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Difficulties at work - What to do?


53HRA

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Morning lads and ladies :)

Ok at present i'm working for a well known organisation which is forever expanding and we have moved into our own delivery depot. The issue is that we have 12 teams on the ground,4 supervisors and 3 co-ordinators. I'm the only planner to cover these....

As the job involves safety critical elements and planning for areas up an down the country it's pretty much a 0 tolerance role and the first time you plan something it has to be 100% perfect and within the timescale ( which is perfectly normal and i'm happy to oblige)

The problem is i have been faced with a workload which is now making me work outside of hours,in my own time,loosing sleep, and serious stress.Start time is 7.30,and by 9 my heads ready to pop. More seriously there has been times i've wanted tomcome in drop my stuff off and never return.

Today i've come in an hour and half early ( non paid for),so that i can speak to the manager and clear my issues - Upon doing so,the issues have just been brushed off after clearly stating the issues and not being able to hit the timescales.

The response was to "continue as it will get easier,and that my hard efforts now will give me a pay rise in the next review which is in March"

2 hours later everyones had an email with a 30 minute slot for a review on Monday 24th Nov?

To be honest i'm not interested in the pay rise as i would rather close off issues then be paid more,for the same amount of stress.

My question is,what would you do?

Ps: They have only just employed a new person at last minute,so it's very unlikely they will secure another for me ASAP,and i wouldn't want to quit on bad terms...

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Theyre is a few options take a notice letter to your manager saying you cant cope with the workload on your own if theyre not willing to do anything then heres my notice i am no longer willing to hold my position or am i interested in a pay rise

Or B) keep at it and see if it gets any easier but do not work outside of work times if timescales arent met youve already been and explained why

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Is there not anyone you can go to above your manager?  Explain the situation and maybe get you some help..

 

Other than that, is it the usual corporate tree? as in - If you don't get all the work done in times then your manager will get it off their manager etc... Or will it reflect on you as you can't handle the job vs workload and they would get someone else in?

 

It seems to happen everywhere, for me, we have a new manager at my workplace and he see's that I get my work done and that I am people's reference point so what has he done?  Piled more on me and now I am sinking!  It's horrible, not as bad as your situation but I know how you feel.

 

Other than that maybe call the Citizens Advice and see if they could do anything?  May sound silly but they might be able to point you in the right direction.

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Here's what I did in a similar situation.

Every morning go to your boss with your task list for the day. Ask them to tell you what the prioritys are. Only work the hours your paid for. If something does t get done then it's on the list for the next day. Won't take long before your boss understands you can't cope with the amount of work and either lightens the load a bit or hires more people

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Here's what I did in a similar situation.

Every morning go to your boss with your task list for the day. Ask them to tell you what the prioritys are. Only work the hours your paid for. If something does t get done then it's on the list for the next day. Won't take long before your boss understands you can't cope with the amount of work and either lightens the load a bit or hires more people

I think that's a spot on idea, put the ball in his court and let him make the important decisions. Also keep a record and diary of what happens every day after your daily meeting and what was said.

In this way you make him decide what's important and what's not ( in his estimation anyway ) and if the worst happens and everything goes tits up its only half your fault and you were working under directions from senior management .

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How has your work record been to date? Sickness, lateness etc?

I ask as once you start making waves - even if the problems you're having are not your fault then anything where there might be an issue regarding you and your work will probably be scrutinised.

Okay so with that out the way - you need to get everything that your currently having a problem with down on paper (although these days who uses paper??)

You might need it as evidence later and its good to have everything written down rather than trying to rely on memory

Was there a point when everything was going well and then it all changed?

Get it down on paper/email/word/internetary type things

Be factual (its going to be long winded but you need to show evidence of when and where things started to become a problem)

You need to log what hours you're doing in your own time plus when you're getting into work and when you leave - this shows your how many more hours that your physically doing.

Is their a solution to your situation? Its all good and well listing the problems but it looks good on you if you have thought out various ways to sort out these problems

Be positive and pro-active in your approach to this, if the company starts seeing you as someone who just moans and thinks you can't handle the workload then things might start getting tougher (almost as if they wanted to get rid of you...)

If you remain positive, saying that you enjoy working for the company, that you can show where these problems started and the effect its having on you, if you have evidence to support your concerns and if you have feasible/practical/realistic solutions to the problems then hopefully things will get sorted out!

You've already gone to your manager - if you were fobbed off by him, write down how you were fobbed off. Don't get personal - stick to the facts.

With all the evidence you have of all the problems, concerns and issues - send an email to whoever is above your manager. Alternatively - speak to your HR department firsr and maybe explain a little of the problem and ask who would be best to contact if you have concerns that aren't being addressed by your manager - and that it needs to be kept confidential

Contact ACAS regarding your problems too and see what they say. I've had to do this in the past as I nearly went to tribunal due to problems at work

I may go back over what I've written later when I'm not on my phone lol

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You have my sympathies i was in the same situation, i brought up the issues at a review and explained my position either recruit more staff or i would have to resign, i was also loosing sleep with stress and life at home was not nice so after a good hard look at what was important i resigned.

