Help me steal back my assistant!
August 31, 2016 1:21 PM Subscribe
I’m in a tricky situation at work. I secured an administrative assistant to help me in the office, but a coworker of mine is dominating this woman’s time, leaving me to struggle all by myself. How do I fix this without causing animosity in the office?
I work in an stressful office where I have a massive workload. About a year ago, I complained to the bosses that I was in desperate need of help. They agreed to hire an administrative assistant to do general office work, but also to help me when needed. We hired a woman, who I’ll call Susan.
For a few months, Susan was wonderful and helped me and the rest of the office a lot. Then my coworker (same position as me, but much MUCH less seniority) announced that she was pregnant. Immediately my bosses decided that this coworker (let’s call her Anna) would train Susan to fill in for her while she was on maternity leave. So for the next five months, Anna and Susan worked closely together, with Susan taking over more and more of the load. Finally when Anna went on maternity leave, Susan took over completely, doing all her work. During this time, I was completely on my own and falling further and further behind on my work.
Finally this week, Anna came back to work. But Susan is still doing a lot of her workload! Now it seems like Anna has her own little personal assistant and I have nothing. And just as an aside, my workload is easily four times as heavy as Anna’s is. I have maybe ten projects to her two or three, and yet I am on my own and she has Susan sharing her work and responsibilities.
How do I fix this mess? I like Susan and Anna both and don’t want to cause problems with them, but I really need the help. Hiring more staff is not an option. Also we have a very small, informal office so there’s no HR or anything like that.
I work in an stressful office where I have a massive workload. About a year ago, I complained to the bosses that I was in desperate need of help. They agreed to hire an administrative assistant to do general office work, but also to help me when needed. We hired a woman, who I’ll call Susan.
For a few months, Susan was wonderful and helped me and the rest of the office a lot. Then my coworker (same position as me, but much MUCH less seniority) announced that she was pregnant. Immediately my bosses decided that this coworker (let’s call her Anna) would train Susan to fill in for her while she was on maternity leave. So for the next five months, Anna and Susan worked closely together, with Susan taking over more and more of the load. Finally when Anna went on maternity leave, Susan took over completely, doing all her work. During this time, I was completely on my own and falling further and further behind on my work.
Finally this week, Anna came back to work. But Susan is still doing a lot of her workload! Now it seems like Anna has her own little personal assistant and I have nothing. And just as an aside, my workload is easily four times as heavy as Anna’s is. I have maybe ten projects to her two or three, and yet I am on my own and she has Susan sharing her work and responsibilities.
How do I fix this mess? I like Susan and Anna both and don’t want to cause problems with them, but I really need the help. Hiring more staff is not an option. Also we have a very small, informal office so there’s no HR or anything like that.
Best answer: I would have a meeting with Anna and Susan, and say something along the lines of, "Anna, I'm so very glad you're back! That's going to be a huge relief to me, as I've been holding off on a good number of projects for Susan while you've been away. So let's figure out a transition plan to get you back into your groove and have Susan get back to her official role."
posted by xingcat at 1:27 PM on August 31, 2016 [49 favorites]
posted by xingcat at 1:27 PM on August 31, 2016 [49 favorites]
Talk to your manager. Take away all your feelings about this, and present it factually: "Boss, now that Anna is back, is it possible to reassign Susan to help me 50% of her time?" (Or whatever fits) "With that assistance, I will be able to get projects X, Y and Z done in a more timely manner." (Or whatever fits.) Present the facts, not feelings.
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:28 PM on August 31, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:28 PM on August 31, 2016 [8 favorites]
Who does Susan report to and what does her contract say as regards her actual role and duties?
posted by intergalacticvelvet at 1:30 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by intergalacticvelvet at 1:30 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Hi bosses. During Anna's absence Susan filled in for her, which was great. But my need for a personal assistant has not changed. Susan seems to be occupied fully assisting Anna. We need to either reassign Susan or get yet another person to help me."
