I’m doing 3 jobs, but only getting paid for 1

by Alison Green on August 20, 2012

A reader writes:

About 6 months ago, two employees in my department left – one quit and the other was laid off. I was asked and agreed to do the work of the person who quit and was told that the additional responsibilities would lead to a pay increase and new title. When the other person was laid off, I absorbed her responsibilities because we had the same title and function. Now, I am doing the work I was hired to do as well as the work of two additional people. Both the employees that left made more substantially more money than what I currently make. I have not received a raise to date, and the workload has become so overwhelming that I am taking work home with me just so that I don’t fall too far behind.

I have had several meetings with my manager to let him know that I feel very overwhelmed and that I need some help with my additional responsibilities. I have given him a detailed, numbered list of my responsibilities, how long each task takes, and recommendations of how to resolve the issue that I felt were very fair. I also told him that I would rather forgo the raise that I was promised months ago in order to be able to bring someone else on board so that I don’t have to continue bringing work home with me after hours.

My concerns have gone unnoticed and I think as long as the work is getting done, they do not see a reason to be concerned. I am not sure what else I can do or say to help them see that I can’t continue much longer to do the work of three people when I am only one person (and only getting paid for one role!). Any advice?

You’re dealing with an unethical company.

It’s not unethical to pile more work onto a single person, particularly when that person agrees to take it on. But it’s absolutely unethical to get them to agree by promising a raise and a title change and then not come through. They made you an explicit promise, and they’ve broken it.

You should do the following:

1. Meet with your manager and say this: “When I agreed to take on this extra work six months ago, I was promised a raise and a title change for doing so. It’s been six months, and neither of those have happened. When exactly should I expect those things to happen, and what is the amount of the raise you’re envisioning?”

Your manager will probably hem and haw. If so, that’s your answer — there’s probably no raise or title change coming. If there were, she’d be able to tell you something more concrete.

2. I’d also recommend saying this: “Additionally, I am now doing the work of three people, and no plans have been made to alleviate that. I’m no longer able to continue working the extra hours I’ve been working in order to get these three jobs done. I’m going to prioritize the work in the following way: ____. That means that items X, Y, and Z probably won’t get done unless they’re assigned to someone else. Is that the prioritization you’d prefer, or would you rather I group these differently?”

Then stick to that. Return to working a normal work week, and give your manager regular weekly updates by email on what’s been accomplished that week and what hasn’t been accomplished due to lack of time. Spell out the consequences of not rehiring or adjusting the workload very clearly.

Meanwhile, I’d start looking at other jobs. Unfortunately, your company has shown you through its actions that it will continue to treat you this way as long as you let them — so believe what their actions are telling you, and stop letting them.

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{ 62 comments }

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  1. V*

    1. there is no raise or title change coming
    2. “everything should be your top priority” those tasks are now your responsibility and not completing them will be reflected in your performance reviews. doesn’t matter that you informed them that you did not have enough time.

      1. Chocolate Teapot*

        When asking the “What should I prioritise?” question to a couple of bosses during a period when there were some short staffing issues, I got an eye-roll and “Use your initiative” snapped back at me.

        So why did I get it in the neck for doing just that?

        1. Ask a Manager* Post author

          Well, some managers are idiots / bad at managing. But you can’t extrapolate from that to conclude that they all are.

          That said, instead of saying “what should I prioritize,” it’s better to do what I suggested in the post — say “this is how I’m planning to prioritize; does that sound right to you?”

          1. Camellia*

            And document document document!

            After your meeting, whether your boss helps you prioritize or tells you to do it yourself or hems and haws with no clear answer, as soon as you get back to your desk type up a recap of the meeting. Detail that your boss left the prioritization up to you (since I am assuming that is what he’s going to do), what you understand your top priorities to be and also the fact that X, Y, and Z will not get done because of such-and-such. Ask again if that is what ‘they’ want you to do. Then send it to your boss, your boss’s boss, and everyone else that you think could be even remotely impacted by this.

            Doing this, especially by cc-ing the right people, may light a fire under them or it may produce no results at all, but at least you will have a documentation trail when they come back at you for not doing your work. And right now it doesn’t matter if they will hold that against you – as Alison said, it’s time to get out of there anyway.

