What if my manager asks me to complete a task which is someone else’s job?

[cherrycola66]

My manager recently asked me to complete a pretty lengthy task, this is not my job role, it is someone else’s who is working but is snowed under with work; however she asked me as she knew I would do it. I am part time working 3 short days per week, I agreed I would complete this task once I have completed my own job roles first, she is now annoyed because it’s been over a week and I haven’t completed this, to which my reply was I was doing her a favour by doing someone else’s job role, I need to ensure my job is complete first and I’m doing my best, she isn’t happy with this as she says she is within her rights to ask me to complete any other role and it is infact in my contract - along those lines. Would I be wrong to argue this and state I no longer want to do this task, especially with the added pressure and attitude (wouldn’t say this) when there are others in the company who are there more than I am, therefore have more time to complete this.

Quite. No wonder your manager is annoyed with you.

And yes, if the dishes need washing, you wash them. When someone is off sick others pick up the slack.You can ask which tasks to prioritise but you can’t just leave it for a week ‘because it’s normally someone else’s job.’ When your manager asks you to do it, it becomes your job.

Whenever a manager does that to me I email for written clarification on priorities. Do you want me to do this when I’ve completed my own work or should it take priority? Depending on flexibility I offer to stay longer on most convenient day and get it finished and save up TOIL.

I'm a manager myself, but I'll do any job that needs doing, provided I'm competent to do it. Yes, I'll wash dishes if need be.

Next time when asked to complete the task clarify the priority and if business as usual needs to be on the back burner for it. It’s fine to suggest someone else if you can’t or someone else could better do it. But generally speaking almost any one off task in the vague realm of your role is reasonable for your boss to ask. You sound like you felt disrespected. But it’s worth thinking about why that is and handling those feelings in an adult manner.

I disagree that you sound difficult and should be doing everything. There is a line between helping the team and taking on too much especially if your usual job Business as usual is busy and fast paced. If you are asked to do more check what the priority is if it is unlikely you can fit everything in your usual working hours or by a deadline that way you have brought it to the management attention and opens up for natural discussion re overtime or reorganising the work.

^This

If you told your manager that you were doing her a favour by following a reasonable instruction, you are very fortunate that she hasn't made you extremely aware of the pecking order in a workplace. The "attitude" here isn't her - it is you. If you genuinely cannot complete your own work and this task as well, then it is up to you to ask her what her priorities are and how she wants you to proceed. She will tell you what can be delayed and what can't.

I'd also suggest being quite careful, because if you are saying that you are too busy with "your own job" to do something extra, that might open up questions about what it is exactly that you are busy with. People often aren't quite as busy as they think they are, but when things are ticking along smoothly most managers don't get overly involved in what it is that people fill their whole working time with. But that doesn't mean that they can't.

Blimey
I am fairly senior. From the start of my career to now, every organisation is a hierarchy. You do what your boss tells you. It has to be reasonable. As long as it involves the efficient running of the business it's reasonable.
Managing competing priorities is one of the core tasks. A few minutes to say " of course I can help Peggy Sue, but it means that I can't do the filing/answer the phone/do the month end report, and you are fine.
Unless you bask in reputation of being unreasonable.

Context is key here. I'd expect there is a clause in your contract stating you may be asked to do "other duties reasonably required to fulfill business needs" or some such wording.

Whether or not the request is reasonable would depend on a few things.

If what you are being asked to do is so far outside your job role, skill level and remit that you wouldn't be trained adequately or safely enough to do the task, it may not be reasonable. But if it's simply that you think the task is beneath you or usually performed by employees of lower skill or grade, then that isn't going to wash. Unless you were being singled out to cover those tasks and others weren't, for example, if you were being asked to do the washing up every day while the cleaner is off sick and nobody else is having to pitch in.

If you are being asked to cover other work that would increase your workload beyond your capacity, it's fair to ask your manager for guidance about what should be prioritised.

In my job, we have an enquiries inbox and there's a SLA on those, so if we are short staffed in the admin team, I do sometimes ask my team to step in and help. We all accept that customer enquiries take priority and that if you're not out on a training job or up against a deadline, you pitch in. Part timers pitch in proportionally as well. I'd take a dim view of someone saying it's not my job so I'm not doing it, and damn straight I'd be reminding you of your contractual terms and the need to be a team player if you kept whining and giving attitude.

OP you need to be aware that the very rigid and inflexible view you've taken on this is something that is likely to influence managers views when it comes round to requests for annual leave, pay reviews, flexing your work days etc.

A week on and you hadn't done the work, hadn't clarified priorities and don't seem to have twigged that is what was needed.

Learn from this and you'll be fine. It's a balance, you need your own boundaries so you don't become overworked for the days you work but it is fully expected and entirely normal that you pitch in and do other tasks when asked to and until you have the skills to be able to use your own initiative on how to prioritise them or when to speak up and directly discuss capacity levels, you ask at the time it's given to you.

Agree. What industries are those who are here with the opinion " I am your manager, do what I say without question or I will restrict your progress, leave and negatively affect your working life'?🤨

Not one person is saying this.

Nobody is saying that.

If I ask someone to cover an essential task because we have sickness or absence, even if it's not their job, I expect that we can have a sensible, adult conversation about workload and priorities and how that will be managed. Not for them to whine that it's not their job and they're part time so the full timers should do it, or just not do it and then tell me they've made the unilateral decision without any discussion that their "own work" is more important.

But nobody is saying that.

What they are saying is that if your manager asks you to take on extra work and you're going to struggle - you have a conversation about it, you don't just ignore it and refuse to communicate.

Or insinuate that being asked to do anything that isn't normally your direct responsibility is unreasonable and therefore should naturally be put behind anything you normally do...whether or not one is business/time critical and the other isn't.