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Here's what I did in a similar situation.

Every morning go to your boss with your task list for the day. Ask them to tell you what the prioritys are. Only work the hours your paid for. If something does t get done then it's on the list for the next day. Won't take long before your boss understands you can't cope with the amount of work and either lightens the load a bit or hires more people

 

Exactly this.

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Here's what I did in a similar situation.

Every morning go to your boss with your task list for the day. Ask them to tell you what the prioritys are. Only work the hours your paid for. If something does t get done then it's on the list for the next day. Won't take long before your boss understands you can't cope with the amount of work and either lightens the load a bit or hires more people

+1 for this.

 

Push the problem back up the hill.

 

Keep a daily diary, regardless if the job is easy or hard.

 

I have kept a diary for years using Evernote. Which is handy for attaching photos to specific task, or issues. Keep your diary concise and to the point. Work out a format for your diary.

 

 

 

ANDY

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Its all good and well saying that but in reality its never that easy.

Sometimes "just work the hours you're paid for" isn't enough and companies don't see it that way :(

Sure it is! I never minded doing the occasional bit of overtime (usually about once a week) to meet those important deadlines but they pay for you to work a certain number of hours if your regularly exceeding it then there is something wrong and something needs to change.

For example my other half was working 12 hours a day 5 days a week and then a few hours a day at the weekends too. She turned round to her boss and said that's enough and she stopped working the extra hours. Sure the company were less than happy about it but they really didn't have any choice. Your only contracted to work a certain number of hours!

Work to live not live to work

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I've spent the last 6yrs doing exactly what you've described, clocking up around 10hrs p/wk unpaid, working at home and weekends on top. If you don't do something to control it now, I doubt very much "things will get better". I put up with it because I got flexibility in other ways (late starts were overlooked, working from home occasionally if I had a delivery coming). Recently it's got the point where it was wrecking home life and starting to be too much, so I quit. I finish at the end of Nov!! 5 days before unemployment lol.

 

As has been suggested, you need to document your workload, put timescales to things and see your line manager. If he doesn't accept there is too much to do, have the morning meeting every day to put priorities against everything. It's what I had to do after constantly saying I can't get everything done in a day. Verbal conversations don't hold much water if one party denies they happened. Documenting everything also makes people realise you're serious and they can visualise the problem a lot better as well. It also provides for a trail should it need to be escalated in the future. If you can show that you've had the conversations about work load and they were ignored, they can't very well start any process because you haven't been completing things on time.

 

Ultimately, if that doesn't improve things, it's a case of stay and put up with it or stand up and walk. It would be nice there is a structure in place to stop this sort of thing but quite honestly, there just isn't in most places. Of course you could always put up with it, wait until it starts affecting you mentally then it's the docs and sick not for stress.........

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Sure it is! I never minded doing the occasional bit of overtime (usually about once a week) to meet those important deadlines but they pay for you to work a certain number of hours if your regularly exceeding it then there is something wrong and something needs to change.

For example my other half was working 12 hours a day 5 days a week and then a few hours a day at the weekends too. She turned round to her boss and said that's enough and she stopped working the extra hours. Sure the company were less than happy about it but they really didn't have any choice. Your only contracted to work a certain number of hours!

Work to live not live to work

Doesn't the law state that workers don't have to work over 48 hours a week?

Doing a 12hr shift 5 days a week = 60hrs a week

I supposes its different depending on what sector of work you're in :/

Sod doing a 12hr shift every day AND THEN DOING EVEN MORE!

For the rest us mortals having to work extra is pretty normal these days. If I did a 45hr week but was expected to work a lot more unpaid - evenings, early mornings etc then yeah that's a problem and I'd kick off over it. However if its having to do a bit here and there then okay bit rubbish but I can live with it

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Doesn't the law state that workers don't have to work over 48 hours a week?

Doing a 12hr shift 5 days a week = 60hrs a week

Yup the says unless you opt out then you can only work the 48 in a week averaged over 14 weeks. My partners contract States you agree to opt out.

She's also done nearly 100k in her car this year. Driving to Scotland and to South cost a few times a week will do that.

Things are a lot better now tho that she sticks to her guns.

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What I was trying to get at (but got distracted massively by my kids lol)

Is that in your partners case - that's pretty extreme working hours. Yet most of us have to do that bit extra and that's considered the norm by most companies

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Is there not anyone you can go to above your manager?  Explain the situation and maybe get you some help..

 

Other than that, is it the usual corporate tree? as in - If you don't get all the work done in times then your manager will get it off their manager etc... Or will it reflect on you as you can't handle the job vs workload and they would get someone else in?

