Should I be able to get more done in 15 hours?

[nutsnutspistachionuts]

I have a 15 hour a week mid-level marketing job. (I do other work on the other 3 days). Is it just me or is it a weird amount of hours?

I have 4 hours a week of unavoidable scheduled meetings inc team meetings, catch ups etc. Once I've scheduled the social media posts, checked and replied to emails etc it basically leaves me a day a week of other stuff. I feel like I can only tick one thing a week off my list. I could write a blog post for the CEO OR a comms strategy OR get an advert designed and booked OR advertise a series of training courses...but only one of those things a week! I keep getting chased for stuff in team meetings and I feel like saying "sorry, I had something else to do last week!" is not really an answer.

I've done 21 hours before (but working really autonomously) and I didn't think it would be so different!

They recruited you specifically to only do 15 hours? Then you explain it's a capacity issue.

In the remaining 11 hours after meetings, you're doing emails / social media and one task?!

Definitely not enough!!

I feel like you're right! It doesn't feel like enough.

The "one task" will be something that could be many little tasks, but it's still only one thing. Last week I had to sort out a design brief so I:

• researched 5 design agencies with costs
• wrote a one page gantt chart for the design process
• wrote the design brief itself (3 sides A4)
• wrote accompanying job advert
• wrote an email to the whole team explaining the next steps (quite long, with sections)

...And that took me a day. half a day meetings, half a day emails, social media, accounts, data input, one day on the design brief.

Do you create the social media posts as well? If so, are the quite time-cosuming to put together (e.g.videos, fancy designs, persuasive copy)?

@GreenIsTheMagicColour I do create all the social media posts but they're not especially complicated, just copy and text, and we only need to post 3-5 organic posts a week. What takes time is researching what we can post about, like reading a report to pull out some policy points etc. There's also a bit of admin there as we're building up a new account, so following, DM-ing etc all needs to be kept on top of.

Thanks for clarifying. I do similar work and the amount you get done sounds very reasonable to me! Essentially, you are working about the equivalent of 2 days which really isn't much when you take into account the meetings.

@GreenIsTheMagicColour thanks! Yes it’s contracted as 2 x 7.5 hour days. It’s just frustrating because someone will sometimes say “have you not done X yet” and it’s like “no because I did the other thing you asked me to do instead and then I stopped getting paid”. I know all jobs are a bit like that but 15 hours just seems like a weird amount of time. Like 3 day jobs are more easily understood!

Is the amount of scheduled meetings proportionate to your hours or does everyone have the 4 hours?

I think the 4 hours of meetings is a problem, your attendance should be proportionate to your hours and some ‘catch ups’ could be monthly, 15 mins or by email.

25% of your working time is spent in meetings. That's ridiculous.

Do you have regular 121s with your manager? Could you suggest you go through your priorities at your next one? Send her an email a few days before with a breakdown on what your typical week looks like. Exactly as you've posted here. Having it in black and white might make her review her expectations.

I agree with PPs 4 hrs of team and catch up meetings in a 15 hour working week is proportionally very high. Are full-time staff also attending 4 hrs of meetings? We have a staff member who works 2 days a week and there's one of our meetings she only attends every 2nd week.

I wonder whether they didn't take this into account when working out how many hours were required for the job tasks?

I think it's worth you breaking down your tasks, with examples as you've done here, and sitting down with your boss in a 1 to 1 to look over how it's going for both of you and whether there's areas that need improved or adjusted.

Thanks all, that's good to hear it seems high. Yes it's almost as many meetings as full time staff. Everyone else is full time. No one else does marketing or has any experience of it.

There's also stuff like I'd set up this project that requires a substantial piece of writing every 6 weeks. The original plan was I would oversee and edit the pieces that would be written by senior management, and maybe write the odd one myself. As it happens I have written all of them. It's fine, in that it's well within my skill-set (my other job is a writer) but obviously if I have to write 2000 words because no one else has time, then that's all that's getting done that week.

I will do the itemising time thing, though this will itself eat up another hour or two! They're very nice people but perhaps I'm ready to move on.