            And continue to do the email recap for every meeting, casual exchange, etc. that you have with your boss. Really, sometimes it can work miracles. I’ve had bosses who brush me repeatedly but, surprise surprise, when I put it in writing and cc their boss (or sometimes just even a co-worker), suddenly they are johnny-on-the-spot.

            Hang in there and good luck with your job search!

            2. AMG*

              +1. Huge fan of documenting. And it can be amazing to see how fast people change when others know what they are up to.

              I also entirely agree that this company does not care about you and will continue to take as long ad you are willing to give them everything you can until you are burned out and used up. Be true to yourself!

          2. Chocolate Teapot*

            I did try that as well, but got the eye-roll with added hurrumpf and “Use your initiative” snapped even more sharply!

  2. moe*

    Ouch, tough situation.

    This–“as long as the work is getting done, they do not see a reason to be concerned”–is the crux of it, IMO. The more a person takes on, the more they raise the expectations of what a competent person is capable of doing in that role, at that pay–so now you’ve effectively devalued your own work. Regardless of how much OP has suffered, it sounds like (s)he has continued to get the work done somehow. I don’t know how you walk that back in a company that clearly just doesn’t care.

    I’m sorry, OP. I think your superhuman work ethic did you wrong here.

    1. JessB*

      I agree, as long as your manager can see that the work is getting done, they don’t seem to mind that you are under such pressure to do it.

      I totally agree with AAM, you should stop taking work home immediately, and spend some work time before your next meeting with your manager deciding on how you are going to work from now on. Your conversation with your manager shouldn’t be antagonistic, and you should take on board any changes they would like you to make to the list of priorities you drew up, but you should be firm and resist any attempt to have you continue doing all this work.

      I’m a temp, and really had to change my mind set when I would work positions for people who had unrealistic expectations of how long work would take me. I don’t stay more than 5 minutes late, and if I’m there past 5:10, I have a conversation about how I’m going to get this time back (a longer lunch break, a late start or get paid for it on my timesheet). You’ve been done over by unethical people, but you need to get your life back!

  3. Karyn*

    This happened to me at my last job. I was promised a raise and title change, and neither came through after a year of doing two jobs (the reason, I was told, was that “Human Resources wouldn’t allow either” – why HR has anything to do with raises/title changes is beyond me)… I really feel for you, OP. My suggestion is to follow Alison’s advice – particularly sticking to it when you lay out what isn’t getting done. This is what I eventually had to do, and they had to accept it. They didn’t want to pay overtime, and I certainly wasn’t going to work off the clock. If neither of Alison’s suggestions work, unfortunately, it’s time to look around for something new.

    1. ThatHRGirl*

      This sounds like a cop-out on the part of the manager… or a terribly misaligned HR department. *Generally* HR is going to want to mitigate risk to the company, and having someone who is performing more work than they’re being compensated for is a risk – especially when you start to talk about OT/working off the clock to get things done.

  4. Tim C,*

    Alison

    Assuming the OP is denied relief and she begins looking for a new job; What would you recommend she tell people at the interview? It sounds counter productive to say “I want a new job so I do not have to work as hard”.

    1. Ask a Manager* Post author

      A couple of options: If she’s been there a while, she could simply say that she’s ready for new challenges and there isn’t a path for growth at her current company. Or she could say (truthfully) that her company has had some recent layoffs and she’s looking for a more stable workplace.

    2. Noelle*

      This happened to me and when I was interviewing I said something like, “One of the reasons I am looking for a new position is because I have taken over numerous responsibilities and tasks, and there hasn’t been an opportunity for advancement in line with these new duties.” The interviewers would sometimes ask follow-up questions but this approach worked well for me.

  5. Kristi*

    I think this is the second or third time this month we’ve read similar stories about a strong work ethic gone amuck. These instances are specific to not replacing former staff, but can also happen with a company doesn’t make plans to cover business growth/expansion. I went through this myself a couple times and a certain point you just recognize you won’t get it all done. And then realize that’s okay. As the OP states,

    “…as long as the work is getting done, they do not see a reason to be concerned. ”

    As long as I was on top of the ever increasing work load, management wasn’t concerned and worse continued to add to my plate.

