’ve just finished up a 1.5 year stint in my second Mortgage environment. For those that aren’t super familiar with Mortgage Companies and based on what I’ve seen in the 5 + years working for Mortgage companies it is not only brutal on your work life balance, but also on your mental capacity and at times your soul. Now, before I get accused of being overly dramatic and creating “my own mess” hear me out.

I’m going to lay out some tips and tricks for working in the Mortgage Industry and they may actually apply to the toxic 9-5 workplace you are currently employed at as well.

The first company I worked for in the business started great. I was told I would be working on the marketing team and help them increase their business. I have a degree in marketing/communication so this made sense. However, as time went on and they needed help in other areas, I was given instruction not to work on marketing because it was taking “too much” of my time. So…

Tip #1 do your job, work hard. But don’t be taken advantage of because you do.

What happened, in both instances, is that they saw my work ethic and valued my production. In many cases this should allow your company to see your value and create opportunities for growth. Unfortunately in my experience, has only helped them see that I can work and will work. So, I got piled on.

Benefit #1 – Creating more opportunities for yourself allows you to gain more experience and grow in different areas IF your company can see your worth.

I started out as the marketing girl. But in the end showed my worth in other areas.

Tip#2 – Stand UP for yourself, but be respectful about it.

It does not matter how other people see you, you should never have to listen to derogatory or negative comments, especially when you are doing your VERY best to do your job to the best of your abilities.

*Truth – this has taken me the longest to come to terms with and fight for not only in my industry but others as well.

Benefit #2 if your team and bosses know you will stand up for yourself when confronted with falsehoods or negative feedback they **may** work to give you only constructive feedback.

Tip #3 – Before you even accept an interview for a job, look at reviews. If possible get a chance to meet teammates, and get opinions on your specific job role and manager.

This is something I failed to do on both occasions. Do not follow my example. The second company had excellent reviews across the board, but I did not examine my particular job function or team. Keep in mind when doing this, that just because someone does not value the job, does not mean that it is not of value. But it is good to at least see what they think of it and how they view management.

Tip #4 – Do not work overtime for nothing. *this is not only illegal but highly unethical*

If you are ever asked to work more than your scheduled hours, be sure they are paying you overtime. If they are not, keep track of all your hours, this should be reported to the labor bureau. My first job did not ever ask me to work overtime, but expected me to daily, however, their policy was that they did not pay for any overtime hours.

I’m assuming that if I had kept my tally of overtime hours worked I would have had up to 60 overtime hours in the few months we were busiest.

Tip# 5 Do not accept additional responsibilities without asking for compensation.

You’ll remember in my above comment how I started as the marketing team, but quickly was enveloped with other responsibilities.

I accepted additional responsibilities, including but not limited to:

Insuring (All loans all programs) We were received hundreds of loans at a time that needed to be insured.
Lock Desk – I functioned as 1 of 2 people on the lock desk team.
Correspondent Loan processing (bulk buys) – I was responsible for ensuring all docs were included for each loan we purchased in a bulk sale.
Pool Submission (This responsibility included working with Fannie Mae to create pools and distribute loans to the pools for sale.
Post Closing Document Checks – I was also expected to audit files for errors and contact loan officers for signatures.
Phone back up- For a time there was not a receptionist and I was in charge of answering phones.
Assisted with scanning and sorting of final docs.
Training of new employees, hired to assist me.

All jobs shown above are for the first position only. The second position. I only assisted with the following.

I became a Notary Public and notarized almost every document produced by our team and final docs.
I trained every new team member despite having received very little/no training myself.

Benefit #3 – Doing more things in more areas give you experience in things you may not have had the opportunity to learn any other way. This can be a great addition to your resume.

Tip #6 – Demand Training for your responsibilities.

Honestly, this might be my biggest issue with both companies I worked for in the industry. I came in with ZERO knowledge of mortgages. I was not trained properly or completely at either job and was expected to gain the knowledge I needed from either trial and error or by learning on my own. I don’t mind doing this, but literally no one was able to train me because no one else knew how to do the job adequately either.

I worked with loan officers, closers and even underwriters who seemed to have no clue what they were doing. **This applied mostly to the second company**

I had to ask them to reverse work a number of times. Loans were locked with wrong rates, documents were issued for incorrect loan programs or not signed. It created some serious issues when it came to loans being purchased. We were sometimes waiting for months to get loans purchased because of major errors that would be avoided with proper training.

Tip #7 – Create easier ways to do the hard things.

I can’t tell you the amount of pushback I got for creating easier processes and procedures to do my work. In my personal opinion, there is nothing wrong with doing a hard task or a mundane task in a different or creative way. We are evolving creatures and we need to push for ideas that excite or at least make our jobs more manageable. I was able to work from home at the beginning of the pandemic with no issue until Management got nervous about my work ethic and what I was doing. ** the same management that gave me literally more responsibilities than I could do in a day** Not producing high volume was not an option no matter where my office was.

Tip #8 – Last but not least, expect more, better, and greater things.

I think this is the only thing that helped propel me to the next opportunity. You have to believe in yourself and expect others to do the same. If you are not being fairly compensated, find someone who will compensate you for your work and value what you can bring to the table. If you are being treated unfairly or being asked to do things outside your normal role, ask for compensation, or more flexibility. If you are working in a hostile environment. Tell someone!

I think in the end, I just decided to see the value in myself and reach for something that will allow me to grow and progress in my career. If you don’t have passion for your work it is just a job. If you can get a job that you like it can be a career and bring you joy and fulfillment. Workplaces are moving to an environment that allows for more work/life balance and this is essential to your mental and physical well being by creating shorter work weeks or week days this is something you should seriously consider when searching for your next opportunity.

Don’t be afraid to walk out in order to create a life that brings you joy and contentment.

Ladies and gents, if you are following me because you have chronic conditions you know how much more a bad work environment can affect our conditions. I urge you to take all of these things into consideration before choosing corporate America. There are so many places you can find that allow you to work remotely now, especially in our post-pandemic world. The ones I have previous suggested include: