How to say no

[Zig27]

I am in a new job. The supervisor said there is a backlog of files me and she will need to do. I have made a start but am unable to continue with the filing and archiving as my day job is more full on now.

Realistically we all know at work the organisation is not bothered about the staff otherwise they would have put in place sufficient amounts of staff to keep the paper files updated which current paper files are out of date. I dread to think if a customer wanted to see their file as it would not be ready.

The manager also expects the team to sort another load of files which are in the thousands with a 2 months deadline. Realistically a filing company would need to carry this as it is a separate project in itself.

I can feel myself getting stress and anxiety with physical ailments. I should not be feeling like this but am worried as the management will try and gaslight and say why have you not done this task even though it was from before I started the organisation. How can I make sure I am not bothered and not let if affect me? I am a team player but this filing is physically impossible.

Personally in these kind of situations I think all the supervisor/manager cares about is having delegated the task/not having to think about it any more, rather than it actually being done/done to a good standard. Realistically how often do customers actually ask to see their files and would it be a big issue if they were told they needed to wait a week, or whatever timescale is reasonable for it to be sorted for them (if it's a formal subject access request you are worried about there are timescales in the legislation for exactly this reason, many companies simply don't have their data as beautifully organised and at the tip of their fingers as would be ideal, I dread to think how many paper records are still stuffed into filing cabinets or cupboards up and down the land).

When you say your manager wants them 'sorted' how much discretion have you been given as to what that actually means? Because my methodology for dealing with little-used paper archives in the past has been to feed the entire file into a scanner without sorting it at all, then saving the PDF as one big document and shredding the paper, yes the file is not super usable compared to if you went through, ordered and indexed it nicely and paginated etc but my method does the job for the rare occasions we actually need the old files and is at least 10 times faster.

I think my approach to the situation in general particularly as it's a new job is to try and avoid saying an outright 'no' to the task or talking about how stressed it's making you, that shouldn't be seen as a negative but some people would take it that way. I would approach boss along the lines of, 'boss as you know my main priorities this week/month are XYZ that I think will take me most of the week, I can sort out 3 files (or however many you can reasonably do) around my other work if I scan them in wholesale, this should mean they are all completed by Easter (or whenever), I assume that is OK?' I would probably do it in an email rather than face to face, not just because I'm a bit cowardly about conflict but also allows her to ignore/not reply thus tacitly giving me permission to do it my way without having to actually back down .

If she says no or its not OK to do the whole scan method, then you'll need to say 'OK but that means I will struggle to do the XYZ other tasks, what would you like me to prioritise, or can help be brought in from another team or an external company, would you like me to look up how much it will cost?' Basically putting the ball back in her court, the beauty of her being your manager is it's her that will actually get in trouble if work isn't done, not you, so long as you can show you've done your level best and highlighted the issues to her...

@maxelly Thank you for your helpful advice. I don’t know why I am stressing about it as no-one else is stressing or carrying out the task. I don’t blame them as you have stand your ground and not burn out. If the manager is not prepared to help then it’s not a team effort. I can do 1 file a day but that’s it, better than none.

I'd have a meeting and frame it as here is an issue we need to overcome, can we discuss solutions. Tell her you have x y and z tasks but you've looked at how long it's going to take you and it's more than your working hours so unless you come up with a plan to manage it, you're going to be able to do 2 out of the 3 tasks and then ask if they have any suggestions or if not what they think you should prioritise

@DrinkFeckArseBrick The management don’t seem bothered so are dumping the burden on others. Being assertive is important. I certainly won’t work over especially as I won’t be paid.

It sounds like the sort of job some of us used to do in the summer when we were students. If it could wait until July, that might be something to suggest.

What kind of business uses paper files?

Is this job in the care industry by any chance? It's one of the very few industries left that still use paper filing systems and records and the volume of work generated is ridiculous, not to mention the physical weight and storage needed.

They have no business expecting people to deal with this now that alternatives are available.

You email the manager stating that with current workload you can only manage a max of 1 file a day.

@lanthanum I remember when I was a temp years ago I was brought in with another woman for 4 weeks to carry out archiving for a company, they would not burden the staff with that.

@Forion It is similar to the care industry. I can’t say as it may identify me. They want to go to a paperless office as they are downsizing and relocating. The company has a history of not treating their employees well so are trying their luck to see if some mug will burn out to save money on temps. I have worked in other places who don’t use paper files so they are behind with the times.

@Hankunamatata Yes, by stating 1 file a day is team working and not avoiding responsibility but at the same time not allowing burnout. The management get paid to sort the problems and overworkload, not me.

What kind of business uses paper files?

We do. Law. Firmly entrenched in the 19th century still 😂

My usual repsonse to this sort of thing is, 'yeah, great, I'll do that. Can you just drop me an email confirming which of my other duties you're happy for me to drop to make room for this?'

If such an email is forthcoming, I follow instructions. If not, I send a follow up email reminding them of the conversation (if it was verbal only), and then forget about it.

Either way, there's a paper trail of you being accomodating.

I find it a bit odd that your question is “how to not let the stress affect me” and not “how do I communicate that it’s impossible”.

You can’t do it, not grey area here - thousand of files and you can only do one a day.

Email your manager for a back covering paper trail: “Hello X, have reviewed the file situation and my estimate is that with other work load I can do one per day, which will not clear the full load.”

I would personally be adding the suggestions for clearing them, but that would be appropriate to my level in my company.

I work with teams from many countries, and whilst I hate to stereotype, I know which teams would try but fail, which would laugh at the impossible and ignore and which would straight up say, “Coco, that’s not possible, it will not happen”.

The latter is the Dutch team! It was quite a shift for me at first because I was so used to the “see what we can do” non committal responses (even if they were genuinely trying) that it was a bit of a culture shock to receive, “nah, never gonna happen” so openly 🤣 So much easier to work with though!

You set out what you can achieve in a day/week and ask for clarification ie would you like me to work on A or B

The responsibility ends with management so just turn up, work your hours, go home and forget about it.

@ChristmasFluff Thanks, good to be assertive and ask what is priority and what duties will be removed to focus on this task. I don’t know why managers think they can keep piling the pressure on.

@Cocomarine You are right, other countries are assertive but in the UK you are made to feel like you can’t speak up. Realistically it cannot be done.

@WallaceinAnderland You make it sound so easy. The reality is that is how it should be. Focus on what you can do and what cannot be done management to sort the resources. That’s why management are paid 40k, they should do their job and not pass the buck.

[quote Zig27]@WallaceinAnderland You make it sound so easy. The reality is that is how it should be. Focus on what you can do and what cannot be done management to sort the resources. That’s why management are paid 40k, they should do their job and not pass the buck.[/quote]
It is easy once you just do it. If they try to make it your problem ie the client really needs this by x date - you say 'resolving that is not my responsibility. Would you prefer I do A or B?'

Op just do what you can. I temped you get the shitty stuff passed on!! I know from filing and archiving its takes alot time to do. You can only do so much

[quote Zig27]@Cocomarine You are right, other countries are assertive but in the UK you are made to feel like you can’t speak up. Realistically it cannot be done.[/quote]
I totally disagree. I have examples of general differences, but in your situation (where it’s black and white, impossible task) everyone I have ever worked with in the U.K. would say, “I can’t do that”.

@Cocomarine It is probably just where I work as there is a toxic burnout culture which people aspire too, its sickening. They think management respect them for burning out when they could not care less as they are saving money in not employing extra staff. These people make it worse for everyone by burning out and not speaking up so there are unrealistic expectations from management.