    Of course some jobs pay enough that they expect this, but most of us are just being taken advantage of. Stop taking work home, staying late on a regular basis, and leave your desk at lunch for an actual break. Its nothing that can’t wait and will still be there when you can back.

    1. ChristineH*

      I’ve been warned about having such a strong work ethic myself because sometimes, that can lead to being taken advantage of. I don’t think one should ever compromise their integrity or willingness to work hard; but Kristi’s post (and the OP as well) is a reminder that having a strong work ethic can, once in a blue moon, have its downsides.

      1. Anonymous*

        It’s not a problem to have a strong work ethic.

        The problem is that some people don’t have a “pay me” ethic to match their work ethic.

        If you work hard and well (which is different than just working hard) then there is usually someone, somewhere who will pay you commensurate with your work ethic. Finding that person takes a different kind of work ethic, a “pay me” ethic where you are working on your own behalf.

      2. Anonymous*

        It definitely does. I recently asked about being promoted to manager at my job because I knew no one else in our store wanted it (weird hours, lots of working moms there). The store manager practically had a coronary. “You want to leave [employee] alone with [horrible employee 1] and [horrible employee 2] up there?”

        Essentially, because I’m one of two shift leaders who can actually be relied upon, I’m stuck where I am because otherwise it’d be chaos on the front end. There are no other options available, like, I don’t know, firing the people who won’t do their job and hiring someone else.

        They hired someone from another location and paid to relocate her just so I could stay on the front end. Except now I’m leaving as soon as I can anyway. Even McDonald’s would be better; at least they promote people rapidly.

  6. ChristineH*

    I agree for the most part with everything said. My only quibble is the fact that the OP offered to forgo the raise; I think that gave the company a bit of an “out”. If she brings up the raise and title change promises next time she meets with the manager, they might say, “but you agreed to forgot the raise…” Not saying it’s right, just something that might be a sticking point.

    1. JT*

      “but you agreed to forgot the raise… ”

      “Yes, if the money was used to pay for another staffperson. Is the hiring process underway? Can I see the job announcement?”

    2. AMG*

      There is a way out of it, and the she is obviously on the right side of this, but it does weaken her arguement and make it harder to get into a favorable position.

  7. Priya*

    I would start looking for a new job right away or just quit all together. Your boss is taking advantage of you, and it’s not fair. There are better things you could be doing with your time.

  8. Vicki*

    There is a difference between a “strong work ethic” and doing harm to your self. A strong work ethic means you get your work done during the normal hors and don’t waste time chatting with co-workers or playing solitaire. It doesn’t mean that you take on the work of two other people without complaining.

    Please read this illuminating article by someone I know: “when you burn the candle from both ends, then blowtorch the middle, eventually you run out of candle” http://bit.ly/R0M9Wj

  9. Sonata*

    AAM’s advice was so helpful. To prevent this situation in the first place, is it wise to request a written confirmation up front if an employer promises anything major like a raise? If so, would an email suffice?

    1. fposte*

      It wouldn’t hurt to ask, and such an email would give you something if you had to go beyond your supervisor, but I don’t think you want to count on this method as a preventative. You’d probably have to do some chasing to get such an email in the first place, and a bad supervisor is going to be willing to blow off an email just like a conversation (it’s unlikely to rise to the level of a contract or be phrased in a way that doesn’t have a loophole even if it did). Ultimately, it’s pretty difficult to make them give you a raise if they really don’t want to do it.

      1. ruby*

        Agreed you can’t make them give you a raise if they really don’t want to but at minimum, if you ask for an email sumamrzing the discussion and encountering resistance, it can give you a head’s up that getting the actual raise itself may be a problem too. Having the email won’t get you the raise but how they react to the request for the email can help you get a better sense of how serious they are about it.

      2. Sonata*

        Thanks for pointing this out. I’m learning that the “word of honor” concept is, unfortunately, dismissed in most circles these days.

      3. Sonata*

        Great point! It’s tough – but wise – to realize that many employers don’t have their employees’ best interest at heart.