 

It seems to happen everywhere, for me, we have a new manager at my workplace and he see's that I get my work done and that I am people's reference point so what has he done?  Piled more on me and now I am sinking!  It's horrible, not as bad as your situation but I know how you feel.

 

Other than that maybe call the Citizens Advice and see if they could do anything?  May sound silly but they might be able to point you in the right direction.

 

I could raise it higher but it will probably come back down to my line manager who I've already approached. Yup the usual tree,if i  don't perform it effects my manager which will reflect back on me so it's a bummer to be honest  :( . Problem is though it DOES effect my performance even though i'm trying to control it,it doesnt seem to work.

 

Here's what I did in a similar situation.

Every morning go to your boss with your task list for the day. Ask them to tell you what the prioritys are. Only work the hours your paid for. If something does t get done then it's on the list for the next day. Won't take long before your boss understands you can't cope with the amount of work and either lightens the load a bit or hires more people

 

Nothing ever seems to be for the day to be honest. With it being planning,everything needs to be planned and hopefully closed out before the deadline (back log work currently needs to be finished by Jan). Some days i never get a chance to plan something and submit it,as i end up flicking between 9-12 other jobs trying to do a bit on each,but by the end of the day the maximum completed is about 2 - Now if i leave the rest for the next day,that up's my work load and Jan will soon be caught up to!

 

 

How has your work record been to date? Sickness, lateness etc?

I ask as once you start making waves - even if the problems you're having are not your fault then anything where there might be an issue regarding you and your work will probably be scrutinised.

Okay so with that out the way - you need to get everything that your currently having a problem with down on paper (although these days who uses paper??)

You might need it as evidence later and its good to have everything written down rather than trying to rely on memory

Was there a point when everything was going well and then it all changed?

Get it down on paper/email/word/internetary type things

Be factual (its going to be long winded but you need to show evidence of when and where things started to become a problem)

You need to log what hours you're doing in your own time plus when you're getting into work and when you leave - this shows your how many more hours that your physically doing.

Is their a solution to your situation? Its all good and well listing the problems but it looks good on you if you have thought out various ways to sort out these problems

Be positive and pro-active in your approach to this, if the company starts seeing you as someone who just moans and thinks you can't handle the workload then things might start getting tougher (almost as if they wanted to get rid of you...)

If you remain positive, saying that you enjoy working for the company, that you can show where these problems started and the effect its having on you, if you have evidence to support your concerns and if you have feasible/practical/realistic solutions to the problems then hopefully things will get sorted out!

You've already gone to your manager - if you were fobbed off by him, write down how you were fobbed off. Don't get personal - stick to the facts.

With all the evidence you have of all the problems, concerns and issues - send an email to whoever is above your manager. Alternatively - speak to your HR department firsr and maybe explain a little of the problem and ask who would be best to contact if you have concerns that aren't being addressed by your manager - and that it needs to be kept confidential

Contact ACAS regarding your problems too and see what they say. I've had to do this in the past as I nearly went to tribunal due to problems at work

I may go back over what I've written later when I'm not on my phone lol

 

Late once by about 2 minutes,but the rest of the days early. Also one of the last few to leave so lock up for the day sometimes. Only 1 sickness. Put it this way,i have annual leave holidays to take off which are paid for,but i cannot take these off and they are not carried till the next year,so technically i have free holidays which are now wasted...

 

The evidence and making notes sounds like a good idea,never thought to keep a log of it to be honest. Will start this later :good:

 

Reading this makes me realise how lucky I am. Ok I may get a call out once a month I may get nothing for but yep, I put up with that as I consider I'm pretty well paid.

Is there an option to move to a different company? Do you want to leave?

 

I've already moved around the company internally twice, so wouldnt really want to leave as i do enjoy it,but the stress is just to much at present!

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I could raise it higher but it will probably come back down to my line manager who I've already approached. Yup the usual tree,if i  don't perform it effects my manager which will reflect back on me so it's a bummer to be honest  :( . Problem is though it DOES effect my performance even though i'm trying to control it,it doesnt seem to work.  Nothing ever seems to be for the day to be honest. With it being planning,everything needs to be planned and hopefully closed out before the deadline (back log work currently needs to be finished by Jan). Some days i never get a chance to plan something and submit it,as i end up flicking between 9-12 other jobs trying to do a bit on each,but by the end of the day the maximum completed is about 2 - Now if i leave the rest for the next day,that up's my work load and Jan will soon be caught up to!   Late once by about 2 minutes,but the rest of the days early. Also one of the last few to leave so lock up for the day sometimes. Only 1 sickness. Put it this way,i have annual leave holidays to take off which are paid for,but i cannot take these off and they are not carried till the next year,so technically i have free holidays which are now wasted... The evidence and making notes sounds like a good idea,never thought to keep a log of it to be honest. Will start this later :good:  I've already moved around the company internally twice, so wouldnt really want to leave as i do enjoy it,but the stress is just to much at present!

Just thought I'd check in and see how things were going - has anything changed in the last few days?

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