AIBU to raise concerns about inconsistent workloads in my NHS team?

[ChampagneCharlotteLemonadeBudget]

....to raise this with senior staff, but how?

I recently agreed to a secondment in the same role but a different geographical area (same NHS Trust). In advance of some potential wider restructure all of who do this role have had to map out the work that we do.

In my new role I'll be working with two others who do the same. Apparently they have been absolutely snowed under with work lately hence me being brought in, but despite me asking what I can pick up there's nothing been forthcoming. I have heard rumblings from others I know who work closely with them that the majority of their tasks are more akin to a B3/B4 admin job, instead of the 8a middle management role we do.

When reviewing the task list of these individuals, it's really struck me how 'busy' they really aren't, but have tried to make it look like they are. For example, on my work plan it would say 'Do x', whereas theirs is 'Do x for team Y' then separately 'Do x for team Z' and so on... (Hope I'm making sense here!)

I thrive off being busy and have come from the other extreme where I was working FAR too many hours. I mentioned one piece of work I've been asked to pick up and there was concern would I fit it in as well as the day job - whereas to me, it's always been the day job!

Not to mention that these people are being paid £62k a year to do half of what others in the team are doing. Do I raise it with senior management, and if so what do I say? Or hope they eventually notice? It hasn't been picked up so far as the roles are new and a bit of a catch all job description...

Do you want these people to loose their jobs?? what is your motivation?

I imagine her motivation is to create greater efficiency in a public service team and highlight that the team together could achieve more than currently.

However, OP you're treading on tricky ground, as what you observe is a culture change issue, likely not a simple "time and motion" thing.

Were you explicitly brought in because other workloads were too high? Do you have a remit to consider efficiencies? If so then you are well placed. Even if not, is there is a suitable senior manager who you think will be receptive? You need to initially construct feedback carefully. You could pose it as- "I've been here for x weeks now would it be helpful to have any feedback from my observations about how we could structure our work better to reduce the strain on the team? Obviously it's your call if we change anything, but I wanted to offer this while I still have fresh eyes on the system, if it is helpful". A good manager will probably want to hear this.

The vital thing is not to appear backstabbing - which means you have to examine your own motivations when going to the manager. Are you truly interested in helping things run better? Or are you actually irritated with these colleagues, it's not fair that you do more than them, and you think they deserve a boot up the backside and to grow up and do more work?

If it's the latter... it's understandable, but you still have a bit of work to do on yourself so you can shift the whole system rather than being one complaining piece of it.

A good individual contributor will do what you are doing, do your own work as best you can. To improve a whole team, though, requires a management and cultural instinct, so you might want to think (or even ask the colleagues!) how does the work come to be organised like that? Are they happy or stressed? whats the benefit to the whole system of keeping things like that (there will be a benefit)? Are there any specific gatekeepers to change, and what are their positive motivations (e.g. someone trying to protect their team from overwhelm due to bad past experience or something, someone being frightened of new approaches, etc). Or - more tricky - maybe the managers of those colleagues don't understand what needs to happen? Does management have perverse incentives not to solve it?

It's never as simple as saying "Hey, I seem to be doing more work than those guys - can you sort it out and make it fairer please?" Unfortunately it will rebound on you, unless you do it with a "management and culture" head on.

Lose their jobs?!? They're being paid £65k a year if public money and deliberately doing bugger all! Damn right then deserve to lose their jobs.

This is exactly highlighting what is wrong with the NHS and @ChampagneCharlotteLemonadeBudget is exactly the sort of person who we do want working on the NHS - hard working and not scared to flag up lazy people.

I feel your pain OP. From experience you will face an up hill battle to make effective change.

It’s the NHS, no one ever loses their bloody job, they just get moved around.

As a nurse who is working in a ward that is short staffed with high acuity and little support, this sort of thing really annoys me. There is so much within the NHS that is so ineffective.

@Shithotlawyer yes I was brought in to help with workload/cover a colleague who has gone on secondment elsewhere but I don't have any remit over efficiencies, etc. One of the senior managers has been tasked with reviewing our role and I'm sure would be open to a conversation, as she is quite far removed from the day-to-day work. It's nothing personal towards the others in my part of the team - I genuinely think that they think they are doing the role as required, but aren't being given the right level of work from their direct line manager. I'm also worried about not having enough to do in my new role as what they do currently forms such a small part of my workload and it would be detrimental to my mental health not to have enough to do (but I don't want to then have to pick up things the others should be doing!)

@SuperMarioToadPrincessPeach the culture in this part of the Trust seems to be that they pass a lot back onto the service managers/ward managers/matrons to do themselves (thus reducing operational management time) whereas in my previous role I would have done absolutely everything I could to take the burden off them e.g. report writing....

I would start the new role first and see if you’re genuinely not busy enough - bearing in mind that the right amount of work should occupy you for the hours you’re paid for, not need additional unpaid overtime.
If there isn’t enough work to keep you busy then I would raise with your manager. I would definitely not say anything about what the others are doing but you could say that when you were doing this for the other area, you would collate this information and provide as a weekly data pack which the teams found useful and this would take you x hours which you could accommodate in your weekly workload - would they like you to trial this ?

Lose not loose. So that money can be spent elsewhere not not lazy twats.