  10. Mike C.*

    If the OP has such a benefit available, I suggest you take a week off for two reasons.

    1. I found that taking a week off from a terrible job is a great way to rest up and get a good start to a new job search.

    2. Your employers and coworkers will begin to understand the type of workload they’ve put you under, now that they have to do it themselves.

    2. K.*

      This reminds me of the episode of Parks & Rec where Leslie was away and the department realized just how much work she does. A little different because they weren’t mistreating her to begin with, but they were all like “Wait, really? ALL these meetings? In one day?”

  11. Noelle*

    Does anyone think that overburdening employees is fairly common now? In my last job it was a given that most people would quit within the year because we were all extremely overworked. Our bosses didn’t care because they’d rather burn us out and get extra work for a year than have to pay for another person to help. Unfortunately, the job market allowed them to do that but it was a terrible situation. Hopefully the OP finds a more ethical employer soon!

    1. Long Time Admin*

      This happened to me 20 years ago, and it happened to my best friend just recently. She got caught up in one of the layoffs, which probably saved her life. The stress was literally killing her. She has a very strong work ethic, too, and skipped all her breaks and vacations, stayed late, and took work home every night. It was never enough though, and her doctor warned her that she was in danger of having a stroke. She’s now unemployed and making some very significant and very important changes in her life, and is starting to get better.

      It’s not a new business strategy, but at least 20 years ago it wasn’t as hard to find a new job.

      1. Noelle*

        Ugh, that’s terrible. I’m glad your friend got out of that situation and is doing better! And I agree that it probably isn’t that new, but I think now it’s easier for employers to dismiss concerns because they know there’s so many people looking for any job right now. My old boss would frequently tell his employees, “if you have a problem with it, there are hundreds of people who’d be happy to do this job.”

    2. K.*

      I do think so, yeah. I used to volunteer with someone who had to quit volunteering because her department at her paying job had lost a bunch of people that the company has no plans to replace, so everyone’s work load has doubled or tripled. She came back from maternity leave and her boss was like “Here’s twice as much as work as you did before you gave birth. Persons A, B, C, and D are no longer here. Welcome back!”

  12. Dan*

    Sort of related to Noelle’s last post…

    “Markets” are a fluid a thing and its behavior is hard to observe at any given point. Employers realize that they’re not paying market wage or otherwise offer a “competitive” workplace when they realize they have a retention problem. If the first guy quits, do they care? Probably not. Likewise, same with the second. What about the third guy and the fourth guy? At some point, the employer has got to realize that the workplace is not aligned with the current market. But there’s no way to draw a hard line and say X% is turnover we can live with (sort of like 4.5% unemployment is considered “good” because it’s almost impossible to make it 0%) and any more than that is a problem that *must* be solved.

    So anyway… today when the employee says, “I realize you’re in a bind, I’ll help you out for a few months” that doesn’t bind the employee to going that far above and beyond forever. When they dump extra work on the employee, if she’s adding new things to her skillset, she becomes more valuable to the market. Somebody else will recognize that and pay her accordingly. The first employer just sees someone who will get overworked for cheap, not realizing the market for that employee is changing.

  13. Elizabeth West*

    Grr. Unfortunately, this is the New World Order. Hiring one person to do the work of three. Because of the recession, the skeleton crew is now normal. I’m afraid this will not change if things get better; companies won’t want to spend any money as long as the work gets done. And there will be no better jobs to jump ship for.

    If they promised the OP this, they need to follow through. Otherwise word does get around how they treat people, and they will lose the OP eventually and maybe future chances at hiring good employees. This type of crap was tearing apart my last company.

  14. kate*

    Oh goodness, I sympathize. You’ve described a situation nearly identical to my own 3 years ago. I wasn’t able to resolve it, and left for a new job, where (very fortunately) I now have a fantastic manager. I can’t believe I ever had to put up with such poor leadership in my former organization. Even if your manager eventually does put some effort toward treating you fairly, I encourage you to ramp up your job search so you can leave this company that let this happen to begin with.

