I’m really stressed at work

[Twentymorequestions]

Lots of things have changed in the last 9 months. I am trying to do a full time job in a four day week. I have passed over as much of my work to colleagues as possible. There is only me qualified enough to do the remaking work. The problem is, I am now left with the part of my job that I hate doing. I can’t easily teach someone else to do the work, as it’s new (system) to me too, so I’m still learning.
I am supposed to be off work next week, I am already dreading the return as the work will be piled up waiting for me, and obviously deadlines will be one week nearer.
My boss is on holiday this week, so I can’t even talk to him, and it’s a small company so no HR department.
I am trying to think about long term….the system will become easier the more I use it, then I MAY be able to train someone else up to at least cover for me (debatable due to lack of qualifications) but at the moment I am really struggling not to hand in my (3month) notice.
Not sure what I want from this post really, maybe just reassurance that things will get easier.

Hi @Twentymorequestions I’m in a similar work situ. New to a company in a senior role with very little support and tonnes of work. I’m not magical and can only do so much.
I delegate what I can. Am trying to train others.
I also flag to as many managers/directors as possible that I need a team if they want to achieve XYZ goals. Otherwise it will be status quo.

Also I remind myself they made this set up and they need to help fix it. It’s not just me!

Basically someone else also needs to be able to do that bit only you can do at the moment. It’s not good for the company in the long run. what if you go off sick?

Doing a full time job in 4 days a week doesn’t sound good for you. Can you work longer hours on those days and get paid more? Ie increase your hours to do a full weeks work in 4 days?
It’s fairly common that a 4 day worker ends up doing near enough a full weeks work for less pay. Especially if you are conscientious which it sounds like you are. Or switch to 5 days = full time, more pay, less stress??

im no HR expert but I’ve been working at a senior management level for a loooong time. Hopefully someone else can come and give you some more insight and help. Best of luck x

Are you doing compressed hours or officially part-time?
If it's the latter then proper arrangements need to be made to cover the remaining part of the job by someone appropriately trained and qualified. You need to speak to your boss about a plan for how the company achieves this and letting them know that you want to keep covering your range of job tasks and not have to spend so much time on just this one area.

As an aside, if your officially part-time, yours is a common problem!
I know so many people who've returned from Mat leave very pleased to have been given part-time and working 4 days a week. The reality is no-one has been employed for the remaining hours are they're effectively doing the full time job for less money!