Feeling overlooked at work

[ellie09]

Looking for some tips on what to do (or not) in my instance.

I work in banking. Its very intense work and very high workload. I've been there for a number of years and have helped to train new employees coming in over the last year or so due to this.

My work load is pretty much twice as much as everyone else. I don't complain because I like being kept busy, and my natural way of working I can seem to get through much higher volumes of work than most, and its always the way I have been.

Naturally, I get given the roles by my manager which require higher volume to be processed because I am the one who can push through the volumes and still get out on time. Others have tried doing my roles when I've been on holiday etc but can't do it and it needs to be split amongst other members.

However, any time I have a one to one, or a conversation about my progress, my manager always comments that while my work is impressive, I don't look at "finer details" or take on additional projects. I have argued back that I am assigned twice the workload of some people and I simply do not have time to do this, and it will need to be split out.

They split it out for a couple of days, and it soon reverts back again. Any bigger assignments I have then need to be delayed.

I have my one to one tomorrow and was wondering about how to approach this again? We have promotions coming up which I would like to go for, and think I deserve one, but when push comes to shove, they will likely give it to someone who has completed additional tasks outside the norm which I currently don't have time to do.

Its creating tension with my other colleagues too who all seem to be getting praise for completing this that and the other, while I'm picking up the world that is overlooked in normal day to day working

I suppose ultimately, I am starting to dislike my manager, for not supporting my goals and also my colleagues for getting opportunities to prove themselves who have been there a third of the time I have

Any advice?

Have you got evidence that you complete more work than everyone else? I'd be looking to have the same amount allocated as the others then use the extra time from finishing quicker on the extra credit projects. It sounds like you don't have a supportive manager so will need to be prepared to push back and not accept if things are not how they should be.

Advocate for yourself.

Yes, we have a tracker we need to complete and sign daily, so in a team of 8 people, I sign for approx 55% of the tasks that need to be completed daily. The remaining 45% are completed by the 7 other employees

Maybe I am a bit of a pushover so I should push back more. However I don't like the terms used last time in my meeting when I raised the workload. It went something along the lines of: "Well if the workload is too much and you are stressed out let us know"

I make a point of noting that no, I am not stressed, that I can just manage my time rather effectively. The way its worded by management, to reduce your workload seems that you are almost not capable, if that makes sense? And I also don't want that backfiring on me either

I might start looking at other jobs and letting him know. If he says why, then tell him. It might make a difference.

They have very high attrition at the moment, they seem to not be putting up much of a fight for anybody these days and continuously hiring new staff. This is why the employees like me, who have experience are given the bulk of the work

My gripe is, I'm doing the majority of the work, while being told my standards are lower than those who started less than a year ago because I literally have no additional time for self improvement plans - I'm keeping the day to day ticking along from what I perceive is their direction as this is the workload assigned to me

Its also worthwhile noting that said manager also has a couple of favorites in the team that seem to have less challenging roles and sit and have laughs and giggles throughout the day, even buying each other coffee/lunch

I would like to stay in my job, they allow me to pick the shifts that I need daily etc for my LO so it suits me well and is quite well paid. If I was to say I was leaving, I don't think they would put up a fight, they would just have me training the next person to replace me (just going on past experiences)

Have you thought about dialling the workload back? When they try to give you more raising it with you manager and saying, I'm trying to work on looking at finer details as you have suggested, so unfortunately I don't have the time to contribute.

What do you think your managers problem is exactly? It all sounds a bit off really

Not sure which division in banking you work for, but in my experience hard working doesn't get you promoted, it is networking that matters. In other words you need to make yourself visible and don't take for granted that people will know how great or diligent you are. So I would tell your boss that you are under stress due to too much work (since they said if you feel stressed let them know), pointing our that you are doing more than the other 7 employees together. Say something a long the line that you have tried to support the team, understanding others are new etc. but this is too much workload for one person and also means you can't work on the finer detail that your boss wanted.

But a lot of this depends on good manager andgood culture. From your description that seems not to be the case, so I would start brushing up the CV too.

Would it be easy to jump ship?

High attrition indicates (a) there are other jobs out there to be had and (b) lots of other employees have had issues which have not been resolved.

Is there anything specifically keeping you there?

Putting your head down, churning through work and then expecting recognition and reward historically was a very female way to behave at work although that is changing.Perhaps they don’t think you will jump ship as you are working around childcare. Perhaps your boss doesn’t want you to advance as you take so much pressure off him / her. Why are you taking on so much work? Ringfence time for development and work on a career plan. If your boss won’t support you, look for a mentor outside your immediate team. As PinkPencilCase mentions, advocate for yourself.

I'm not getting any younger (haha), they offer a good wage, a great person scheme and as I have been there a while, my manager accommodates the hours I need, and is very flexible in terms of getting out for appointments etc (LO is in process of being diagnosed with ASD and I've numerous appointments for issues as well)

I wouldn't think twice about jumping ship to another job if I didn't have LO to think about, and also run a house on my own (single parent). Unfortunately I do need stability and I have a stable job at the moment

I was just looking general advice on how to approach this with work, so it doesn't seem "lazy" or if I am being unreasonable in what I'm thinking to the average person

If you are doing so much more BAU type work than colleagues and have no time for x and y which are needed for promotion, then you must carve out time daily or weekly to perform x and y tasks. Depending on how your performance rating is managed what is the minimum you could do without it affecting you? Can you get it in writing that you will do ## BAU tasks per week, and once completed you will do x and y. Only if x and y are done for the week you will do extra BAU. As x and y are new for you make sure you set aside plenty of time to look into them in detail. Remember you are not solely responsible for the BAU work even if they expect you to outperform your colleagues

I would just pick up on what you have said about lower standards but higher volume. If I were told that, I would look to improve my standards and decrease my volume, it sounds like you have plenty of scope to do that without looking like you are not doing your fair share.

It sounds like you have set yourself up as the workhorse and I can see why your manager is happy to accept that, it takes care of a lot of work the department needs to get through.

As a next step, I would suggest you discuss being freed up more in order to work on raising your output quality. Down the line I think you need to assess for yourself what is worth more to you, the working conditions you appear to value or your career development, because it could be you will struggle to achieve both here.