Heavy Workload

[Rhona]

Hello, I'd just like some advice on whether my employers are actually doing anything wrong, or whether it's just a 'one of those things' type of situation. I work for a large company, but the team I work in is made up of 5 people; three admins, one senior admin and one manager. Two of the admins are part time. When I started 5 years ago, our workload was fairly heavy, but manageable. Three years ago, the senior admin left, and wasn't replaced for about a year. About a month after she left, the manager went off sick, and it has stayed that way pretty much for the whole three years, with some intermittent returns of maybe a couple of months, before going back off for long periods. As a result, quite apart from the issue of an increasing workload (increase of about 75% over the past three years), a lot of the tasks previously completed by the senior admin and manager have filtered down to the admins. The new senior admin is excellent, but simply cannot cope, and so I'm covering a lot of her work. A very large part of the job that was considered to be that higher grade is now done by me. I've not had much of a choice in this, I made my feelings on absorbing it clear when we knew she was going to leave three years ago, as far as I was concerned I would do it if I was paid for it. This was agreed verbally, and then when the manager went off sick, I was asked to do it temporarily, and now even the senior manager refers to me by the title the senior admin held. Except I'm not getting her salary! Anyway, we have flagged the workload in issue in general up with the Senior Manager in charge of our team time and time again, but he doesn't believe that there is a problem, that it is much of a problem at all that we're doing work that we're not (in my opinion) paid to do. I suspect its only not a problem because we're absorbing the work - if we weren't just doing the work, he might realise there is problem, but we're all hard-working and conscientious, and the type of work we do means we'd be dealing with a lot of complaints very quickly if we didn't do it. Most of us have to take work home and work late in order to get it done. I guess my question is whether there is any obligation on an employer to make sure that a situation that they aren't managing very well (the sickness, and I guess, the increasing workload and the impact on the team) doesn't impact on us. At least two of us have had fairly serious health problems as a result of the stress, and it's now at the point where I am going to leave, and know at least two of my colleagues are looking. It's obviously horrendously de-motivating and frustrating, but what makes it worse is the denials that there is a problem at all. With regards to the continued absence, the mantra is 'we were hoping you'd have a manager back by now, but it's not to be'. I'm fairly gobsmacked by this, and suspect if it was happening in the private sector, we'd definitely have a new manager. Is there anything actually unlawful about the situation, or is it just bad luck that I'm in a team that has ended up like this?

[teaboy2]

Re: Heavy Workload

If your doing work or duties of senior admin and not being paid for those extra duties then yes it is a problem as your effectively doing someone elses work. The employer doesn't see it as a problem because as far as they are concerned the work is being done.

Put in a formal grievance, make it clear you will no longer carryout extra workload above that of what is expected of you in your contractual duties for the role your contracted too. If they refer to a clause about taking on extra workload, point out such a request has to be reasonable and abusing such cluase is unreasonable in law. Also make clear that you expect to be paid extra for doing such extra work load!

After submitting the grievance simply work to rule of your contract.