To speak up at work

[spanieleyes22]

Am so fed up of goody goody people at work. Am getting very worked up about it and I know I need to chill and just let it all flow🤣back story we are having a restructure and were told in a teams chat by manager that there was now a rota for covering reception. I just hate doing it. Just because I'm really busy I have so much to do and the thing is 99.9%of the queries are nothing to do with my role and I don't know the answer. I said this to my manager and she said if you don't know the answer just stick it in the big teams chat and someone will reply. It's really inefficient. I have someone sitting in front of me or standing and they ask me a question and I say sorry I don't know hold on. Then I type the query in the chat and wait for a response which can take a few minutes. Then that person usually has to check something and I'm sat there with the person staring at me and wondering why I'm not doing anything. Other members of my team have all said privately that they don't like doing it but they won't say anything to the managers. Even today a girl on my team volunteered to cover someone and I was like Wtaf. So when an email came round just now outlining the rota for the next 6 weeks I put up a msg saying nobody had told us this was to be a oermanent arrangement and I honestly felt it wasn't the best use of my time. Nobody even gave my comment a thumbs up. They are like little sheep or mice they won't say boo to anyone. I shouldn't have said anything should I. I wish I was meek and mild and didn't care but I do care about doing a good job - and I just feel I'm worth more than a receptionist.

You can't change how others feel though. So you need to stop getting annoyed at people who aren't as bothered about this as you are. Or who have taken the view that keeping their heads down is more important to them right now.

What is it that you want to change? Is it just that you hate doing it so want to stop? Or would you not mind if your workload was planned better and you were trained? Moaning on teams isn't going to get you anywhere. You need to have structured chats, with a clear thought process from you, about what you think needs to happen/what you want to happen.

But also recognise, that there will always be a compromise involved and you are starting off on a weak foot due to your previous actions.

I honestly feel your pain. My work is like this too load of ass licking sheep. NHS.
So this is the senario that would happen with ur problem in my work.
Problem. I get made to do this role, that i down know is so not efficient and doesn't look good to patients/public etc. so I'll learn the questions, write them all down. Keep a notepad for the future. Learn the role so I don't have to hate doing it, be proactive and will soon know way more than u used to. Better service.

My work:- ooh X really like that role, she's good at it snd learned it well so let's just put her on that all the time, stops all the moaners having to do it.

Royally fkd.

They’re not being goody goodies they’re protecting themselves at a time when things are chaotic and people don’t need everything being fought. If you have a solution being it to them, if not what good is moaning?

YANBU for being annoyed at the job change.

YABU for being annoyed at others who are happy to accept it, that's their business.

YABVU to be so snobby about receptionists.

Honestly, OP, I think you're being unreasonable. Whether you like it or not, the company has restructured and you have accepted the new job description, which seems to be broad enough to cover this. Other people are getting on with it, while you're still kicking off.

Now, it might be the case that the new structure isn't ideal, and it's OK to raise genuine issues in a constructive manner. Or it might simply be the case that the company is prepared to go through a bit of a difficult transitional period while everyone learns the new roles, and then it will all be fine. Either way, your comment about feeling that you're worth more than a receptionist is very telling and I would hazard a guess that your primary objection to the new structure is that you think this role is beneath you.

There is a reason why others have decided to accept the new status quo and make the best of it. If you don't want to do the same, then maybe start looking for another job instead of sticking around and complaining.

The business sounds like piss takers. They just don't want to pay for a full time person on reception.

If it is not a large company then it really might not seem cost effective to have a full time receptionist, especially if it has been experiencing financial difficulties. My experience in medium size companies has been that when times were good they would have someone on the front desk at all times, but when there were cut backs this would get covered in some way by existing staff. In smaller companies then they have hardly ever had reception staff, again this is managed by existing staff.

OP, I think that, as others suggest, the most constructive way to tackle this is to push for some FAQs. There are surely only a limited range of questions? Perhaps have a list of names as to who knows the most about particular areas so if you are handling a query you really can't answer you can call the expert directly.

You said:
bully for you for picking up litter. Honestly I would have taken the job if I had known about reception. I e worked in the sector for many years and have a lot of experience and knowledge in my area. I feel it's a waste of my time sitting at reception.

In a previous job I had there was a rather unpleasant issue with a toilet (I will spare everyone the details!) Suffice it to say the cleaning contractors were refusing to deal with it. In the end one of the senior managers, a woman with many years experience in her field, just slapped on some rubber gloves and sorted the situation herself. I feel that is a lot more unpleasant and a bigger step down than a few hours covering reception, but she gained a lot of respect from the staff for doing that.

Also, be aware that, if you're constantly moaning about the new set up, others might make sympathetic noises that may sound like they agree with you. That doesn't necessarily mean that they do... they might simply be taking the path of least resistance because they can't be bothered to argue the toss about it.

I’m struggling to have sympathy for you because you so obviously feel being a receptionist is beneath you…yet you can’t actually do the job.

I hate this type of petty snobbery.

I think you might be better asking for some of your day to day workload to be reduced to accommodate you being on reception rather than moaning about the reception duty. You might find you get a better result that way if they see it means they won't get the important bits of your job done.
I do agree with other posters that you sound a bit arrogant. Nothing is below anyone

This . Plus they know you will speak up.

