Are they taking the piss?

[FlippertyFlopperty]

I offered to support some colleagues with one of their responsibilities whilst a colleague was off a few years ago. This was an offer of temporary help and the responsibility is one that's time consuming and can be very stressful.

Every time I've raised that I'm still doing this extra responsibility to management I'm just basically told that I need to do it, despite my protests.

It's got the point now where me doing this extra thing is really affecting the output of my own responsibilities and I'm finding that I'm depressed, stressed and anxious on the days when I do this work. The job I used to love, I now dread.

Aibu to think they should now allow me to stop doing this extra responsibility? I'm sure that every time I mention or complain that I'm still doing this, one of the managers thinks I should just be quiet and get on with it and that I'm not a team player.

“A few years ago”

management now view this as your task.

They do and although they nod in the right places when I complain that I'm still doing it, nothing changes. It's got so bad that I'm permanently feeling depressed.

I'd ask for a pay rise.

I did and got refused.

Time for a new job.

Unfortunately leaving it a few years means its now part of your job. The time to complain was when the absent colleague returned and you were still doing the task. Time to look for a new job.

Just change job. Its really the only answer to most work related issues

Anything extra in a job you need to state in writing that it is temporary.

Oh that's where I went wrong. I feel they're massively taking advantage of what was a kind gesture from me back then.

Oh and I have regularly complained about this continuing since my colleague returned. Just been told to more or less get on with it.

Then you need a new job.

My quandary is though that I love my job without this added extra pressure. This added extra makes it incredibly stressful and means I get far less time to spend on my own work.

If you were my manager and I asked you to seriously consider taking me off this extra responsibility and went in a bit hardball as usually I'm very chilled and opened up about how much its affecting me, what would your response be?

Look for another job.

You could get signed off with work-related stress & anxiety and self-refer to OH. Part of your return to work could be that this task is reallocated.

Send an email saying that further to your recent discussion with immediate effect you are going to stop doing task A because it's affecting your ability to do the tasks laid out in your job description, which are (& then list your job description).

What can they do? They've hired you to do a job which you are doing.

They're not paying you to do task A, it's not your responsibility, so just don't do it.

If you're questioned about it, explain that you've been doing it as a favour but getting zero appreciation or financial reward for it, so you won't be doing it any longer.

Hi @buttonsB4 I think I'm going to have to go hardball. Me being soft isn't working so far and I feel I deserve to be heard.

I've seriously been thinking of this but then when I return it's more work to catch up with. I'm stressed to my eyeballs and crying nearly every day.

Apart from this I love my job and I'm good at it.

You love your bit of it but not the bit they're treating as your bit.
Thus you do not love your new job.

Any tasks you are assigned at work are your responsibility, you need to stop seeing this task that you were asked to cover as being someone else’s task especially as you’ve been doing it for a few years now so you obviously have the skills to do it. Management can divide up tasks across a team as they see fit and you need to get over that someone else/another role used to do it.

However the core issue now is that you sound overworked and your management team have a responsibility for your health and safety at work and this is impacting your mental health. So I would write a strongly worded email that you need some work taken off you so that you have a reasonable workload as you are currently experiencing work related stress and it’s causing you to feel depressed. You can’t ask for specific tasks to be removed because you don’t like them but of course you can suggest how they could rearrange the tasks across the team so that you have a fair workload and it works well for the business. Personally if they don’t take action I’d be leaving to work somewhere else where you are safe.

I also feel that they're taking advantage.

I do have the skills to do it but I don't have the time. I'm actually very good at it. They didn't ask me to do this extra thing. I offered during a time other staff needed the help because of staff absence and now I can't seem to shake it off.

Do 'your' job and leave this extra task till last. When it starts to become apparent that it won't get done in the available time, email your manager and state that you have task 1 and task 2, and have the time available to do one or the other, but not both. Which one do they want you to do? Put the ball in their court.

You took this role on as extra, so treat it as an extra and only do it if you can fit it in.

What happened to the colleagues you were supporting? Why have they never took back the task?

Your employer is very much taking the piss. I think you need to start dropping a few balls or doing as a previous poster suggested and letting them know something has to give and let them choose the priority. I currently work in a workplace where the spread of work is so uneven it’s laughable. A stronger person may have been able to address this, I just found another job as I was tired of being took advantage of.