To wonder if managers should be prepared to pitch in?

[CarrotCrusader]

I've told my manager, who is at manager level but not director level several times that my workload is causing significant stress. He's failed to do anything.

We've recently lost a staff member and so there are four of us who answer all calls. It's unmanageable and means we get constantly interrupted and our core work, where we work to targets gets neglected. We then work over our hours to get it done. We're all close to burnout. A request for our line managers to help with the volume of phone calls has gone by without any offer of help and one manager saying she can't help due to her own workload.

I'm of the thought that a good line manager should be prepared to pitch in to a degree and they should also be prepared to do any task that's expected of someone they manage.

The stress is making me ill and I actively think of ending my life on a daily basis.

AIBU to think the managers should be willing to help?

I line manage a team and I would always pitch in if my guys were short staffed/stretched, but I'm very aware a lot don't

You're a great manager. I wish you were ours.

You need to all stop working over your hours. They will only pay attention when things start to fail, notif you're going all out to keep it going.
Stop propping up their lack of care, for a start.

But if you're genuinely considering suicide over work stress at this level, please go on sick leave and seek immediate help.

Of course a good manager pitches in, but I bad manager observes a struggling team to the point where you are.... Life is too short and start job hunting before a bad line manager looks for a victim to blame for the teams failures.

Do the most important things, and when your time is up put on your coat and leave.

Can you switch the phone volume off?

You all need to stop working over the hours and if you are suicidal, get signed off and take some time out of this to catch your breath.

Stop catching up and burning yourself out. You have to let your job fall over and fail. If you keep this pace up, you will make yourself ill and your employer will not recruit another member of staff as you appear to be coping. Work your standard hours - and no more.

The problem is if you stop working extra time you'll likely get blamed when you fail to meet targets. These situations rarely resolve themselves. Agree that you need to start looking for another job.

Rather than acting as a sticking plaster by pitching in, it would be better if your manager told you to do what you can and to work your hours, and then gathered evidence of what wasn't being done to argue for reduced workload for the team or more resource.

I'd suggest you have weak management, a toxic workplace culture, or both. You are not the problem.

No job is ever worth ending your life over, you're worth so much more than that. Please get help and start looking for something new OP.

As a manager, I wasn’t allowed to pitch in as it would take jobs away from workers. Union were strict on it.

Pitching in isn't going to solve the problem though. You need your manager to tell you which tasks to prioritise and then use the evidence of the other processes not being done to justify additional resource.

Please start looking for another job, no job is worth the anxiety you are putting up with. Could it be worth seeing the HR person and explaining how you are feeling.? I agree with others get signed off for a good few weeks and spend some of it looking for another job. While off with stress you could do with spending time enjoying yourself Best wishes ,please keep posting as you deserve to have a job that you are more suitable to.

What happens to your managers work of they start pitching in though? Do you expect their manager to pick it up and so on?
Also depends if it's an unusually busy period of if it's more permanent situation then you need more staff.
Stop working over your hours then they might notice.