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I just took on more work than I can handle and I'm not sure what to do.
zepherin
Russian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered User regular
Russian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered User regular
At my job I am in a government employee, and I have been working what is essentially one and a half jobs for the past year, which is fine, it kept me pretty busy. Another employee with a heavy workload rolled out without a lot of notice (roughly 3 hours of notice). I've been tasked with that employees duties. I would rather do his position when everything is said and done. It is a lateral move, but a favorable one with better career options.
However I'm stuck.
I can only get so much comp time and if I go crazy with it I'm going to be constrained to 40 hours a week.
If my computer wasn't 10 years old I might be able to manage better.
I can either let my old duties lapse to keep my new boss happy and keep the new duties going well.
Or
I can keep my old duties up to date and let my new duties lapse a bit and chalk it up to a learning curve.
Since this is the government it would take them roughly 8-10 weeks to fill the position if they started today. It took them a year from the time my predecessor left to when I stepped foot onto the facility, so it can take up to a year.
Where do I manage the balance?
However I'm stuck.
I can only get so much comp time and if I go crazy with it I'm going to be constrained to 40 hours a week.
If my computer wasn't 10 years old I might be able to manage better.
I can either let my old duties lapse to keep my new boss happy and keep the new duties going well.
Or
I can keep my old duties up to date and let my new duties lapse a bit and chalk it up to a learning curve.
Since this is the government it would take them roughly 8-10 weeks to fill the position if they started today. It took them a year from the time my predecessor left to when I stepped foot onto the facility, so it can take up to a year.
Where do I manage the balance?
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Later, if your boss comes back and asks why A & B have not been kept up to date, you can reference the conversation you had and ask if his priorities have changed and would like you to focus more on A & B.
The goal here is to communicate what you can do and what you need to your manager so you are all on the same page.
You need to address this with your boss(es?). They need to know the work load you started with and the workload you now have because of these extra duties.
Explain that you'd love to help out with the opening, and actually would like to end up filling that position, but that your current workload simply does not give you enough extra time to do so, and that you need one or the other to be eased.
You need to be honest and frank, and not kill yourself. You can only do what you can do, and if they don't lighten your load, then just do what you can manage and frequently report to each boss what you didn't have time to get done. If they get grumpy, go to their bosses.
The person who assigned me is over both of them, but he is scheduled to retire next month.
but they're listening to every word I say
BCC: Own Personal Archive Email Address
Subject: Exciting New Opportunities and Resources
"Hi Bosses,
As you know I'm doing my job x, some of position y and with the departure have been assigned job z. I am excited to do all the work in the world as a go getting team player! When I have conflict between my 2.5 jobs what sort of prioritization would you like me to use? In my unique position of serving two masters because I'm doing all the work in the world I'm a little unclear on what takes priority.
Additionally, I fear my current stone tablets might be the limited factor for my workflow, is it possible to consolidate the IT resources for these positions and maybe get an abacus?"
Sincerely,
Guy doing all the Work in the World."
Essentially document that you're doing lots more, make reasonable requests about resources to your managers and document document document. Remember, they're managers and resource allocation is their thing. If you run out of time, tell them and let it be their problem. It is essentially their job.
If you can't convince anyone to tell you what to do, and if you have this kind of discretion, I recommend telling the new boss that you very, very much would like to apply to the lateral-move position when it is advertised and you're very sorry that you can only give it 20% time (or 0% time) at the moment, but you haven't been able to free up as many of your hours as you'd hoped. This kind of conversation would be possible in my workplace, but certainly not in every workplace. I think it's unfair to leave your old boss (even more) shorthanded, while it's the fault of the guy who quit without notice that the new boss has to make a hire. If your bosses will retaliate against you for saying they are shorthanded instead of pretending you're a slow learner, that's an unfortunate situation that you can't really win.
Possibly your managers could use a weekly task list from you, so if each of them can only have 60% of the work they wanted from you, they can at least pick which 60%.
As it's government and likely not a high-viz position, you will not get anything for any level of sacrifice you proffer, so don't kill yourself so someone else can be lazy.
Don't play go-between. Put both managers in the room with you and have all of you hash it out.