    I also add my vote to taking vacation time if you can – but recommend treating it not so much as a vacation as a “job hunt retreat” where you focus your energies on moving to something better. In the event your employer has an epiphany while you’re out you can (carefully) leverage any developments in your job hunt.

  15. JM*

    Wow. Really sorry you work for such a crappy company, and I hope you can find a better job soon. Please send an update!

  16. Anonymous*

    I just posted this in the signs your about to be fired but I guess since this is the newest thread I’ll post it here in hopes of getting some answers.

    So my situation is not that I’m expected to do a lot of work and it’s getting done so nothing is changing. It’s that I’m expected to do a lot of work and it’s not getting done and expectations are not being adjusted.

    I just had my monthly meeting with my supervisor. My productivity stats just keep dropping every month. She says everything is being taken into account like she always does. I’ve had serious doubts about how they calculate that though. After talking it over a bit I finally got her to say that it’s not that I’m not working but working too slow. The expectations for how much work should get done in what amount of time though is ridiculous. I’m not the only one in my position that feels this way and not meeting expectations. I just don’t know how to tell her directly that I think the expectations need to be readjusted because they just aren’t realistic.

    1. Ask a Manager* Post author

      If everyone else is having trouble meeting the new stats, can you point that out? It’s pretty unlikely that they’re going to fire all of you …. but if some people ARE meeting the new expectations, that might be a sign that it’s not totally crazy for your boss to expect.

      1. Mike C.*

        One thing to be careful of is if the particular metric allows for the possibility of success for everyone. I don’t mean in the sense of “everyone gets a trophy for showing up”, but say the metric is “you have to be in the top half of your group or you’re gone”. Glengarry Glen Ross type stuff.

        Or here’s another example: you work retail in an environment where particular times/days have much predictably higher sales than others. The boss continually schedules the same people for the slower/faster times and then punishes the group who is always scheduled for the slower times.

        A mathematically minded person would find ways to account for these issues, but I think it’s safe to say that not everyone has a head for math.

        1. Ask a Manager* Post author

          This is a good point. If some people are meeting the new measures, it’s worth looking at why/how they’re doing it — are they working under different conditions than you?

          1. Anonymous*

            None of us are meeting the expectations they have of how much work we should be able to complete in a day. If they were being realistic it would be half as much then what they are saying is currently expected.

            I did speak with one of my co-workers and found that she was documenting her time that she was not working in our main software program. My supervisor had sent out this tracking sheet for us to do that but when I asked her what kinds of things should be put on there she didn’t really give me anything to go off of.

            I asked her about specific things like what about X and Y? And she would tell me that that was already taken into account when they were calculating my productivity stats. However, I found that hard to believe because though X is completed in our main software program, the Y part of it is not and therefore not trackable. I mentioned my concerns about this to her at least three times.

            However, my co-worker has been including the Y part in her tracking sheet and she said our supervisor has not bounced it back to her at all so we assume it was acceptable. There are also a host of other things my co-worker includes on this tracking sheet which would be relevant to me as well since we hold the exact same position.

            So I have started filling out this tracking sheet. I think it would definitely help my stats a little, though I’ll still be unable to meet their workload expectations. I have concluded that my supervisor has failed as a supervisor to give me clear guidance and make expectations clear, especially when I said I didn’t understand why my stats were low. And she even gave me misinformation/lied to me regarding this tracking sheet.

            On a side note I think this tracking sheet is utterly ridiculous. It’s basically an account of every single minute of your work day minus time spent working on our software program which is trackable.

  17. OP*

    Hi everyone, this is the OP. I just wanted to thank AAM and everyone for the advice/comments. I am happy to say that since writing this letter, I have been aggressively job hunting and found an opportunity that is more in line with my future career goals. I quickly realized that the situation wasn’t changing no matter how hard I tried on my end, and realized the best way to alleviate the situation was to move on. While interviewing with potential employers, I did not speak badly about my previous employer. I told them that the work I was doing was not what I saw myself doing long term (which is true) and I am looking to grow. I like to think that the reason I received all the extra responsibilities is because they thought highly enough of me to be able to handle it. Although I was not compensated monetarily, I did gain some useful skills that I think I will be able to use in the future so I can be grateful for that. I hope my story will give hope to other people on this site in similar situations!

