Work help!

Hi guys, thanks for your advice.
I’ve decided to wait until my probation period ends before putting in a request for them to hire someone else (because being forced to participate in meetings and knowing absolutely nothing really sucks!).
I’m managing well at the moment, so I hope it stays that way.
Actually, some of the other employees have come up to me and urged me to talk to my boss about this so I’m glad that I at least work in an understanding environment.

Ina and Linda your previous workplaces sound AWFUL! I’m glad you guys got out of there. All that work load is made 10x worse if the other employees are unfriendly.

Lawliet sorry to hear about what you’re going through at work.

I have also been in that situation where I was working my job plus my manager’s job and another work colleague’s job (who is a higher APS level than me). The whole branch wasn’t a very supportive branch and it was definitely a toxic environment to work in. I was working 12 hours a day and sometime weekends where I wasn’t getting paid overtime. It was just too much and it made my health deteriorate.

I finally managed to get out end of last year by resigning from my permanent APS job since I just couldn’t take it. I have now found myself a better job and my stress level has gone down significantly.

I think having been in a similar situation as you is do what is best for you. If you can talk to someone that is supportive or maybe talk to someone in the HR area too.

If not, I think the last option is look for something else (as Roxy and Trish said) even though this might not be the ideal choice.

Good luck. I hope it will get better for you.

If you’re effectively now doing 2 full time jobs, it’d be too much work / stress long term – it can affect your physical & mental health if it continues too long.

You’d think they’d at least consider a part time admin person to help share the load so even if you’re picking up some extra duties you’re not doing all of them.

I’ve been in a situation which was toxic workwise – doubled up workload, frantically busy, I’d been there years, complained for 6 months straight & they didn’t fix it. I was looking at leaving, then the inevitable happened – I developed serious RSI & stress related issues & my health suffered terribly for a long time. Years and years where I couldn’t work. No job is worth that sort of life impact

I found myself in a similar situation in a previous role working for a small organisation – the worst part was probably doing work I was not initially hired to do and given only a day’s worth of training it was a little overwhelming. I think you just have be realistic with your manager and outline that it is too much otherwise it will be stressful. For me, it came to a head before anything was really done about it so it is not a pleasant situation to be in.

Sorry to hear that Lawliet. I was in a similar situation, twice actually, when I was in my old job. My colleagues in the same team weren’t really supportive; as a new person I was doing much more work than those who had worked there for >10 years. I was very stressed out for a while, I did get a few pay rises and a promotion for the extra work I was doing though.

I wasn’t really happy there, but I needed the job so I just took in all the work I was given. Probably not the best way to handle that. If you can, you can try talking to the HR manager.

Thanks Roxy and Trish 🙂

It’s a temp job until the end of June (with a possibility of it becoming permanent) and I’m still on my probationary period…which makes it a little tough to discuss with the boss at the moment.

The thing is that I really enjoy this job and I actually look forward to going there but all this extra work makes me feel like I’m suffocating!

I have spoken to my boss about how I’m feeling and he has organised for someone to “explain” things to me but what I really need is someone to share the responsibility with. I could go to my boss’ manager but I feel it would be best to wait until the end of my probation period. In the meantime, I’ll take you’re advice and just keep it slow, try to keep on top of it and leave all my work worries behind at the end of the day!

Thankfully I’ve recently taken up Taekwondo…so that helps me vent/relax after work.

I really feel for you, Lawliet. I’m not going to be much help and I’m pleased our Roxy has given you some good points to consider.

You can only ever do the best you can and I can’t imagine you doing any less than that. DON’T try to be superwoman, you’ll end up with it overpowering you.

I hope you have activities outside of work that you enjoy. Make the most of these, especially at the moment. TRY (I know that easy for me to say) to leave all the work worries behind when you leave each day and don’t allow yourself to feel YOU have to fix it all – YOU haven’t created ANY of the mess.

If you really like the work try to get on top of it, bit by bit, with assistance from your boss, if you don’t feel that it will become less overwhelming then, as Roxy says, think about something else.

Mega hugs hon. Take care of yourself and remember, take it, one day at a time.

This is a tough one but you appear to have the ability and know-how to do the new work. Are you on a probationary period? If so, you might be able to discuss the situation again at the end of the period to determine if you can be promoted given that you are doing more work (at a senior level) to that of the job you started. If you have an employment contract then you will need to refer to the contract and point out that your contract does not equate to the duties you are now undertaking.

Your boss sounds weak or s/he is taking advantage of you. Is the organisation a large one? Can you talk to the manager of your boss about the situation?

You may need to consider looking for another job if this situation persists as you don’t want to harm your health by being overwhelmed and becoming anxious because of unreasonable deadlines.

Let us know how things go. x