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:31 PM on August 31, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:31 PM on August 31, 2016 [6 favorites]
Response by poster: This is a super casual office. There are no contracts, and there is no "reporting to". I mean.... we have two bosses, one who is completely absent from office life, and then the other one who I guess is the one I would speak to.
The boss who originally agreed to let me hire an assistant last year is no longer with us.
posted by Everythingsalrighteverythingsfine at 1:36 PM on August 31, 2016
The boss who originally agreed to let me hire an assistant last year is no longer with us.
posted by Everythingsalrighteverythingsfine at 1:36 PM on August 31, 2016
I think you'll have to negotiate with Anna. But it may just straighten itself out - Anna's only been back a week.
posted by mskyle at 1:39 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by mskyle at 1:39 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Immediately my bosses decided that this coworker (let’s call her Anna) would train Susan to fill in for her while she was on maternity leave.
Yeah. Either people have forgotten exactly what their roles are, or Anna is basking in all of the extra help and has zero intentions of letting go of having 100% of the help of your assistant without some reminding. It's also sucky that the boss who suggested it is no longer there, to back you up. It is also entirely possible that either Susan or Anna thinks the move was permanent. You are going to have to talk to the boss who is there in the office. I would not talk to Anna or Susan, personally. Good luck.
posted by the webmistress at 1:44 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah. Either people have forgotten exactly what their roles are, or Anna is basking in all of the extra help and has zero intentions of letting go of having 100% of the help of your assistant without some reminding. It's also sucky that the boss who suggested it is no longer there, to back you up. It is also entirely possible that either Susan or Anna thinks the move was permanent. You are going to have to talk to the boss who is there in the office. I would not talk to Anna or Susan, personally. Good luck.
posted by the webmistress at 1:44 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
If Anna has only been back from maternity leave for a week, then this is still a transition time. Susan is filling Anna in on everything that's been going on in her absence, and preparing to pass responsibilities back to her (we hope). What you need to establish is that the end game will be back to Susan doing tasks for you like she was a year ago. Don't focus on right now, allow this week to have extenuating circumstances, but go to the bosses and express your need for things to get back to the previous state, not stall out in this transition.
posted by aimedwander at 1:46 PM on August 31, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by aimedwander at 1:46 PM on August 31, 2016 [8 favorites]
They agreed to hire an administrative assistant to do general office work, but also to help me when needed.
This is the first red flag. If this is how Susan's hiring was explained to everyone in the company, all of your colleagues probably think what you do, that Susan is actually *their* assistant. This is why you're having this problem.
Then my coworker (same position as me, but much MUCH less seniority) announced that she was pregnant. Immediately my bosses decided that this coworker (let’s call her Anna) would train Susan to fill in for her while she was on maternity leave.
This is your second red flag. If Susan is Anna's replacement on maternity leave, this means that at least some people (possibly including Susan and likely including your superiors who hired Susan and then promoted her to Anna's job) think Susan is no longer your assistant.
Finally this week, Anna came back to work. But Susan is still doing a lot of her workload!
If it's been since Monday, and Susan was Anna's official replacement while she was out, this is as it should be. There are probably ongoing projects and outstanding tasks that Susan needs to complete or transition back to Anna's plate.
Also, to be real seriously honest with you as someone who has done a lot of admin work, if you get promoted to a bigger/better position it SUCKS SO BAD to be informed that you're being demoted because the person you replaced is back from maternity leave. So Susan might be clinging to these outstanding and ongoing things because she's reluctant to give up the more senior position, or is hoping that the higher ups notice what a thorough job she's been doing and will find a different position for her rather than just demoting her back to "everybody in the whole damn company's assistant."
