Q: I work for a very demanding boss who apparently feels that I can handle any task in the office. He assigns all the extra work to me instead of spreading it out among the staff. Even though he has no problem with my co-workers, he rarely gives them any additional responsibilities.
After I talked with him about my overwhelming workload, he did allow me to delegate some of my duties. But the work always trickles back to me eventually, because the others either cannot or will not get the job done. I’m beginning to think the only solution is to just stop being such a good employee.
A:
This quandary is frequently experienced by extremely conscientious people. Work tends to flow towards those who are most reliable, so by consistently demonstrating competence, you have turned into a task magnet. This trend can be hard to reverse, since intentionally screwing up is not really a viable option.
The first step in solving this problem is to be sure that you are not contributing to it. Hard-working, meticulous employees often feel compelled to stay on top of every single little detail. As a result, they have a tendency to take on extra duties or reclaim tasks that have been given to others.
Some administrative assistants, for example, have been known to assume responsibility for refilling the coffee, cleaning the break room, keeping paper in the copier, organizing birthday celebrations, reminding people to complete expense reports, and so on, even when no one has required them to do so.
Highly responsible people may also have difficulty delegating, because they expect others to handle every assignment exactly as they would themselves. When they sense that their personal standards are not being met, they quickly take the work back. If you see yourself in this description, then it’s time to relax and let go of a few things.
On the other hand, you may simply be the victim of a disorganized manager who has failed to differentiate roles in the office. To remedy this oversight, draft job descriptions for the key players and review them with your boss. If you can get him to sign off on a clear division of labor, that should provide a structure for reassigning some of your duties.
Q:
My co-workers and I recently discovered that our supervisor has been punching the time clock for an employee who was not at work. The supervisor apparently felt sorry for her because she had used up all her vacation and sick days. This seems wrong, but we’re not sure what to do about it. Should we send copies of our documentation to our supervisor’s boss?
A:
Your best bet is to share this information with the human resources manager, who has responsibility for seeing that leave policies are fairly administered throughout the company. If your business is too small to have an HR department, then upper management is your only recourse. Just be sure to carefully weigh the risks and benefits before lodging your complaint.
