AIBU to think 48 WhatsApp groups for a part-time job is a circus?

[motheronthedancefloor]

Hi everyone, I’m after some advice and maybe just some shared experiences from anyone who’s survived a workplace like this.

I’m in my mid-40s and I’m about three months into a part-time role for a small grassroots advocacy organisation. The people are okay as individuals, but the setup is a total nightmare. It’s essentially run by a working group of volunteers in their 70s and 80s who are very new to having employees, and it really shows. It’s a classic case of "Founder’s Syndrome"—they’ve hired me for my expertise, but they can’t seem to let go and I often feel like I'm being treated like a child.

The main thing is the digital noise. There is no work laptop, no work phone, and not even a work email address. Everything is done via personal emails and WhatsApp. I am currently in 48 different WhatsApp groups and work chats. Forty-eight! I'm expected to check them regularly for tasks/suggestions/ideas, including scrolling back which, as you can imagine, is quite a volume.

It’s all on my personal phone, and even when I mute the chats on days off, I’m constantly being @tagged, so the notifications cut through anyway. Because it’s my personal mobile, I can’t ever actually switch off. It feels like a full-time mental load for part-time hours. I have told them I have had big family events this month and even marked it in the shared calendar - only to get pinged on the day.

I don't have a single manager, so they all give me conflicting instructions and it drives me totally barmy. I’ll spend an entire day on a task, Person X will tell me it’s fine, then Person Y will come along the next day and tell me to change the whole thing. I can go through multiple edits for the same piece of work just to satisfy different personal preferences. It’s constant micromanagement—I have to get approval for the tiniest things, and then they often just redo it anyway because it’s not exactly how they would have phrased it.

I’ve voiced my concerns, but nothing changes. I just get apologies and then the same patterns repeat. There are also massive red flags regarding GDPR. Because I'm using my own kit, I have the personal numbers and emails of very senior politicians, journalists, lawyers, and celebrities on my own phone, along with passwords for all their systems. I’d never share them, obviously, but I feel incredibly uncomfortable with the lack of security. I’ve highlighted this to them, but it’s fallen on deaf ears.

There’s one other employee who is just as frustrated as me, but she’s full-time, better paid, and has been in politics much longer. This is my first political/advocacy role, so I wasn't sure if this was "normal"—but it feels incredibly dysfunctional.

Even getting the job was weird. They weren't happy with standard professional references and insisted on five or six different people, including personal ones. It felt totally over the top and very intrusive. To top it off, I have a disability and have a pre-disclosed block of leave coming up. They’re now stalling on how to record it and suggesting I "make up the hours" on evenings and weekends, which is making me incredibly anxious.

I’m already looking for other jobs, but the market is a total bin fire at the moment. There are so few jobs out there and hundreds of people going for the samae jobs. I can't afford to just walk away with nothing. AIBU to feel this way? Has anyone else experienced something like this?

It sounds as if a communication policy is needed, aside from that I have all WhatsApp groups permanently on mute, then when I'm at work I have WhatsApp open on screen and am active in those groups as appropriate without it taking all day and stopping any other work. When I'm not working I'm not receiving notifications so the groups don't bother me.

I do put a friendly post on new groups, saying I keep them on mute so I can concentrate on the main part of the job, so anything urgent should be a phone call/email.

Good luck in the job search.

It sounds truly awful. You have no autonomy and they have no accountability!

Thank you all again, I'll report back on how my probation meeting goes tomorrow and the pre screen interview I have on Tuesday

One option would be to include it, and if asked why you’ve applied for the new role, explain that the cause at dream job is a better fit for your personal values.

Another option might be to include a line on your cv demonstrating that you took the role for the political experience rather than for the cause. Or do both.

That stance does depend a bit how much the thing comes up in conversation, or is likely to come up in conversation at dream job. So probably fine if this is country sports / anti fox hunting. Probably less fine if it’s immigration because it’s so often talked about.

In general, my experience is that large charities are less fussed with your personal values - you don’t have to be Christian to be the CFO at a large Christian charity - they’re more fussed about having a good CFO. You do probably have to be Christian to be the only employee at a local church group.

Nightmare. I’m working for a small charity, very different field, and the volunteer side does increasingly work via WhatsApp, and it’s getting very messy. They also share a single email address 🙄. I can’t imagine how dire it would be if we were all doing that, and not sticking with our own roles on top.

if the other employee is officially your manager, then I would probably refuse to accept any work / comments / feedback that doesn’t come through her/him..Part of their job should be to oversee your workload and to support you in achieving this.

I've worked for charities before albeit not as small, and for companies that were pretty horrible but I've never encountered anything like this before. I never slept a wink last night for dread of this week ahead.

Good luck today. It sounds absolutely awful, I hope you find something new to go to.

