I need to leave my job

[CoronationChicken]

I can’t cope any more.

I’m a solicitor. I work three days per week. My caseload is the same as a full timers case load. They acknowledge this is “not ideal” but the reality is that we are so under resourced that there is literally nowhere else for the work to go. We are all working at capacity and it just keeps piling on.

I work every night once my children are in bed, often till 1, 2am just trying to keep on top and meet deadlines.

My babies are 4 and 18 months and I can’t enjoy any time with them because I am always worrying about work. Stressed. Snappy. Checking my email for the latest issue that’s kicked off.

I can’t take it any more. But I don’t know what to do next.

I have nowhere else to go. It will be very very difficult to get work at three days. I don’t want to go to another firm. I want out of this game altogether.

On my lunch just now and I am panicky.

I speak as a business owner & manager of staff. You need to go to your boss now & say this. The company needs to do 1 of 3 things: hire more staff, 2) reduce your work load, or 3) up their rates to reduce work load whilst maintaining income.
If they are underresourced due to lack of supply of qualified lawyers, they will not want to lose you, and should accommodate you.
Do not discount the availability of part-time work. If you are good at you job, you can find it.
Law firms are notoriously badly managed.
Good luck!

"My caseload is the same as a full timers case load. They acknowledge this is “not ideal”"

That is not a good enough response. They are getting two days' worth of work free from you each week. It's outrageous. Don't do the extra work. It's not your problem where it goes. Give the cases (or whatever the work is) back to your boss and what happens with it is down to them. You are paid for three days a week, plus whatever overtime we all suck up in a career like this, but what you're describing is way beyond that and simply not acceptable, especially in a private business where they can't even use your sense of public duty to run you into the ground. Fuck that. If the alternative is walking, you've got nothing to lose by going hardline. They need to hire more resources, but essentially the solution is theirs to sort. Your solution is working three days and that's all.

I know so many people (including myself) who feel like you do, juggling a stressful career with a young family. You really are not alone.

Years ago we wouldn't have been able to take our work home but the pressure now is always to be available and 'on'.

I think you have to consider your own wellbeing and that of your family above work. I think the lightbulb moment for me was when a manager told a very competent colleague the 'no one was irreplaceable'.

As a solicitor as well I'd say leave - your headstone won't read "great solicitor sacrificed her time to get the job done" sadly you are just a number to them. Go to the GP get some counselling requested to help with your anxiety and get signed off. Look for another role and the leave. Good luck OP - your mental health is not worth losing over a job.

Thank you. I feel like I have made the decision that I need to get out. I just have no idea what to do next. Don’t have the luxury of leaving with nothing to go to.

Can you go in-house, legal/govt service or risk/compliance, PSL.

What is your area of expertise. There are many (ex-)solicitors on mn who will be able to help. If you put 'solicitors' in your thread title, you will draw them out.

Hey just wanted to say I was stuck in a similar position but I stuck it out so long I ended up with almost a nervous breakdown. My mental health suffered Terribly and I ended up walk g away form a job that was making me desperately unhappy. I had a year off and the. Started back to a new job in baby steps. I have not once regretted my decision. Making the decision is the hard part, you can take action now you have decided. Good luck OP

Hi @CoronationChicken I entirely understand not being able to leave without something else think about sick leave check your policies make the job work for you for a change. Agree with other pp re looking for new roles I note flexibility is important for you have a look at LPC law if you want to stay in the profession - please DM me if I can help further - good luck

Another solicitor here. It does sound like a nightmare.

Why are you so sure that you won’t get a proper part time role? We employ lots of people on 3 days a week and don’t give them a full time caseload! Are you in a particularly niche area that makes it really difficult?

This isnt ideal but what about going full time? You should be paid the money and it’ll give you more time. Then you can look for something else?

Agree it's just not worth our mental well being to stay in such a job.

On a cautious note - don't go to GP and get signed off with stress if you're using it as a period of time to be off work but looking for another job (obviously go if you're genuinely stressed!). Being diagnosed with stress follows you around for life - you have to declare it on mortgage applications, life insurance etc.

leave leave leave! asap. another solicitor here. I've been in firm that tried this sort of nonsense. best thing I ever did was get out of there. I actually had a nightmare about it when I met an old colleague and she told me things with much the same/worse.
I left and have since had 3 jobs at differet sized firms all varying degrees of part time and much more mangable work load.

If you’re working until 2am you will be doing FT hours anyway won’t you (unpaid)?
You can’t carry on with what you’re doing now, it’s not sustainable.
I think you need to start refusing more work as you are already working beyond capacity for 3 days. What happens if you miss deadlines?

I’ve been looking at jobs this evening and I have actually found a non legal one that I’m going to apply for. Looks alright! They’ll consider part time applications as well.