How difficult is it to put together a FAQ document yourself and refer to it? Sometimes you need to meet the needs of the business as well as them meeting yours, it's not easy restructuring and it is probably more temporary than you think. Sometimes everyone needs to pitch in. I do get the frustration but that's the world of work, sometimes we all have to do things that's less than ideal.
Also wouldn't worry about others attitude to work, focus on yourself.

I tend to agree with this, I can’t stand that “only a [role you see as being lowly]” it’s really demeaning and makes you sound like certain things are above you.

however if when on reception you/your colleagues cant do their “regular” work to the same level or quantity as before (especially if it’s a job that needs focus and concentration where interruptions, however necessary such as someone coming to reception affect how much you can do of your regular job), the employer needs to acknowledge this and manage it fairly.

If this were me, when on reception if you don’t know something I’d probably say to the visitor or caller that you’re covering, most people would then not criticise a delay or you not knowing something straight away

I'm not being snobby about reception! It's just a very different role to what I'm doing now which is quite specialized and I've taken the time to train and learn and be good at what I do. I don't mind covering reception if someone is off sick but to be on a rota just grates. I don't like doing it . I just don't like it. It's not that it's beneath me but honestly it does not require any quals or experience like what I have and would
Be advertised for someone with 2 GCSEs maybe a school leaver or someone looking g for office experience. If the managers were taking turns as well it would be better optics. Even the way we were told by putting the rota jn the teams chat and told to check when we were on the rota with no explanation or discussion just feels bad form. Anyway consensus here though seems to be to put up and shut up. Thanks for the advice

Yeh I can't do my own role when I'm on reception. I tried the other day but you're constantly being interrupted so it doesn't work. Receptionist pay would be a lot less than what I'm on. I don't like doing it not because it's beneath me but because I don't like it and it's not my job and it's a waste of my time. But hey ho can say nothing or I'm a trouble maker so will just shut my gob and do the best I can. It's a v big company but the thing is 99.9%of the queries are for other teams so I'm not sure why my team have to sit there. Anyway . Thanks for putting me back in my box!!

I would point out one more time that your proper work will suffer, you don't know the answers but you are happy to help. Then look for another job

I spoke out last year about two very serious things. Nothing got done but what they did do was manage move me into another team.

I will never speak up again.

Plus I would have no problem cleaning the toilet or making tea and coffee or doing junior office role in exceptional circumstances but this is different !!

Yes I did do this last week but the managers said if I needed help with my workload I should tell them and they will ask someone else in the team to do it. I really don't want to do that for one because I know what I'm doing and it takes nearly more time to explain what needs doing and two everyone else is as stretched as I am so it's not fair

So you want other colleagues to put their heads above the parapet by agreeing with you via emojis, but you're not prepared to do the same yourself by actually raising the issue with your manager/the whole team, in a professional manner?

If everybody is taking part in the rota and it's not part of their usual role then surely everybody else won't know the answer to these questions either so it would make sense that a 'dummy list' be put together of the most likely/usual questions and left on reception for whoever is covering?

In the meantime, can you direct people to sit in the reception area whilst you find out the answer and come back to them? It's not ideal but it's better than leaving them standing there like lemons.

Nah there's nowhere for them to go. There are seats just in front of the desk where they sit down and yeh stare at me like lemons🤣

Yes we have started putting together a FAQ but it's hard to explain a lot of the queries are quite specific to certain teams and without learning all the job roles I don't think any of us would be able to answer everything

I am in a minority I think. I feel it is important to help out the team in an emergency. However, people should do the job they are paid to do.

For example I work in the NHS. We have been told that our admin person is going to be removed. This valuable individual answers all calls to the team, from patients, GPs and relatives etc. She then directs the call to the most appropriate place. She can also deal with many calls directly if they are purely admin-related like looking for a letter. Our nurses have been told that they will be put on a rota to staff this phone now. They are understandably upset and annoyed. They will not be able to see their patients then and will essentially be doing a largely admin job on top of their clinical role.

Would posters on here think that means the nurses are looking down on the admin role? Of course they are not. They should be doing the nursing job they are trained to do and should not just be put on a phone rota. This is very different to helping out in an emergency.

Well, seeing as you seem to think it's such a piss easy job that requires minimal qualifications and no experience, I'm sure that you'll have mastered what you need to know in no time. After all, a school leaver could do it.

The problem is that you don't want to do it. And that's tough, but it's part of your job now. So either you suck it up or you look for another job.

Lemmings- not lemons but I digress. Your name calling of your colleagues because they don’t care as much as you do it rather nasty tbh. Probably best to look for another job

spanieleyes22, do the managers take a turn also? That is the fastest way for them to see the issue and help solve it. It's too easy for them to hide behind the 'get on with it' mantra if they don't understand the actual problems.

Do you have a line manager that you can suggest this to? It's their job to take that up the line.

Receptionist's play a very important role in companies and you shouldn't feel or think you're better than them.
I am over qualified for that position but was happy to take my turn when required as I'm a team player and is a role that most companies need.
Plus I welcomed the charge for a week or two.