A few other thoughts:
1. It is extremely hard to be the "general assistant to everybody at the whole company". Even harder when one person believes that you are mostly *their* assistant (not that you're incorrect in thinking that Susan is also partially your assistant). So you have this person clamoring for their work to take up most of your plate, but other coworkers are unlikely to respect that, and you can feel pulled in a lot of directions. Also, it's my experience that people who feel like they deserve an assistant, but haven't been assigned an assistant, will just find a general admin to dump on as if that person were truly their assistant. (Not referring to you, but colleagues of yours who did not get an assistant as you did.) It's unfair to expect Susan to manage this or just somehow get it all done and make it all look effortless and like there's no real problem. It is the job of the rest of you -- and especially management or HR -- to determine what her actual job description is and who she reports to/where her priorities should lie.
2. It sounds like your company needs to hire more people. Whether that's an assistant for you and a separate "general admin", or assistants for various people around the company who are all leaning on poor Susan. Possibly including Anna, even if you think that you have more work and are more senior and you don't want Anna to have an assistant.
posted by Sara C. at 1:47 PM on August 31, 2016 [35 favorites]
This is the first red flag. If this is how Susan's hiring was explained to everyone in the company, all of your colleagues probably think what you do, that Susan is actually *their* assistant. This is why you're having this problem.
Then my coworker (same position as me, but much MUCH less seniority) announced that she was pregnant. Immediately my bosses decided that this coworker (let’s call her Anna) would train Susan to fill in for her while she was on maternity leave.
This is your second red flag. If Susan is Anna's replacement on maternity leave, this means that at least some people (possibly including Susan and likely including your superiors who hired Susan and then promoted her to Anna's job) think Susan is no longer your assistant.
Finally this week, Anna came back to work. But Susan is still doing a lot of her workload!
If it's been since Monday, and Susan was Anna's official replacement while she was out, this is as it should be. There are probably ongoing projects and outstanding tasks that Susan needs to complete or transition back to Anna's plate.
Also, to be real seriously honest with you as someone who has done a lot of admin work, if you get promoted to a bigger/better position it SUCKS SO BAD to be informed that you're being demoted because the person you replaced is back from maternity leave. So Susan might be clinging to these outstanding and ongoing things because she's reluctant to give up the more senior position, or is hoping that the higher ups notice what a thorough job she's been doing and will find a different position for her rather than just demoting her back to "everybody in the whole damn company's assistant."
A few other thoughts:
1. It is extremely hard to be the "general assistant to everybody at the whole company". Even harder when one person believes that you are mostly *their* assistant (not that you're incorrect in thinking that Susan is also partially your assistant). So you have this person clamoring for their work to take up most of your plate, but other coworkers are unlikely to respect that, and you can feel pulled in a lot of directions. Also, it's my experience that people who feel like they deserve an assistant, but haven't been assigned an assistant, will just find a general admin to dump on as if that person were truly their assistant. (Not referring to you, but colleagues of yours who did not get an assistant as you did.) It's unfair to expect Susan to manage this or just somehow get it all done and make it all look effortless and like there's no real problem. It is the job of the rest of you -- and especially management or HR -- to determine what her actual job description is and who she reports to/where her priorities should lie.
2. It sounds like your company needs to hire more people. Whether that's an assistant for you and a separate "general admin", or assistants for various people around the company who are all leaning on poor Susan. Possibly including Anna, even if you think that you have more work and are more senior and you don't want Anna to have an assistant.
posted by Sara C. at 1:47 PM on August 31, 2016 [35 favorites]
Best answer: Also, "but we have a super casual office!" is not the answer here. It's the problem. You don't have a super casual office. You have an overworked admin who isn't clear on her job responsibilities and who is probably drastically overqualified for the job.
posted by Sara C. at 1:50 PM on August 31, 2016 [30 favorites]
posted by Sara C. at 1:50 PM on August 31, 2016 [30 favorites]
Also, to be real seriously honest with you as someone who has done a lot of admin work, if you get promoted to a bigger/better position it SUCKS SO BAD to be informed that you're being demoted because the person you replaced is back from maternity leave. So Susan might be clinging to these outstanding and ongoing things because she's reluctant to give up the more senior position, or is hoping that the higher ups notice what a thorough job she's been doing and will find a different position for her rather than just demoting her back to "everybody in the whole damn company's assistant."
