AIBU for thinking my work colleague underworks?

[Wendywoodd]

There is a bit of issue with my department, performance and team morale. I’m on the bottom level of salary/responsibility and have two colleagues. One works full time and I job share.

We were going to approach our new boss due to various issues and I wanted to mention workload. My colleague who works full time said “no don’t mention workload because they will think you aren’t up for the job”?

The said work colleague is in a bit of trouble with management and they’ve cited they don’t think she does enough work.... but I’ve never done her job so I don’t know.

AIBU for thinking she is happy with her workload and doesn’t want more, even though the two part timers are struggling?

How do you know about the performance issues?

Sticking your head above the parapet is not always a wise career move, I've found. I'd take a rather more cautious approach, particularly regarding what your colleagues do/don't do. Stick to specifics about your role as much as possible and try to keep out of anything else.

* comments by management stating she’s not doing enough work.*

Management sound poor

[quote Wendywoodd]@KitchenFairy the FT worker also shares jobs that we do. Eg group emails have to be responded within 48 hours and some tasks done weekly. There are a lot of tasks that the FT can do to help everyone out.

Without going into to much detail, she’s already been told to do some tasks and there have been comments by management stating she’s not doing enough work. Again, I can’t go into specifics but it’s not straight forward.

I was more focusing on what she would mean by her comment.[/quote]
Could be they want her to do more of your work as they feel the jobshare isn’t working.

Its really unusual to have different people doing the same job. I think you should approach this as you want to be clear about your objectives and responsibilities. Nothing to do with your colleague.

Focus purely on what you are being asked to do and what you can achieve in your hours.

What other people do is utterly immaterial.

This is purely about you, and what your concerns are, so talk to your lime manager. And do not under any circumstances,mention your colleagues

@Dishwashersaurous

Its really unusual to have different people doing the same job. I think you should approach this as you want to be clear about your objectives and responsibilities. Nothing to do with your colleague.

Focus purely on what you are being asked to do and what you can achieve in your hours.

What other people do is utterly immaterial.

This is purely about you, and what your concerns are, so talk to your lime manager. And do not under any circumstances,mention your colleagues

It’s not unusual It’s call a “job share”

@Lentillover1900 Jobshare or a group of people working in the same team doing the same job.

@Dishwashersaurous
Yes I agree but the job is such that other departments and contractors relay on the work my job title does (I’m Admin). So unfortunately I can’t bury my head in my work colleagues work, because it’s having an affect on my work and the teams performance (which had been noted).

It’s not just a case of being in a bad mood and pointing fingers, it’s about finding solutions and identifying how each of us can improve and help each other. Complete team work.

As Admin spoke to the line manager as a team, I felt it was important we approached it as a team. As she didn’t want to approach it as a team, I approached my manager alone.

As I’ve been stating, there have been a lot of procedures changes and I can’t get into detail. I do focus on myself a lot, and how I can improve. But ultimately If I’m being stretched to much my boss needs to be aware as we all share the same boss.

[quote Wendywoodd]@Lentillover1900 Jobshare or a group of people working in the same team doing the same job.[/quote]
Did you mean to address that to me?
I know what a job share is
Doesn’t your job fall in to this category?

I'm confused. Are you in a jobshare with the full time person?

You need to have separate objectives and responsibilities.

Or at a minimum have which tasks you do each on which day

@Dishwashersaurous sorry I shouldn’t have mentioned job share. All three of us work in X department and are responsible for six areas in total. Until recently myself and someone else would do work for three of the areas. We are now doing work for two areas and we have KPIs due to new procedures written by management. We part timers say it’s not achievable. The person working full time is responsible for two areas. I’m not saying all areas have equal footing, but the sharing of jobs was much more equal before.

However the department is generating heaps more work in my colleagues area (which I’ve stepped away from but will be helping with, because it’s more important/time sensitive than mine).

I’m really confusing things.... because if I could give names and job titles, it would be clearer.