    1. Sonata*

      Thanks for updating us, OP! It was encouraging to hear the positive results from your professional, upbeat approach. Best wishes!

  18. J*

    good for you! Congrats on the new job!

    And just so you know, I think many other employers will completely understand. . . as many employees (and employers typically were once employees) have been there too! Myself, it was two years ago. The company was struggling, and people started quitting like flies. I held on, with a temporary promotion to ‘acting’ manager, and the promise if I ‘proved’ myself by helping get this one project together, I’d be officially promoted, complete with raise to match what the old manager had made. That never happened. I worked an entire YEAR as ‘acting’, even having business cards printed with that as the title!

    Here’s what I learned: bosses lie. If they’re in a spot, in a situation where they need to squeeze more work and time from an employee, the bad ones will lie. My boss promised me a raise and a title upgrade, and dangled it in front of me: when I enquired after it, I was told first the company had no money, and second that she just didn’t think I was ‘ready’ for the official title (although I was apparently ready for the work load). I was in my early 20s and looking back, I should have worked out that if they intended to give me a raise and a new title, there wouldn’t have been this ‘trial’ period. I wouldn’t have had to prove myself, as if they were confident enough to give me the responsibility and work, I already had!

    End of day the best advice I ever got about workloads and ethics was if it can’t be completed within the regular working hours, it can’t be completed. I’m not saying be a clock watcher, but if you find you’re working overtime more often than not, there’s a bigger problem. And i agree with AAM– sticking up for yourself will only end negatively in workplaces that are negative to begin with.

  19. Another anon*

    This happened to me. My dept of 6 dwindled to four then two. Then I took a new position within the company. And they never replaced me. Ends up all that extra work th others were doing apparently wasn’t so important. I am still in touch with that one person and she focuses only on super top priority work. She also uses consultants sometimes but honestly, it’s been YEARS and nothing horrible has happened. Reducing head count arbitrarily to meet low budgets helped the dept crystallize what is truly important.

  20. Anonymous*

    For anyone in a similar situation, documenting what work does not get done is a great idea. Companies think they are saving money by leaving positions vacant or unfilled. They are not. They must become aware of this cost.

    1. ernby*

      I know someone that documented everything. All the jobs he was assigned and the jobs he didn’t have time to do. Time and time again he would send e-mails or print out his documentation and nothing happened. When he quit, his replacement received all of the work he had not accomplished and more. Now they have the same problem but management doesn’t listen. I’m beginning to think this is normal for most companies. It’s called Lean manufacturing… do more with less.

  21. Mele*

    This same situation happened with my and my coworkers a year or so ago. We began to be assigned WAY too many reports to our caseloads, and people began taking work home at the end of the day, working weekends, etc. I refused. I’m already being grossly underpaid in comparison with other organization’s same positions. I’m not working after my day is over. So I convinced the rest of my coworkers to STOP taking their work home with them. We did the best job we could in the hours provided, and any reports that could not be completed by the end of the day/week, a memo was filed stating basically “Due to time constraints, the report for so and so could not be completed. I respectfully request an extension of two weeks” or whatever. This memo process got to be so prolific (apparently bosses finally got the picture that we were understaffed and overworked) that all the head honchos got together and enacted new policy. They hired four additional staff (yay!), and even instituted a caseload tracking function into our computer systems. If, in the future, we had to file our “extension please” memo, we checked boxes why it was being requested. Vacation, time constraints, sick, subject of report failed to appear, etc. Its been great since! Our report caseloads went from 15-18 a week (20+ page social reports mind you, needing interviews, follow up, interagency cooperation, etc), to roughly 7. My job has been almost zero stress, I get home on time EVERY day, and don’t even THINK about work until I get up for work that week. I wish every situation could work out like this! :)

  22. ernby*

    I’ve dealt with this for years at my place of work. Seems like I get multiple projects that the Engineers should be doing but I get no extra pay. When I say something about it I normally get a shrug or get asked “don’t you work 8 hours and get a paycheck”? Making out like I should have plenty of time to do their job and my own. Every time there is a possibility for advancement they hire someone straight out of college and pay them more money to do the job I’ve done for years with less. Is the only way out to quit??? I’m not the only employee with this problem but I’m tired of it.

