It just doesn’t take me the entire working day to do my allocated work. So I have two options
- Pick up other people’s work (my manager would tell me too so I’m not being a martyr)
- Do nothing
Or speak to your manager first because right now they haven't directed you to do it, ask if there's other things different to your current role that can develop your skills.
Or slow yourself down and don't pick up other people's work because getting through your work and sorting out other people's isn't the sort of thing that gets people moved sideways or upwards, if anything in my experience it's how people get trapped or stuck long term. If you're paid to get through your work, get through your work, keep an eye on training, secondments, look at what opportunities are going elsewhere.
If they do direct you to do it then that opens up another conversation about appropriate pay and progression, but also it raises the question about wasted resources if they're funding X number of posts to do a task but X number of posts isn't needed (but that's not your problem that's for the manager to manage properly).
There was a sense of 'its unfair, but i do so much more' running through your posts. It might not have been intended but it was there, combined with suggesting you can't progress if you don't get as much shadowing as you want.
Shadowing is time consuming for the people having others shadowing. It slows their productivity down. Often the shadowing is watching and asking questions, not trying to do the other job. It's good to have people shadow you and it's important, but it does affect your workload.
It's annoying and frustrating feeling stuck in a job, but I've shared a few lists of things that can be done to advance your career without taking the hard done to line. You catch more flies with honey, take the opportunity, use it to your advantage and keep your eyes open. You may during the shadowing want to speak to someone who manages the new department about prospects there.
Of course it depends on the nature of the job because if it's entry level or fairly generic office work then you may find that staff at that level are deemed replaceable, whereas roles that have a bit more specific training or skills attached to the employee may lead to more flexibility from the employer.