Work stress

[HermioneKipper]

Sorry for the late hour of posting but I am still up and finishing work that needs doing for tomorrow. I took a promotion earlier this year and am now really wishing I hadn’t.

The amount of work I have is just unmanageable and it seems that most people at my new level seem to have similar. A lot of my colleagues are at their desks at 7.30am and still there when I leave at 5.

I have to leave at 5 to get back for nursery pick up but I could easily be there for lots more hours. So I log in most evenings and weekends. I’m at breaking point, my marriage is suffering and I’m snappy with my daughter when I should be available to her.

The problem is that at a senior level they expect a lot and it seems to be a given that you’ll do well over your contracted hours. Is this standard at other places? I work in the civil service if that’s helpful. (So not banking or law where some friends work and looks much more stressful).

I just can my cope. I want to cry and often wish I could just leave.

Have spoken to many boss who is also overloaded but seems to manage her time better than I do.

If you are in the civil service you stand a better chance of negotiating your workload than somebody in the private sector.

First you need to work out why it’s taking you and your colleagues so long to get through your workloads. Is it sheer volume of repetitive work, or documenting all of your decisions because somebody else has decided that’s what you should do, or stuff that could be automated, for example? What’s driving the volume of work?

Could any of it be delegated?

Finally, do you think that the relative unfamiliarity of the work might mean that you’ll get through it more quickly when you have been in post for longer?

How does your boss cope? Has she or he made any suggestions?

I’m not going to say, “no job is worth this” etc., but do you really want to quit or drop down to your previous level? If not, you need to find a way of reducing your workload or coping differently.

Although working more than your contracted hours is expected when you are senior, working evenings and weekends regularly isn’t sustainable.

Thanks for the response. Yes think it will get better as I get more experience but am really struggling to find any kind of balance at the moment.

It’s mostly writing reports and briefings. Analysing figures, that sort of thing. Big budgetary pressures and not really enough staff to do the work.

But even when I’m more up to speed it will still be a job that’s way over my paid hours. I understand a bit of this is expected at a senior level but I suppose I was wanting to find out if every career is similar? If so maybe I’m just not cut out for a senior role.

If it’s too much, push back and say so. It takes guts, which is why your line manager and colleagues are struggling on. There’s a world of difference between “I just want to work 9 to 5 and I can’t cope with any stress so I’m not cut out for a senior role” and “This is too much for one person to cope with, and I can’t produce quality work under these circumstances, so here are my proposals for doing the value added work and either not doing X at all or delegating X”.

The civil service is notorious for making its own people jump through hoops. Let me guess: you’re writing endless business cases to convince a minister that you need to spend on something vital and giving regular updates to the people jumping up and down demanding that you tell them what the delay is. Whilst you can’t change the culture you can be courageous and say that you’re perfectly capable but what is being asked of you is too much, so something has to give.