Changes to role

[dishyrishi]

Employer has just decided to change everyone's roles post a redundancy process in the team. Something decided by our managers who are useless. Made the entire reception team redundant.

They've decided that as well as being PAs to c2 people, we now have to have c4 people, on top of this we now have to work the reception too.

This is not a small firm. So it's very busy.

I know they can technically ask you to do anything, it's in the job spec, but surely the fact our roles have just doubled, being presented with the prospect of also being receptionists is just stupid. You can do your other job while doing reception, forcing you to essentially work longer hours.

Can they do this, or given the additional work plus the job change should they be consulting with us?

I think I'd rather have been made redundant as the package was good.

Any thoughts welcome please

To the pp who said to work slowly - that will help no-one.

But, our team have been continually expected to change what we do, and end up with more and more work over the last 10 /12 years. (Austerity anyone?) What we do is constantly go back to management and calmly state that obviously there aren't enough hours in the day / week / month do add in whatever the latest demand is, so what is it they would like us to prioritise. Over and over again. There is no point in trying to pretend you can more than double up your workload (unless you were really slacking before the change) and that is something that they can't dispute, so just reiterate regularly that you are very happy to do X or Y, but you need to manage expectations that whilst you are doing X and Y, you clearly can't be doing A or B. If they say A and B are critical, calmly repeat that is fine, you are happy to do A and B, but then clearly there won't be time to do X and Y.
If they "demand" you do both, then you ask them to demonstrate to you how that is possible.
Repeat and repeat again and again.

Pencase, stop being so obtuse.

The Op came on and asked a valid question. The job she applied for less than two years ago was PA to 2 Directors. She's pretty much been been demoted to Team Admin/Receptionist without any consultation. There's a big difference in the scope of the role and responsibilities plus the additional workload. She's already said that she wished she had been offered redundancy because it was a good package.

My friend works for a large blue chip and they pretty much made all the PAs redundant. She said it was a complete and utter shit show. Within two years it dawned on them how much they actually did and they were re-recruiting.

I've worked as a PA, although not for many years, but recognise that moving from c suite support, to team PA + reception is a massive demotion (either would be a demotion so asking you to do both is taking the piss).

OP PAs make the wheels turn, you are the cogs and the oil that keeps them going. They just expect you to make it work because that's what PAs do, you solve all the problems and make their lives easier, triaging the inbox, organising the meetings, the travel etc, all the things they never even see because you've already sorted it out. It won't occur to them this will be a problem because as far as they are concerned it's is literally your job to make this sort of thing work. That's the catch 22. But not understanding the sort of EA type work (because you're an executive assistant at this sort of level) you're doing is not 'just' easily applied to a team of four and reception shows a complete lack of respect for the skill of the work you do and as a career (which it is and it's why I don't it any more). I was always shocked at the sort of things that would be revealed via the emails (affairs, money problems, issues with kids etc) that they know you'd never reveal.

How well do you get on with the two you currently support? Usually there is some sort of relationship a bit above and beyond the usual colleague relationship, because it is more intimate. Have you told them if this happens you'll leave? Because you should. There are lots of well paid jobs out there for good PA/EAs.

I would go to HR and ask for redundancy, on the basis that my original PA role did not now exist, it was now a team secretary role. If they said no I would make it clear I would not be able to handle the workload.

I'm an EA, I've just done a year supporting 4 C-suite people and it was madness. I stuck with it because I knew when they had funding they would employ someone else, which they did. It's a massive relief returning to just 2 people. It's a very involved role, not just travel and diary. I wouldn't have looked after 4 people permanently.

A couple more thoughts after my last post. When I found 4 people too much, I would periodically message all 4 of them and say 'do not give me any new work for 1.5 days so I can clear the urgent backlog'. They just had to fend for themselves while I got back on track. It also made it really clear that this couldn't continue indefinitely. I would only have done a go-slow if all lines of communication had failed and I was actively looking for another job.

It also led to a perception problem in the company, as people saw me working for so many people and thought I was now a team assistant and so anyone could give me work to do. So there was the additional batting back of requests (and some bad feeling) to do on top of my actual work.