I would love to go in-house but I live in a small city and opportunities are pretty limited.

I didn’t know that about stress. I don’t really want to be signed off anyway it would put incredible strain on my colleagues who for the most part are not to blame for this.

It’s just such a fiasco. I was sobbing in the car home tonight. That’s not right.

I want to stay part time if possible. Feel like my wee one is so little. I don’t want to put her in full time nursery.

I'm assuming you work in the private sector? Does your company have an occupational health department? If so get a referral.

Do you have a line manager? Have you discussed this with them?

It's really unfair to you.

Depending on your area of law, you could do locum work. It pays well.

You've worked hard to get where you are...it would be a shame to not work in your profession as a result of your company taking advantage.

The fact is they're taking on more cases than they have the resources for.

You must be very stressed and overwhelmed. You cannot see clearly. You are working fulltime hours for 60% of the pay. If you are working fulltime they will be getting fees to cover a fulltime employee.

It is their problem to solve. Refuse to do the extra and leave or look for another job.

Sorry. I'll rephrase that. They don't have a problem. This situation is in fact ideal for them. It is their business and if they are unwilling to put more resources in it shouldn't be up to you to make up the shortfall.

My husband work does this and it drives me mad.

Another vote for leave. I got to the point in an old job where my boss was so bullying, I couldn't sleep, eat, I was a nervous wreck. One day, I picked up my handbag and left. When straight to the docs, got signed off for 2 weeks with work related stress and quit at the end of 2 weeks. My overriding feeling was 'why didn't you do this ages ago??' I started a new job about a week after that. You are never stuck. If you don't like where you are, move. You are not a tree! 💪🏼

Good luck!

What area of law do you specialise in? I work in family and at a previous firm had a similar situation, albeit at 5 days a week. It was affecting my mental health as I knew I was doing a rubbish job for my clients. I moved to a different firm and the situation couldn't be more different. There are jobs out there for part time solicitors. Also, not to scare you but working with such a heavy case load is going to lead to nothing but mistakes and possible complaints by clients. My fear was being eventually being struck off if my heavy workload continued. I really would get out if you can.

Definitely leave. I was FT previously but working every hour god sent with zero support. Worse still, I had a boss who played awful games and dropped hearings (higher rights) on me last minute in cases he thought he was going to lose and blamed me.

I was poorly all the time, lost my hair, had IBS, depression, anxiety and panic attacks and one day actually contemplated (as I was driving along) driving my car into a wall so I wouldn’t have to go to work (I later found out that wouldn’t have worked anyway as shortly afterwards he berated me for being off sick (caused by him) saying “unless you’re dead I expect you to be working, you can check emails from a hospital bed”).

I quit, took some time off and am now in a different role, PT with 9-5 hours, no checking emails evenings, weekends or holidays (I stipulated this on interview).

Absolute best thing I ever did. My hairs not grown back but it’s stopped falling out, IBS gone, am no longer sick all the time but do still have anxiety attacks, particularly social anxiety which I think has been caused by my confidence being destroyed by that firm (mostly him).

Can you maybe do a PSL role?

I am a family law solicitor and have always been able to work part-time at various different firms and my case load and target has always been 'pro-rataed' accordingly.
I am almost embarrassed to admit but I rarely stay much later than an hour after finish time at most, and rarely take work home. They are flexible if I have to arrive late or leave early to drop off or pick up.
Don't give up on law. You have worked hard to get into the profession. But find a decent firm that treat you properly and value your skills without exploiting you.
It doesn't have to be like that.

I'm a solicitor and work 3 days a week. I occasionally work a bit late (hour or so) but I don't do work on my days off (unless pre-arranged for an event and I get paid extra or take time off in lieu). I also don't take work home.

What area are you in? The firm sound like the problem. I have been offered quite a few jobs on a part time basis so don't rule that out. The profession is really struggling to recruit at the moment and as a result they're being more flexible than they once were. I thought it would be impossible to get three days a week but I got offers from 3 different firms for 3 day weeks.

No job is worth your health OP. Are you on 3 months' notice? Can you afford to just quit and start looking?

I am also a professional woman with 4 children and work in a very busy hospital as a consultant so I am acutely aware of how difficult it is to do a highly stressful job along with bringing up children. I think you need to go meet with your manager and tell him your workload is totally unacceptable and you are not willing to continue working under the current conditions and ask what is going to be done for you. I am horrified that you are doing work at home. Us working mothers have to separate work and home time completely in order to successful in either go to your doctor if things don’t change ASAP. This is entirely unsustainable

User1983 this is exactly where I am. Clients chasing me constantly. Terrified of inevitably making a mistake.

I’m an employment lawyer but I never wanted to be.