Anyway my concern is that if my work colleague isn’t able to support me when I wanted to discuss as a team workload and cited “not up for the job”, am I being unreasonable. Ideally I needed her to stop ignoring emails in the group inbox as I was coming to work and she wouldn’t do much of that. That would mean 25% of my work day was spend dealing with half the day of unanswered emails.

But anyway.... as I said, I’m telling half the story:

So the ft person is doing her job, but you think that she should be doing more and it seems that the other pt person is not able to keep up with the work and is leaving you to sort through unanswered emails?

I say this as why would the ft person be responsible for answering you and the other part timers emails if they are not to do with her area?

Sorry. Still confused.

And you still need to focus on what you can do and what is achievable.

Eg if someone needs to monitor and deal with a group inbox it makes sense for that to be one person otherwise get confusing.

So Monday and Tuesday you deal with the inbox.

Wed, Thursday, Friday your colleague does.

Then be really clear about what your other tasks are, and how many hours they take to

@FrippEnos

So the ft person is doing her job, but you think that she should be doing more and it seems that the other pt person is not able to keep up with the work and is leaving you to sort through unanswered emails?

I say this as why would the ft person be responsible for answering you and the other part timers emails if they are not to do with her area?

That is usually the case in job shares. One person underperforms due to a variety of reasons and the other person picks up the slack - but in the case of a failure you are both considered to blame. Not the full time person who has her own seperate job. This is why jobsharing should only be done with someone you have worked well with before.

Honestly I would say the JS isn’t working and you need to be honest with your manager. If you’re working ft anyway you might as well get paid for it and ditch the job share partner

You need to go to your manager and be really specific.

Eg there is an backlog being created because the shared inbox is not being picked up on my non working day. Shall I put an out of office on and say that things are not going to be dealt with on those occasions

I don't think that it is a jobshare.

I think it is a joint team, like admin support and the op has a backlog to deal with on her working days. Which is what happens when you are part time.

But if the backlog is business critical then someone needs to pick it up

@Dishwashersaurous yes got it in one! Thank you for putting into words what I can’t.

Now the real reason.... my work colleague saying that she didn’t want me to raise the work load issue because I would be seen as incapable of doing the work.

@FrippEnos it’s not out emails, it’s emails that someone has to pick up and deal with. It’s time specific. As she’s in all day and had her area, she can also pick up the group emails. But she barely reads nor acts on them. So as a result when I start work 6 hours after she’s started work, I question what activities she has been doing. We shouldn’t be getting personal emails btw, they all go through one mail box.

So why is it the full time persons fault you come back to work and not your job share? To use a MN trope, I don't think you like FT person very much?
There are a lot of tasks that the FT can do to help everyone out. and As she works more hours I feel she can have more responsibility for some tasks that are more effective when spread out via the day says who and why are you and your job share not doing them?

Do you question what your job share is doing and why they haven't answered them?

You need to stop caring about what your colleague thinks or says.

You need to very calmly say that you are starting every shift dealing with a backlog because no one else deals with the shared inbox.

Then management will either say that is ok and things can be dealt with late

Or come up with a solution

@MichelleScarn I’m not on a job share.

Apologies re the job share, it was mentioned further up, but still why is it all on the ft person rather than its also the other pt?

@Dishwashersaurous I do what she thinks or says, because like you said, I’m trying to find solutions to the problem. I asked her to approach it as a team, because I know the other Pt is feeling the same way.

As the FT staff member suggested that she had no issues with her work load and that she didn’t want to raise the concern, I can only assume her work load is fine. Therefore when I’m busting my balls because 9/10 emails haven’t been actioned despite her starting work 5 hours before me, I will suggest to my boss that I need assistance so I can oversee my area fully.

My boss (who's fairly new to the team and managing us) agreed with what I said. As a result more work has been forward to my colleague to do.

if you have already talked to your boss then what is your question?

Your colleague is happy with her workload, you are not.

One option, but not the only option is for her to do some of your work.

However, there are lots of options. Stop doing some areas of work. Hire more people. Change internal processes etc