Managers, how would you take this?

[confusedlady10]

I’ve (London F 30) been in a new job for about eight months, and over time I’ve realised that the department I work in just isn’t the right fit for me.

I’m really struggling to keep up with the workload. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to keep on top of it. I regularly work well beyond my contracted hours for free just to try to catch up, but I still feel overwhelmed, burnt out and exhausted and not meeting SLAs. I barely have any time for myself anymore, and the stress has started to affect my personal life because I’ve been letting myself go.

A little while ago, I spent about an hour shadowing someone in another department while they shadowed me. I genuinely really enjoyed their role. It was much more operational and computer-based, and I came away thinking that it suited my strengths far better than my current role. Since then, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how much happier I think I’d be doing that kind of work, and I’d really like to move into that department if the opportunity ever arose.

I want to be honest with my manager and tell her that I don’t think this department is the right fit for me anymore and ask whether she could help me get in touch with the other department or explain how internal moves work.

The problem is that I’m terrified of admitting this. I’m worried she’ll think I’m not capable of doing my job or that I’m giving up. I’m also worried there may not be any vacancies in the other department. If that’s the case, could being honest about how I feel make me look bad or even put my job at risk.

From a manager’s perspective, how would you view an employee who came to you with this, especially as someone new? Would you appreciate the honesty, or would you see it as a sign that they weren’t suitable for the role? Would you be more likely to try to help them find a better fit within the company, or would it make you question whether they should remain employed?

why did you shadow another department?
can you ask them?

Usually you would be able to view any internal job vacancies on your intranet or something similar - have you checked if there are any in the other department ?

What was the purpose of job shadowing each other?

In my experience it can be dependant on what the manager is like, I have had managers who really encourage internal moves etc if that’s what the employee wants to do and would help to try and make it happen but have also had ones that are not supportive of this.

Is it an entirely different department to yours or do you fall under the same leadership team as sometimes moves within the same area are possible depending on if you have the same job description etc

Its definitely not good for you if you are working extra all the time trying to catch up - is your manager having regular catch ups with you as they may be overloading you if you are still fairly new (I know in my team it would take a year or more to learn all of our processes)

I would be supportive and help where I can to facilitate a move.
If you’re not happy in your role and not meeting SLAs that has likely been noticed by your manager so they may agree you’re not the right fit and welcome your honesty and want to help you find the right thing for you.

There are ways to talk to your manager about career development and your suggested way is not it.

Don’t go in from the position that ‘this department is not a good fit for me’.

Do it as part of your development plan - here’s how I’d like to apply some of the skills I saw used during the shadowing in my current role: and I would like to develop towards a role in that department in future.

Your manager must know that you did the shadowing so it’s perfectly natural to discuss it with her and reflect on what you got from it.

I would also arrange a coffee chat with a hiring manager in shadow department to put myself on her radar and let her know how much you enjoyed the shadowing, what you could bring to her team etc.

In terms of internal moves - where are vacancies advertised? Is there an intranet?

It’s not weird to be proactive in managing your career! Do you have objectives set, appraisals, 121s - use them for career conversations as much as everyday updates.

If you came to me with that issue I’d realise we had a resource issue and I’d address it. You shouldn’t have to work like you are. Then I’d ask you to stay to see if you liked it once the resource issue was resolved and if you didn’t I’d be supportive of your moving internally.

It costs a lot to hire and onboard someone so if you were good at your job I’d want to keep you in the organisation and I’d also want you to be happy.

it’s about how you frame it, be professional, calm and offer solutions and take it from there. A good manager will work with you to resolve this.

To start with OP you need to stop working all these extra unpaid hours.

You should have a conversation with your manager and make it clear the workload is not manageable.

Then you can look at other internal opportunities.

As someone else mentioned, you can usually find out what vacancies there are internally so you can look to apply if/when there are any. It’s not likely that your manager would be able to facilitate a move if there aren’t any.

It’s appropriate to bring up as part of an appraisal or other development conversation that you enjoyed shadowing the person there and you’d like to move there if/when you can. It wouldn’t be a good idea to bring it up at any other time if there don’t appear to be vacancies.

If you are struggling in your current role and don‘t think it’s a good fit, you should also explore external opportunities as well. There might not be a vacancy in the department that you want to move to for a long time. I don’t think it’s smart to tell your manager that you don’t think your role is a good fit for you, without having a clear plan to move onto something else.

I’d be totally fine with this. Ultimately, I want the people that work for me to feel happy and fulfilled in their jobs. If they’re not, there a different routes to address that, one of which may be supporting them in finding a new role (internally or externally).

As a manager, I’d be supportive. It’s a lot less stressful to move you to a role that’s better suited than it is to go through a capability process for not meeting targets.

Having just gone through that with one of my team, I genuinely wish it could have been avoided and that she’d moved to a better suited role before I had to take formal action.

You need to speak to your manager about your current role first, and flag that there are issues with workload … they can’t help if you don’t say anything.
The grass isn’t always greener!

Tell your manager that you've been thinking about your development needs and are interested in spending more time in that department and is a second ment possible?

Did you have an end of probation meeting e.g. after 3 or 6 months, and if so what was the discussion at that time with your manager about how you were coping?

If you are feeling insecure in your employment and unable to bring up your difficulty, you might want to hold out until January, when new employment law comes in meaning you have more protection from dismissal. (Assuming you weren't working for the same organisation previously in a different role).

At the moment you are a bit vulnerable, but you will know from the culture and your 1:1s how much of a risk it would be to let your manager know you want to change roles.

It’s difficult, because plenty of people managers on here (myself included) would support this. But the fact your manager either hasn’t noticed the hours you’re putting in, or has chosen to do nothing about it says a lot.

Also, you shouldn’t be regularly working additional hours for free. There is a legitimate minimum wage risk which your manager should be aware of and protecting the Company from. All things considered I’d probably not disclose your thoughts to your manager right now, see what else you can learn from the person you shadowed, including how and when vacancies might arise. I’ve had a manager turn really nasty as soon as an opportunity at work was spotted. He was eventually fired, but it’s pretty fairytale to assume your manager wants what’s best for you. Sadly that’s not always the case.