It sounds awful, but unless you genuinely plan to resign today I would be a bit circumspect in your probation review as if they get a sniff you want to leave, they will probably try to pip you to the post. I would keep the conversation focused on your performance, they don’t sound open to change.

I worked for a charity for a year after a long period in financial sector. It was a huge eye opener to me and I certainly wouldn’t be keen to repeat the experience.

Good luck in the job hunt.

well its not even 9 and its kicked off, got messaged at 7 with a task and my manager actually spoke up by pointing out the time...hope she's not on here but waves if so - thanks but I'm still intending to leave.

Definitely don't respond until official working hours.

I agree with those who have said keep your cards close to your chest while you look for another job and don't say anything at your probation review. It won't do anything but sour relations. Keep your head up and keep looking for another job.

This sounds to me like a role you'll only see the full insanity of when you leave, IYSWIM OP.

When you're in a role, ni matter how exhausting/bonkers it is, the thought of going through all the departure and recruitment processes to potentially end up in something else that still might not tick the boxes is overwhelming. What I will say is that that you're currently not getting the benefit of part-time hours so the dream job being FT might not really be a downsideN

Dear Jesus, i think I’d take any role to escape that mess! Appreciate that you might not be able to cut and run - but I’m rooting for you to escape soon!

Update:
Whew, well, I ended up just being honest. It reached a point where I couldn’t keep it in anymore!
The good news is that I’ve officially passed probation—which, in a way, makes the chaos even more frustrating because it shows I’m delivering despite the circus, not because of it.
I had a long chat with my 'manager' (using the term loosely as she doesn't really manage!). To give her credit, she admitted that the whole setup is "unusual" and "chaotic" and said she isn’t used to working this way either. But her solution is essentially to just "go with the flow" and she suggested I do the same.
The real kicker? She told me my predecessor actually walked away because the volume of work was "overwhelming." So they know the system breaks people, yet they’ve changed absolutely nothing.
She then asked me outright if I was thinking of leaving. I didn’t want to lie, so I went for the classic hedge and said I was "considering my options." At that point, she suddenly asked if I’d stay if they made the role full-time. I had to scream internally—if the budget was there all along, why on earth did they hire me on 0.6 hours while clearly expecting a full-time output?!
I told her straight: "full-time hours wouldn't actually change the way of working." I think she got the point.
She offered to take my concerns to the wider working group, but I politely asked her not to. I can’t see those founders changing their ways, and I really don't want my remaining time here to be awkward.
So, I’m safe for now, but the job hunt continues with renewed vigour! At least I know it's not just me being "sensitive"—the ghost of my predecessor confirms it really is as mad as it feels.
That predecessor was a contractor I think instead of employed so it may have been easier to leave. I think she lasted 9 months. I've been here about 3.

I've updated my linkedin status to 'open to work'. part of me now thinks 'fuck it', plus they aren't on linkedin anyway

Wow, well done! I'm not sure if I could have kept a lid on things either tbh. It was brave though and you've shown your integrity.

Hopefully, knowing they'd want you to stay will give you a bit of a boost for your interview!

Thanks

interview went okay, just a pre screen, global company working remotely although they struggled with my accent (they weren't british) and thought I was in London (nowhere near London which I don't know may be a problem). See what happens though.

Ref remote working jobs

Beware of scammers

Beware of tax implications

Do not pay any money to work for any company up front

they're an authentic large global company, but thank you

its 8.30pm and I'm now getting emails to my personal email (I don't have a work email) because I'm meant to be off work today and not responding to whatsapp so they're now messaging me on both whatsapp and email. I'm not responding until I'm back at work tomorrow. Had a few job rejections sadly so need to keep this job until I find something else and keep looking. One of the working group has quit and posted a long critical whatsapp message and its all kicking off a bit but she was a volunteer so easier for her to just walk away.

Appreciate it won't touch the sides and you shouldn't have to, but could you perhaps set up a rule on your personal email account to funnel all their emails into a separate folder you don't open until work hours, and/or get a new Gmail account and use that for work.

It sounds deeply frustrating but anything you can do to carve out some separation.

They should not be using your personal email! If they question why you didn’t respond you just say you’ve got a strong spam filter on email and won’t be using that for work purposes. Nor will you be responding out of hours or on your non working days.

sorry about rejections, it is so tough. Do you live near a university or college? You sound like you have good multi tasking and comms skills and they sometimes have jobs that play to those strengths.

You can set up a new email for your self that you just use for work. Give it out and say that anything sent to your personal email will just be forwarded to that new one.

I'm sorry about the rejections that's frustrating.

Did the volunteer who quit point out that this was an unprofessional set up?

If you're disabled, I think you can access extra help at work. That can include a PA or whatever you need, I think, if they deem it reasonable.

But no, this isn't tenable going forward. Everytime one person gets you to redo something, tell the entire group. Harrass them as much as they are harrassing you!