dont want/can't do job - any options

iammumtoone

I am/was an assistant and had a boss I reported to, they left. I covered the role (as I would do for holidays) until they found a replacement, the replacement then left. During this time they moved someone from another area in the company to help out and do some of 'my' job. I kept the more difficult/responsible parts of 'my' job along with doing the far more responsible job which my old boss did.


The company have now decided not to replace my old boss and I am to carry on doing the role. I do not want the responsibility I stuggle to do the job I find it difficult, I get home far too stressed and just dont want to be having to think about work all the time. With my personal circumstances I can't do it long term, covering up to until now has been hard enough.


Apart from leave (which is easier said than done as I work part time and there are not very many part time roles in my sector). Is there anything that can be done? Can the company do this, give me the extra responsibility of the bosses role when I don't want it/didn't ask for it. If I wanted the job I could have applied for it when there was a vancany, I made it quite clear at the time I was not interested in applying for the job.

Comms69

Short answer is no; duck it up or leave

iammumtoone

Comms69 wrote: »

Short answer is no; duck it up or leave

I supected that was the case and I know lifes not fair but the situation sucks. The person who is working with me, originally applied for the job I am doing - they wanted it, I didn't! Yet I get given it and end up doing the more responsible role when the other person is more senior to me within the company structure.

getmore4less

You tell your bosses they need to get in a replacement.

You also start offloading work and managing what you accept you will do to manage the work load down.

Being part time helps, stuff has to wait.

You reduce your load and stop caring when not working.

If others really want something done they will do it themselves
or escalate so your bosses have to prioritize your time or get someone else doing it.

There is going to be a portion of what you do that is important, you get that done the trick is identifying the stuff that can wait and dos not impact you or the really important stakeholders if it does not get done.

Another strategy is to offload the things that make you worry refer all decisions that give you stress up the chain.

martinthebandit

What getmore4less says.

......but if you can't change your job the only thing left that you can change is your attitude to it.

Savvy_Sue

Have you been given any salary increase for doing the more difficult job? I think it will be easier to deal with this if you weren't, but I'd start with your line manager and explain that you don't want the additional responsibility.

Does the other person look like a good fit for the more responsible part? I know it's not your call, but if you think that either they are, or they could be if given more training, it wouldn't hurt to say that.

You have my sympathy: been there a long time ago, and wish I'd been brave enough then to say "Actually, no, I don't want this". Ended up leaving, which for travel reasons I would probably have done anyway, but it made the situation more urgent.

iammumtoone

getmore4less wrote: »

There is going to be a portion of what you do that is important, you get that done the trick is identifying the stuff that can wait and dos not impact you or the really important stakeholders if it does not get done.

I am already doing this, this is the main problem I am leaving loads of stuff that can wait, but I never find time to catch up. Everything I am doing must be done (ok lives wont be lost if its not but contracts could be). I am only part time and still doing the must do stuff of my old role and all the must do stuff of the new role (the new role stuff is far more complicated and takes up more thinking and time).

iammumtoone

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Have you been given any salary increase for doing the more difficult job? I think it will be easier to deal with this if you weren't, but I'd start with your line manager and explain that you don't want the additional responsibility.

No more money, they could offer me three times what I get now I would still not want it/do it. This is not about money, at this stage I would bite their hand off for my old job back for less pay. I realise its irrelevant but it sticks in my throat that the person doing my old job gets paid more than me.

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Does the other person look like a good fit for the more responsible part? I know it's not your call, but if you think that either they are, or they could be if given more training, it wouldn't hurt to say that.

Considering they applied for it and didn't get it I would say no. Buts thats not my problem/fault. I was asked a few times if I would apply and always said no I didn't want the responsibility of it.

getmore4less

iammumtoone wrote: »

I am already doing this, this is the main problem I am leaving loads of stuff that can wait, but I never find time to catch up. Everything I am doing must be done (ok lives wont be lost if its not but contracts could be). I am only part time and still doing the must do stuff of my old role and all the must do stuff of the new role (the new role stuff is far more complicated and takes up more thinking and time).

losing contracts is not your problem as long as you let the stakeholders know.

Start offloading, tell the people that need to know you can't do x,y,z with the time you have, who do I give the lowest priority to so we don't lose the contracts.

A simple example is you are preparing quotes for customers.

The complicated ones take 1/2 day you work part time 4 days and your other job takes up 2 days, you can do 4 quotes a week, as soon as the request for the 5th comes in you say that's on the schedule for next week, 6th etc.

first in, first out unless someone prioritises for you.

Make the available slots for quotes visible to the people that need to know them.

if they want 5 quotes a week something has to give.
make that someones problem to solve you are only there part time.

Resist overtime and full time if you don't want it

This would have been a lot easier if you had stated to manage the situation as soon as you were doing more than holiday cover.

Another strategy is to book a long holiday so someone has to take over like you did.

You are being managed into doing the work you need to manage it so you don't.

edit:
Just read your last post why not offload some work onto this other person they want the job give them the chance/train them to take over and take a holiday

Savvy_Sue

another question, has anything been put in writing about this, or is it all just hope and expectation on their part? If it's been put in writing, the time to contest it would have been as soon as you received the new 'offer'.

and how long have you been there?

iammumtoone wrote: »

No more money, they could offer me three times what I get now I would still not want it/do it. This is not about money, at this stage I would bite their hand off for my old job back for less pay. I realise its irrelevant but it sticks in my throat that the person doing my old job gets paid more than me.

Well this is helpful, I'd say, because if they'd offered a payrise and you'd accepted it, then going back to your old job might be more difficult.

I think if I wasn't being listened to in line management, I'd put it in writing. "Dear Fred, I have been doing additional work with much more responsibility since X date, despite stating more than once that I did not wish to apply for or do the job of Chief Widget Tester. I have not received any additional salary for this responsibility, and as I do not wish to do this job I would like to propose that I revert to my original job of Under Widget Tester with immediate effect. Please note that I am not requesting a salary increase, and this would not persuade me to take on the additional responsibility."

and then I'd start referring new work upwards. "Oh, could you ask Fred about that please, I don't have capacity for it." "Oh Fred, I need to pass this on to you because I don't have capacity for it." And so on.

Too much to hope you're in a union, I suppose?

iammumtoone

getmore4less wrote: »

This would have been a lot easier if you had stated to manage the situation as soon as you were doing more than holiday cover.

Don't I know it, you live and learn. I was told it was temporary until they found a replacement, I requested quite a few meetings over the time frame to request an update on the situation how long I was expected to cover for and reiterate at each meeting I was not interested in doing the job permanently.

getmore4less wrote: »

edit:
Just read your last post why not offload some work onto this other person they want the job give them the chance/train them to take over and take a holiday

I will request if I can do this and see what the response is. I can't do it off my own back as whilst I am doing the previous managers job roles I am not a manager, the other person does not work for me its not down to me what roles they do. We both now report to the next in line above my old manager.