  23. Jennifer*

    I joined a company as a customer service rep 15 years ago. For the last eight years I’ve been doing the work of part workforce management specialist, part scheduling analyst, part business ops specialist, part performance and reporting analyst. All while being paid as a customer service rep. I’ve learned so many skills on the job and will always be grateful for that. I love what I do and feel as if I’ve made a positive difference by taking the load off the shoulders of my managers. When I started this “project”, it was with a promise of a title within six months. Every year there were more roadblocks: new VPs had to be brought up to speed on the unique job I do, HR is having a hard time finding a job description that fits, it got put on the back burner while we deal with other things, etc.. All of these conversations (usually twice a year) ended with a vague statement about hanging in there, progress is being made and I should feel lucky because most people have to search for a job like the one I do and go through the application process but I’m getting a position created for me without even having to apply. Even in writing this, I wonder how I could be so gullible.

    Last week, the news finally came. There will be two jobs created for our department to do the work; a business operations manager and reporting analyst. I thought all the work I’d done, reports I created, processes I’ve managed had finally paid off. Then I was told that I was welcome to apply but the jobs are located in another state and will most likely require a bachelor’s degree. I was also told I will be “set up for success” by being trained to go back into customer service. I feel as if I were in an eight year internship for a job that never existed. I’ll be working with same agents I’ve reported on performance and productivity stats. Some of them have not hidden their feelings about being in the low end of the productivity stats.

    I would like to tell anyone in this situation, please heed the advice posted and look for something else. As much as I appreciate all the skills I’ve gained, I would have taken off the rose colored glasses long ago and looked for another position.

  24. Heather*

    This is currently happening to me right now at my work place. I was doing the job of one person then they made one of my coworker job redundant. When I came back from maternity leave from having my first baby I was given a different job title with less than half of what my coworker was earning. I yold my boss the job was overwhelming. After returning from maternity leave with the second baby they kept on the second person and gave her same job title as me with different product responsibilities. Now this is a small company with about 80 workers or less. They’ve expanded and as added new responsibilities on me whis is till extrelely overwhelming and unfair. So now that they hired someone to assist they took some of my job gave to her and packed on more work on me to replace what they took off.

    I have 2 kids I constantly have to carry work home in order to meet deadlines. I am constantly tired and have no interest to do anything fun with my family. How can I deal with a situation like this? I am looking for other jobs but the job market is in a mess in my country right now since so many other companies are laying off where, I work they would tell us we should count our blessings since we have a job.

    1. Anonymous*

      Some people say you have bad ethicks .NOT SO ! employer who does this, is stealing. Boss should pick up extra work . that is why they are paid extra. Ask them to stop steeling from you , and pay the other two pays to you with addition of boss pay+18% ,for time in this act.

  25. Lynette*

    My department had 5 people, one left to go back to school, one left to pursue another job within the organization, one was fired. The remaining 2 have had to do the work of 5 people for almost 2 years now. When performance review time came, we were skipped over. Nothing has been entered into our e-file in HR. When I asked HR about it and presented a detailed list of the additional duties I now have to do, and came up with a salary increase proposal, I was insulted and floored when the HR rep told me “Maybe this job isn’t for you” insinuating I should quit or that I wasn’t being appreciative of having a job. It’s an employer’s market I tell you, and this kind of abuse is not uncommon.

  26. S.A.*

    I’ve witnessed this several times and had to scale back my own work ethic. When people start running off and treating the company like the Titanic then you should keep one eye out for opportunities and network with people. I recommend never just settling and keeping an eye out, even if you are happy with an employer in the future.

    When several people quit or put in a notice (from bad management or otherwise) you should avoid being dumped on. Most people higher up the corporate chain ignore problems until they’re personally having to deal with it. Only then does it become a sudden emergency.

    It tends to end with employers desperately hiring anyone because anyone competent (and networking) will quickly find out where they are not supposed to apply for work. I’ve called it Red Listing (not working for those operating in the Red for violations) as opposed to Black Listing.

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