To think I can't carry on like this at work?

[isthatatree]

I work in admin and am currently managing about twice as much as the "limit" is set for someone working full time.

I did this during march-sept period as there was literally no choice also most of them went quite due to covid so it wasnt really twice as many.

Anyway now it has all picked up again and I literally have twice as much work as I should at full capacity. I am STRUGGLING to cope, I am missing things (making customers angry), then I have to spend ages resolving those and end up missing more things. It is a vicious cycle.

I am not paid well and if it wasnt for the current situation I would leave. I have raised this and we got a new team member but they are so scared of overloading him and scaring him off that it is making no difference to my work. It just means I have all my work and someone to train.

I have raised this too and they just say it will get better when he is trained, that will take months before he is signed off to work independently. I am not willing to keep working into my evenings and weekends because it is making me miserable.

Would I be unreasonable to say to them that I will do what I can in my hours and then thats it? If it all goes wrong my manager can resolve it? Sounds harsh but I am so stuck!

No of course you wnbu. How long have you been working there.

A couple of years and there is an awful lot of "don't worry it will get better when XYZ happens" this never happens!

I think you should be asking for a pay rise too

Please stop and take a breath. They only pay you for your hours and it's management who need to step up. I wonder what response you'll have if you explain that it is stressing you to the point you might go off on sick? To be fair, you sound like you are there already.

Not sure what support you can access in work, a union rep, or a company wellbeing champion?

Please please only work your paid hours. I am in a similar situation but I am only working my paid hours. A few of my colleagues are working evenings unpaid which makes the rest of us look bad, even though management arent working extra. Before the pandemic we never worked out of our working hours. It is stressful isn't it!

Definitely stop working unpaid extra hours

It will become expected as the norm, and also means issues such as understaffing/training other members etc do not get dealt with

I'm a senior manager and I do work over and above fairly often but in your position you are doing yourself no favours.

Speak to your manager and explain that you are unable to work unpaid overtime, that your workload is too great and while you appreciate things will improve in the long term, you need assistance in the short term.

Good luck