This. 1000x this.
Can you talk to somebody about giving Susan more of your work, but also higher-level work? That might get her excited to hand Anna's work back to Anna.
A couple of tips for talking about this productively:
1. You "secured" Susan and now want to "steal" her back. It kind of sounds like she's property and that is not a fun way to be treated at work. I think you mean, you "hired" Susan and how want "to work with her again."
2. You sound annoyed that Anna took mat leave. If you are annoyed, try not to be, that's not cool. If you aren't actually annoyed, perk up your tone a bit when you have conversations about this at work.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 2:19 PM on August 31, 2016 [12 favorites]
This. 1000x this.
Can you talk to somebody about giving Susan more of your work, but also higher-level work? That might get her excited to hand Anna's work back to Anna.
A couple of tips for talking about this productively:
1. You "secured" Susan and now want to "steal" her back. It kind of sounds like she's property and that is not a fun way to be treated at work. I think you mean, you "hired" Susan and how want "to work with her again."
2. You sound annoyed that Anna took mat leave. If you are annoyed, try not to be, that's not cool. If you aren't actually annoyed, perk up your tone a bit when you have conversations about this at work.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 2:19 PM on August 31, 2016 [12 favorites]
So Susan has been doing Anna's job, and now Anna has returned and they have two people doing the job of one? If I was Anna, back from maternity leave, I wouldn't be viewing this as a good thing at all. Why? Because the company may decide Susan has been doing a great job and let's get rid of the new mother, we don't need two people in one role.
And if Anna, who previously could manage her workload just fine by herself, now somehow can't, that's not a good look for her either. If I was her, I wouldn't be hogging Susan, I'd be trying to give her back straight away and prove that motherhood hasn't affected her ability to do her job at all, thank you very much. Otherwise her assistant could either become her replacement or her boss. This is just one take on the situation that could get your worker returned to you pronto.
posted by Jubey at 3:05 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
And if Anna, who previously could manage her workload just fine by herself, now somehow can't, that's not a good look for her either. If I was her, I wouldn't be hogging Susan, I'd be trying to give her back straight away and prove that motherhood hasn't affected her ability to do her job at all, thank you very much. Otherwise her assistant could either become her replacement or her boss. This is just one take on the situation that could get your worker returned to you pronto.
posted by Jubey at 3:05 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: It has only been a week-- Susan has to hand over. Anna needs time to get back into the groove. It doesn't seem anything yet. It has only been a week. (The week thing made me wonder how much you are overreacting in general, tbh, and if an Internet stranger thinks that then you aren't pitching your story well. I would be mindful of that.)
Anyhow, I like xingcat's script, and you can have that conversation before it does turn into a pattern. I would amend it slightly so you aren't talking about Anna's groove. So, something like: "Anna, I'm so very glad you're back! That's going to be a huge relief to me, as I've been holding off on a good number of projects for Susan while you've been away. Can the three of us sit down and talk about when her handover back to you will be complete so she can start picking up projects A, B, C."
Chances are good that Anna will just say yes. If she doesn't, then the response is "Oh! There seems to be a misunderstanding somewhere. When Susan was hired, the understanding was xyz. Why don't you and I sit down with casualboss and talk to him about it together and arrive at an agreement."
posted by frumiousb at 3:07 PM on August 31, 2016 [6 favorites]
Anyhow, I like xingcat's script, and you can have that conversation before it does turn into a pattern. I would amend it slightly so you aren't talking about Anna's groove. So, something like: "Anna, I'm so very glad you're back! That's going to be a huge relief to me, as I've been holding off on a good number of projects for Susan while you've been away. Can the three of us sit down and talk about when her handover back to you will be complete so she can start picking up projects A, B, C."
