Not enough work to do

Jox

WolfSong2000 wrote: »

I had this problem when I started as an admin at an office...I just found stuff for myself to do. Management were so pleased with my initiative they took me on permanently. Sort of made a rod for my own back, though, as have gone from having nothing to do to being insanely busy! Marketing is an obvious area to look at....teach yourself marketing skills that you can then put to use promoting the company. As another poster mentioned, MailChimp is good for email campaigns - social networking is also a growing area....there's lots of info out there on the net. I've had to teach myself marketing skills on top of my workload, and it's definitely kept me busy!

I will take the training suggestions on board, I do use my initiative as much as possible, everything is filed and sorted in the office, all the systems are in place, I've produced manuals for all the processes, I diarise every deadline and insurances are renewed, visas are renewed, mobile phone contracts are negotiated in advance....there just isn't the volume of work that I need so that the day whizzes past as it has done in the past, as opposed to draaaaggggging and counting the minutes!

morganedge

Jox wrote: »

I am very lucky in lots of ways when I see how hard people work, but I want to work hard, I have done in the past, I worked in advertising with lots of clients and worked til 9pm most days.

Maybe you could look for an admin job yourself

Maybe.
I actually had an office based job prior to this one, and funnily enough, I was in the same situation that you find yourself now.
I was working 9-5, yet I could finish all of my work by around 12pm, and then spent 5 hours watching youtube videos etc.
I loved it.
That company folded in the end, hence I had to find something else.

I would like a similar job, but I was quite lucky to get that one in the first place.
I'm not really qualified, and only have a few GCSE'S.
I'm also AWFUL at job interviews and suffer badly from nerves and some social anxiety which means that I could never 'blag' it into a job, like lots of my friends are able to do.

So, I think it's a life of loading lorries in the freezing cold for me! Speaking of which; time to get ready for my shift!

Jox

getmore4less wrote: »

Always take your holiday even if it means using it has 1/2 days.

There must be things you can do to use up 28 days minimum statutory days

The difficulty is working in a small office with a boss who doesn't want to take his own holidays, I always feel insecure about asking for time off.

I haven't taken the full allowance off in all the time I've been there, will book some days off!

getmore4less

Jox wrote: »

The difficulty is working in a small office with a boss who doesn't want to take his own holidays, I always feel insecure about asking for time off.

I haven't taken the full allowance off in all the time I've been there, will book some days off!

You said the boss is swanning of to the golf course sound like he is on one long holiday interupted by a bit of work.

If well on top of things do the odd mid week or just pick days to match the OH holidays

Why not offer to take over the holiday system bookings that way you don't have to ask.

I guess it depends how you are regulated but it is common in finance to make sure everyone has at least one long holiday a year to incease the chances of discovering fraud

Jox

Thanks getmore4less, the boss does go to the gym (not golf ) during the working day, sometimes at 3pm or 4pm, then comes back and works til after 7.30pm.

I do look after the holiday booking system but still have to ask permission from the boss, he won't say no but as he's not taking holidays it's making me feel bad about taking them myself, I probably just need to be more ruthless.

There's only me to do my job but I'm accountable to our accounts department (in another country) and our accountants (in another part of the UK) so they can see what I'm up to and not fiddling the expenses or petty cash!

I will have to confront this situation as it is playing on my mind, I will find some courses to do during the day, while the boss is at the gym!

Adamthegreat984

Sounds like my dream job, quiet and enough time to surf the net all day

CWSmith

Snap. My job is just the same - I can finish my entire daily workload in an hour, max. It's been like that since the "new boss" arrived, 15 months ago. Luckily it is only a part time job or I think I would be losing the plot by now.

I've tried all the suggestions above. I've invented little jobs for myself, helped other departments and even (being a bit arty) have spent days drawing pictures to put on the office walls! The boss doesn't seem to care/mind what I do and half the time he is "out at meetings" so I don't see him sometimes from one week to the next. These days I mostly play on the Net or take my Kindle in for a read.

It sounds ok, and in small doses it is - it was great before Xmas. I did all my online Xmas shopping from work! But mostly it's soul-destroying. You start to feel out of the loop, side-lined, depressed ........ just pointless and useless really. I wouldn't actually mind being made redundant, but it's not on the cards.

Takeaway_Addict

CWSmith wrote: »

Snap. My job is just the same - I can finish my entire daily workload in an hour, max. It's been like that since the "new boss" arrived, 15 months ago. Luckily it is only a part time job or I think I would be losing the plot by now.

I've tried all the suggestions above. I've invented little jobs for myself, helped other departments and even (being a bit arty) have spent days drawing pictures to put on the office walls! The boss doesn't seem to care/mind what I do and half the time he is "out at meetings" so I don't see him sometimes from one week to the next. These days I mostly play on the Net or take my Kindle in for a read.

It sounds ok, and in small doses it is - it was great before Xmas. I did all my online Xmas shopping from work! But mostly it's soul-destroying. You start to feel out of the loop, side-lined, depressed ........ just pointless and useless really. I wouldn't actually mind being made redundant, but it's not on the cards.

You don't have to be made redundant to make that move you know? You just sound like you've become to comfortable.

getmore4less

Jox wrote: »

There's only me to do my job but I'm accountable to our accounts department (in another country) and our accountants (in another part of the UK) so they can see what I'm up to and not fiddling the expenses or petty cash

I was thinking of the others and the boss if they are not taking holidays they are in a position to potentialy hide things, so some companies insist on at least one long holiday a year.

CWSmith

Absolutely true, I am (after 15 years in the job) comfortable-ish. But husband and I are also planning to move the other other end of the country in a year, so I'm hanging on for now. No point changing jobs at this stage.