Changing the goalposts

[Madwoman5]

Long one I am afraid.....
I work for a small company in a senior management position. When I started five years ago, I was in a different role. I had three working for me. Over time, my team has either left and not been replaced or have been made redundant.
When the company was struggling, my budget was cut and I was reassigned to other projects; all within or expanding my skillsets and all requiring continuous learning which I have found really interesting and varied. I now hold about seven roles within the business and love it.
Two weeks ago, I met with the big boss who has decided to change my role again. 99% of the content of the role is absolutely fine. However, there is a small but significant job in there that I am not happy taking on. At my age, I am more than aware of my strengths and weaknesses and so far, the company have always assigned me to roles that push my abilities in skillsets where I am competent and can deliver with focus, learning and effort.
This one thing is a role I did 30 years ago for four years and was useless at it. Not only that, but I hated every moment of it. It is like going back 30 years to that point again and I feel sick. At the time, I recognised I had given it a good shot and just was not the right person to do that job and moved onto something I could excel at.
The boss cannot see the issue, despite me trying to explain and is pressuring me to do this as the board need to see that we are all generating revenue for the business. The other items on my job description are revenue generating too and I have no issue with them. However, this one is turning into a can of worms.
He does not see the problem. He keeps mentioning the bigger picture, he has no one else in the business to do this (he has just made the one person who can do this, redundant as there is not enough other work to fill a whole role).
The other gripe is that I have not had a pay rise in five years and my recent request for a pay review was declined due to funding. Not even a pay rise would make me accept this one though!
There is another meeting lined up soon and I know this is going to be discussed again. How can I get him to see that this is not something I want to revisit. It is non negotiable for me. I really enjoy the varied roles I am given, the environment I work in and I like the people I work with so do not want to consider resignation but this one could be a deal breaker for me.... any advice on how I can make him listen?

[daisychain01]

I'm struggling a bit on this - how can something that is only 1% of your job role cause you such a concern, and why is this 1% task so significant to your boss?

Unless you and he can reach some degree of compromise, he stands to lose someone who has given the company great service (without any increased remuneration for 5 years, presumably because of hard times) and you stand to lose a role you obviously enjoy.

I'm trying to think of something I really hate and would be crap at... say cold calling new sales leads and trying to get them to sign up to a 6 month trial ... and even that wouldn't stop me from agreeing to it, if it meant me keeping 99% of the good aspects of the job.

Dont we all have to do some aspects of a job we can't stand...?

[flowery]

Wow OP, aren't you lucky! You've found yourself in a job which is 'really interesting and varied' and that you 'love', and which there is only 1% of which you dislike. Fantastic!

I'd suggest you agree to trial this 1% task for a few months and see if it can work you doing it, and if not, revisit.

[Slimthistime]

hi there
sorry to say this OP but it's not about the boss being unable to see it.

they don't care about it.

Sometimes it is a shock to these people when someone resigns, sometimes it isn't, sometimes they are actively seeking it. When I left my last job, I explained the issues to my manager on the Tuesday, she said she'd think it over, on Thursday said "no changes will be made to address your worries" and then when I resigned on the Monday she said "Is there anything we can do to change your mind".

sometimes these people just think they have you over a barrel and you must have no other options. It's bizarre but true.

I suspect the way you've allocated % in your post is a bit wrong btw

but I'd have a think about what you want to do. If you think they'd make changes if they realised you'd leave - would you? - then it's worth saying "we need to come to an arrangement" - or are you actually prepared to say "oh well, no compromise, I'll have my resignation with you later today"?

[OatcakeCravings]

It must be more than 1% if it's causing you this angst? Hard to say without knowing what it is but if you did it 30 years ago the task may have moved on? Become more automated, easier?

[Madwoman5]

My boss likes to get his own way - always.... and can come over as uncompromising. This will turn into a battle of wills just because he wants me to do this and I do not.

This "bit" is something he wants me to spend 50% of my working week doing so is a bit more than 1%. The other items on the list are planned for the remaining days (which, I believe, based on past experience, is unrealistic due to the complexity and time it takes to do them). You are not far off your guess as to the job he wants me to do!

[Madwoman5]

Let me clarify that better. The role is 1% of the list of things he wants me to do. However, he wants me to spend 50% of my week on that 1% of the list, if that makes sense!

[flowery]

Very difficult to advise when one minute virtually all your job is great and there's one 1% thing you don't like, and the next minute your job has changed significantly to the extent of being 50% something you don't like.

If it's 50% rather than 1% then unless significant amounts of your job are being reallocated elsewhere, I suggest you focus on a lack of capacity.

[Madwoman5]

Flowery. 1% of the list of things they want me to do is the issue. However, that 1% of the list will represent 50% of my time, hence the use of the description "small (as in on the list of things) but significant (as in the time he wants me to allocate to it)". I have not accepted this list yet as the discussion coming up will be for him to persuade me it is in my best interests to do as I am told. Capacity is something that is of concern but not to him. I regularly work unpaid overtime because of my position in the company. I work until the work is done and he knows that. The other issue is that this job is supposed to be done (traditionally) by another person, who cannot do it due to capacity issues because, I suspect, he is doing some of the work that the boss should be doing. So all very political.