Chances are good that Anna will just say yes. If she doesn't, then the response is "Oh! There seems to be a misunderstanding somewhere. When Susan was hired, the understanding was xyz. Why don't you and I sit down with casualboss and talk to him about it together and arrive at an agreement."
posted by frumiousb at 3:07 PM on August 31, 2016 [6 favorites]
I was in a similar position once: hired to help out in one department, then assigned to learn the job of/plan to cover temporarily for someone who was going out on a planned medical leave (surgery, in her case). So far, so good. The problem was that once she did come back, she kept up the "oh poor me, I'm still so weak!" routine so I had to continue to do three-quarters of her job..... while she took longer lunches, went on shopping trips during work hours, spent lots of time on the phone with friends etc. (this was way before internet distractions!). I finally got fed up with it all myself, since I was swamped by doing her work plus the job I was actually hired for, that I just up and told her that as of the next week I would not be able to keep doing her job for her: a variation on 'I'm sorry, that won't be possible', I guess you'd call it.
It looks like you have two choices: one is to take it to the boss on site and --- calmly, factually! --- explain that you need to get Susan "back to the job she was hired for, since the temporary assignment to cover Anna's maternity leave is over". Alternatively, assuming Susan's not perfectly happy working with Anna & her much-lighter workload, suggest that Susan herself tell Anna it's over and Susan is returning to her assistant-to-you duties.
posted by easily confused at 3:08 PM on August 31, 2016
It looks like you have two choices: one is to take it to the boss on site and --- calmly, factually! --- explain that you need to get Susan "back to the job she was hired for, since the temporary assignment to cover Anna's maternity leave is over". Alternatively, assuming Susan's not perfectly happy working with Anna & her much-lighter workload, suggest that Susan herself tell Anna it's over and Susan is returning to her assistant-to-you duties.
posted by easily confused at 3:08 PM on August 31, 2016
They agreed to hire an administrative assistant to do general office work, but also to help me when needed.
Okay, I think part of the problem is she was never really set up properly as your assistant. The fact that people in charge did not actually see her as your assistant is pretty clear based on how rapidly she was repurposed as Anna's substitute during her leave.
In this case, it may be a feature, not a bug, that the boss who agreed to this is gone.
Go to the existing boss and advise them that Susan was hired due to your need for assistance and her role was envisioned as your assistant part of the time and general office help part of the time, unfortunately the person who brought her on board failed to clearly deliniate her responsibilities. Ask for her responsibilties to be clearly delineated now that Anna is back.
Expressly request them to define how much of her time is assigned as your assistant so you can know how much to assign her. So, in other words, is she your assistant 50% of the time and general office help the other 50% of the time? Or just what?
If they will not do that, explain to them that they need to lighten your load. It is just not possible for one person to handle it. Your understanding was she was there to give you some relief. That relief really has not arrived and you are falling behind. Something must be done about it.
Do not be ugly about suggesting the previous person failed to set this up properly, but do make it clear the remaining boss has an opportunity to remedy a small oversight that is causing unnecessary levels of stress in the office.
But you need to get with the bos fairly quickly or they will likely act like you are making stuff up. You also need to use this as an opportunity to get a hard definition of how many hours per week Susan works for you and only you or she will never really serve as your assistant. This vague, hand-wavy job description is a big part of the problem. You need to get her explicitly assigned to you for a set amount of her time or get used to not really having an assistant.
posted by Michele in California at 4:04 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
Okay, I think part of the problem is she was never really set up properly as your assistant. The fact that people in charge did not actually see her as your assistant is pretty clear based on how rapidly she was repurposed as Anna's substitute during her leave.
In this case, it may be a feature, not a bug, that the boss who agreed to this is gone.
Go to the existing boss and advise them that Susan was hired due to your need for assistance and her role was envisioned as your assistant part of the time and general office help part of the time, unfortunately the person who brought her on board failed to clearly deliniate her responsibilities. Ask for her responsibilties to be clearly delineated now that Anna is back.
Expressly request them to define how much of her time is assigned as your assistant so you can know how much to assign her. So, in other words, is she your assistant 50% of the time and general office help the other 50% of the time? Or just what?
