What should I do about my job?

[Carfeulyay]

I work in a small specialised agency 3 days per week (very lucky to get a role in the industry 3 days per week but I knew the MD from my previous role) so he knew I wanted a PT role ( to juggle my 3 children)

MD is lovely, we get on great - work remotely so meet up every so often in London but other than that frequent chats throughout the work week. Very respectful and kind guy.

I have four to five clients who I work for.

I also have between 1-2 audits per month on ad-hoq basis. These are 20-40 hour chunks of work.

I have a junior who works full time (and is great but needs training in certain parts of the field) she helps with certain elements of the audits and any specific tasks I give her.

I am responsible for client strategy and delivery.

The industries of these clients vary massively, as do the locations (some uk some US)

my role is to help improve online sales for all 4/ 5 businesses.

By the close of this year I was shattered - constantly thinking about the next strategy for 4/5 businesses, training,
doing audits for other businesses and delivering monthly reporting. I’m client facing so weekly zoom calls with clients is also a distraction to actually doing work.

A Lot of these businesses rely on me to transform their business etc and I am really feeling the pressure.

I moved to the role 6 months ago - from an exec role to head role.

I found I’ve been on constant catch up for the last 6 months - often working late into the night when kids in bed just to keep up.

I like my job, but struggle with the juggle. And of course having to turn off for the other days when I am juggling kids nativities, jumper days, play dates, homework etc. (11,8,2)

over the last two weeks off work, I’ve felt myself again. Not in a constant cycle of stress. dh said it’s been nice having me Back.
I’ve gained a lot of weight in the last 6 months stress eating.
frequently on calls with boss until gone 1am and feeling exhausted to do it all again.

i don’t want to lose my career, but don’t want to lose myself in trying to achieve it.

realistically I could go client side, focus on one business but it would be full time.

im realising I’m probably not good at juggling so many things at once. I’m sure someone else would fill my role better.

wwyd?

Is this actually a part time role? Isn't that the issue rather than your ability to "juggle"?

Have you discussed/made business case for recruiting so the dept is adequately resources to deliver all this work?

It’s a role that’s new to the business. So by definition I’m the first one in post, so I just juggle what I can in three days

Another for thinking that you're in a full time role.

Stop working late into the night if you've done your hours. Unless you get paid for them that is.

And talking to the boss at 1am!!! Does he work in another country ?

I think you should try to be clear on your work / home boundaries before jacking it in. The world won't stop because you haven't sent the email till the morning.

Very much sounds like your trying to do 5 days work in 3!

You need to explain that this isn’t working, you either need to request to drop some accounts or hire an additional member of your team.

Ah yes, the age old problem of being "lucky " to get part time post in an industry that doesn't usually do part time!
I agree with others this doesn't sound like a part time role. Sound like they agreed to you working 3 days as they wanted your expertise but you're effectively doing a full time job.

I would keep a diary of the hours and work tasks you're doing over the next month and then sit down with your boss to scrutinise it. You'll then both need to come up with a plan to recruit someone else for the "other half" of the job or else reduce the work tasks associated with your role.
If this isn't possible then I'm afraid you need to look for another job as they're paying you part time wages for full time job!

Time all the work you do. Write it all down in a spreadsheet for a week or two.

Move to a full-time role client side. Bring in some help/childcare. Better a 9-5 five days a week than working till 1am, surely?

Ok so you go back and say "this work cannot be delivered by a single person working 22.5 hours - it needs x many people working x many hours in xyz roles, let's put together person specs and recruit".

If you know it's a brand new role and part of you being taken on is to suss that out, I don't really understand why you're here breaking yourself instead of just having the sensible discussion about it.