Picking up old work in new job

[Hereforthekickz]

Need some advice please
I have a new internal job that I start in 2 weeks having served notice of 4 weeks. The role is 2 levels higher and is HR and Office Manager duties. Previous role was working wwith 3 others. It was a shared team role. The role is already 1/2 person down and we have managed like this for over 1 year. We have a lady from an agency that works alongside us and helps with basic jobs. My boss will remain the same. My job has been advertised and we should get a f/t and part time member of staff for mid July. The office shuts down at the end of July and returns in September.

I met with boss to give him update on my current workload and my preparation for handover. I asked what my first week would look like. I told him what tasks will need to be picked up by my old team. I was advised that my colleagues were concerned about their workload and that I would need to support them. I asked what that would look like and for how long but my boss skirted around all my questions like a politician and I couldn’t get a straight answer. He tried to say that we all need to support them, including him but I have never seen him do this, he doesn’t even make delegation decisions. It’s how he has always been. I made it clear that I was happy to support but that my new role had to come first. It’s a very challenging role that needs to be accurate. He told me to utilise the supply lady and train her on some tasks. I have already trained her on a few things but again, am I expected to do this when I start my new role. No one else in the team has been asked to train her.

Even though we were a team, I was given jobs that my colleagues were not given. I tried to explain that the whole team need to learn how to do these jobs not just the supply lady. Again he wasn’t really answering me. I came out of the meeting confused. I am being asked to support but I don’t know with what! I am being told to train the supply lady who won’t be there when we get the permanent people in place. I don’t want to become overwhelmed myself in my new role and end up making a mess of it.

Just as a side note, I now have line management duties for my old colleagues. I have always been told it is a buffer role between them and my boss. I have worked with my colleagues for 8 years and, whilst I appreciate they are busy and short staffed, they are always too busy for anything! This isn’t necessarily due to being overworked but more to do with a lack of efficiency and not being able to prioritise their workload. They were not happy when I got the job and took my boss in for a meeting. I was not privy to the ins and outs but they told him that they needed me to continue supporting them as they were too busy. He didn’t ask them anything about their workload or priorities to gain a better understanding. He just agreed to what they wanted. I know that their workload could be reduced easily by prioritising their jobs. It’s become a culture of “I am far too busy” when it really isn’t. I have done the role and understand this.

Can I get some advice on how to deal with this. I don’t want to be still doing my old job in 6 months time and I must put my new role first?? I am very willing to support when needed but can’t be supporting the inefficiencies. This is part of the reason I applied for the new job in the first place.

Do you have a job description for your new role?

Your manager is lame.

Are you being asked by your manager to support the old team until your replacement is hired or indefinitely?

I would not agree to do it without a clear and definite end date. During that time, you will handover your duties to the new joiner or, if there is no one hired by that time, the existing staff.

I personally would try every trick in the book to get out of line managing your old colleagues. It is a poisoned chalice and one that will cause you no end of grief. Why can't your new hire replacement do that?

If he is not telling you how he expects you to support, then be scarce so you don't have to support. Who would be the one giving you these 'support' tasks. If you weren't actively doing it, how would these support tasks land on your desk?

I have looked again at the job description. It’s mostly HR and working with leadership to create good practices. It states line manager duties for admin staff to be agreed (which has been agreed and it’s my old team of 3 colleagues). It states line”to manage the day to day activities of the school’s administration team and associated budgets”

I see this as supporting because, let’s face it, they are short staffed and worried about the workload. I get that. But to support by doing the workload for them isn’t going to work for me or them. I can empower them to manage their workload or make suggestions such as having the supply lady take on a task, but I think it’s crazy to just continue doing the work. There is no plan about who will train the new persons but I bet you any money that will be me. It’s the boss unfortunately, he has always been this way. We have no clear expectations.

I can either support when possible or just take it upon myself to lead the team and do what I think is best. I haven’t even been given the opportunity to speak with them. I do get that it’s a big change and things do feel weird at the moment going from colleague to line manager. My boss just keeps making out that it’s a buffer role but it doesn’t say that in my job description. Oh I just don’t know where I am or what I am responsible for!

If you're line managing that department then surely you decide the training plan for the new hires?
You support by creating the plan and allocating the training. You don't support by doing everything yourself.

@S0j0urn4r yes you would have thought so, or even working out a plan with me for training etc. I haven’t had that so that’s why I asked for a meeting but it was hopeless. I couldn’t have been more open about what I wanted to know, it just fell on deaf ears. Then he wanted to end the meeting after we were interrupted twice, because he needed to use the toilet!!!! So that was that!

I haven’t had the best of times with my colleagues ever since I went for the job. A lot of unhelpful comments and back biting. But I expected this. It’s a mix of being scared of the change and some jealousy. What I wanted to do was hold a meeting with them just to communicate how the transition would look, let them know I understand their concerns during this time and to set my expectations but it doesn’t feel like that’s what my boss wants me to do! He never communicated anything with us which has lead to toxicity within the team. If I don’t do this, I willl be tarred with the same brush!

Won't offering support be your role in the new job as you are the line manager? It should be up to you to delegate work, motivate the team, arrange training for new staff etc I would have thought.
It's also not unusual to carry over some work to a new role within the same organisation. It's sometimes more efficient for the person who started the work to finish it.

@JLou08 I honestly don’t know what is expected of me as the office manager. HR is a massive role as there is only me doing it. Some of the jobs I did in my previous role were as a when, booking open days for professionals and not particularly time consuming. It would be an easy job to pick up after 5 mins training. I don’t think I could continue with these jobs and where does that stop? I don’t mind supporting until they have another person but support doesn’t have to mean doing the role as well as my own. Maybe getting the job was a mistake 😔

That sounds different to my role, it was long term complex work that would require someone to spend a day just getting familiar with the case.
It sounds like you will need to step into the role of manager and delegate tasks accordingly rather than take it on yourself. It sounds like your manager would be to weak to challenge what you do and those you are managing may be likely to try and take advantage, so if I was you I would be going in firmly straight away rather than starting off doing their work for them.

@JLou08 thanks for the advice. My colleagues are hard workers but our manager has never really managed anything. Because of this, they have fallen into a way of working that isn’t efficient and everything is a priority or a problem. They were very unhappy when I got the job because it left a gap and without sounding like an arsehole, I have done the majority of the work for years. I am not complaining as it’s how I got the skills to help me progress. I was not privy to what they ask our manager in the meeting but it seems they want me to continue picking up the work like I haven’t left. He has agreed because they really were angry and he is a weak manager so just agreed it.