If they will not do that, explain to them that they need to lighten your load. It is just not possible for one person to handle it. Your understanding was she was there to give you some relief. That relief really has not arrived and you are falling behind. Something must be done about it.
Do not be ugly about suggesting the previous person failed to set this up properly, but do make it clear the remaining boss has an opportunity to remedy a small oversight that is causing unnecessary levels of stress in the office.
But you need to get with the bos fairly quickly or they will likely act like you are making stuff up. You also need to use this as an opportunity to get a hard definition of how many hours per week Susan works for you and only you or she will never really serve as your assistant. This vague, hand-wavy job description is a big part of the problem. You need to get her explicitly assigned to you for a set amount of her time or get used to not really having an assistant.
posted by Michele in California at 4:04 PM on August 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
"About a year ago, I complained to the bosses that I was in desperate need of help. They agreed to hire an administrative assistant to do general office work, but also to help me when needed. We hired a woman, who I’ll call Susan."
Without a much clearer delineation here, this reads like very mismatched expectations to me. The bosses probably thought of this much more like "Susan will do whatever needs doing!", which explains why she was literally asked to do someone else's entire job (!!!), and she would help you IF there wasn't more pressing work, unless there was a promise of Susan helping you X hours a week.
Honestly, I think you might have missed your chance to negotiate this back when Anna announced her pregnancy. Now Susan has demonstrated that she is able to do Anna's job, and you have demonstrated that, although frazzled, you were able to do your work. Susan is now much more familiar with Anna's projects and the bosses will probably rather keep the flow of what's going on now than what happened months ago.
If you have that much more work than Anna, then really, Susan should be angling to get promoted to your and Anna's title and take some of your work off your hands. (Is this an outcome you'd be happy with?)
This isn't necessarily "fair", but I don't think there will be a way, in a small office, to expect Susan to go back to 'easier' admin tasks when she did Anna's whole job for months without causing some ill will.
posted by nakedmolerats at 4:45 PM on August 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
Without a much clearer delineation here, this reads like very mismatched expectations to me. The bosses probably thought of this much more like "Susan will do whatever needs doing!", which explains why she was literally asked to do someone else's entire job (!!!), and she would help you IF there wasn't more pressing work, unless there was a promise of Susan helping you X hours a week.
Honestly, I think you might have missed your chance to negotiate this back when Anna announced her pregnancy. Now Susan has demonstrated that she is able to do Anna's job, and you have demonstrated that, although frazzled, you were able to do your work. Susan is now much more familiar with Anna's projects and the bosses will probably rather keep the flow of what's going on now than what happened months ago.
If you have that much more work than Anna, then really, Susan should be angling to get promoted to your and Anna's title and take some of your work off your hands. (Is this an outcome you'd be happy with?)
This isn't necessarily "fair", but I don't think there will be a way, in a small office, to expect Susan to go back to 'easier' admin tasks when she did Anna's whole job for months without causing some ill will.
posted by nakedmolerats at 4:45 PM on August 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
You said 'Finally this week, Anna came back to work'. It's Wednesday. Three business days of Anna being back. LESS than a week. I understand your fears but I doubt that short length of time is enough to truly be worried.
Maybe tomorrow morning ask them both when Anna thinks she'll be caught up again, because you'd like to transition Susan back to her original role. How to do this without potentially ruffling feathers? Not sure.
posted by destructive cactus at 4:51 PM on August 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
Maybe tomorrow morning ask them both when Anna thinks she'll be caught up again, because you'd like to transition Susan back to her original role. How to do this without potentially ruffling feathers? Not sure.
posted by destructive cactus at 4:51 PM on August 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
I think it's reasonable for Anna to take a week or so to work closely with Susan on handoff-type stuff as she transitions back from maternity leave. After that, yes, cordially articulate your specific needs for Susan's time (X hours a week) to whoever you think will best be able to oversee and enforce that.
posted by delight at 5:19 PM on August 31, 2016
posted by delight at 5:19 PM on August 31, 2016
Response by poster: You guys are right. I am totally jumping the gun on this. I just.... have a tendency to be taken advantage of at work because I don't speak up, and I didn't want that to happen here. It's quite possible that this is just a transitional thing and eventually stuff will work itself out. I'm just trying to be more assertive, in case there is a problem developing.
Susan is the greatest. She is definitely overqualified to be an assistant. We work in marketing and she has been an integral part of several of my plans/campaigns already and I hate to think that I may be losing her! I am also concerned that it will turn into what Easily Confused posted above, where Susan will get burnt out from doing two jobs and end up quitting. I have spoken to my bosses recently into giving her more responsibility and interesting/creative work (which would also help me because possibly she would take over a couple of the smaller accounts).
I think my best bet here is to do as xingcat and a few other people suggested and have a meeting where I express happiness that the team is back together again and then suggest we figure out how to restructure the work distribution a little.
posted by Everythingsalrighteverythingsfine at 5:30 PM on August 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
Susan is the greatest. She is definitely overqualified to be an assistant. We work in marketing and she has been an integral part of several of my plans/campaigns already and I hate to think that I may be losing her! I am also concerned that it will turn into what Easily Confused posted above, where Susan will get burnt out from doing two jobs and end up quitting. I have spoken to my bosses recently into giving her more responsibility and interesting/creative work (which would also help me because possibly she would take over a couple of the smaller accounts).
I think my best bet here is to do as xingcat and a few other people suggested and have a meeting where I express happiness that the team is back together again and then suggest we figure out how to restructure the work distribution a little.
posted by Everythingsalrighteverythingsfine at 5:30 PM on August 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
What's your ultimate goal here: would you prefer to have Susan as your "assistant" or as a direct report? Are you interested in growing into a management roll or are you more interested in staying on as a senior individual contributor. Having seniority doesn't really mean that much if you're not actually using your superior expertise in way that demonstrates how your (and Anne's and Susan's) work fits into the overall goals and success of the company.
If you're actually interested in becoming a manager, as the senior member of the team with the most responsibility you're in the position to demonstrate leadership qualities by acting as a mentor to and advocate for Susan to get a promotion. In the context of the redistribution of work you could also be having discussions about your own interest in growing into a management role, or at least taking over some of the responsibilities of how work is assigned; which obviously puts you in the best position to offload your own projects. Come prepared with a plan that makes it clear you understand how/why work is prioritized and where you think a repriortize would benefit the company. Which projects that you are currently backlogged on do you think Susan is especially suited for. Present them in terms of what the company will gain by having her focus her efforts on those projects rather than how it will lighten your own work load. Although, part of that pitch can be that if she's able to take over X, Y Z projects you'll be able to devote more time etc. to Projects A, B, C which have the potential to bring in M amount of revenue or N new clients or however success is measured in your industry.
As important as your own goals you want to make sure that you understand what Susan's goals are. Is she interested in stepping into a role similar to your's and Anne's full time rather than returning to a more general assistant role. If she is then you can start thinking her of her as a potential ally by stepping up and helping her make the case to management for a promotion. She'll, hopefully, see your backlog of work as her stepping stone to more responsibility and you won't have to "steal" her. Even just that you recognized how important her contributions to the team were will have that effect and she'll want to work with you. As the person with seniority in the position part of your role should be recognizing and nurturing talented people anyway.
How did the assistant tasks get taken care of while Ann was gone; was Susan doing both roles? If people were doing their own admin work while she was filling in for Ann this the perfect time to make this pitch since you won't have to fight other people (besides Ann, maybe?) for her time. If she was doing both jobs you'll probably have to do some extra work around demonstrating that she's more valuable focusing her new training / enhanced skills in a specialized roll to the company rather than doing general administrative tasks.
posted by DarthDuckie at 7:20 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you're actually interested in becoming a manager, as the senior member of the team with the most responsibility you're in the position to demonstrate leadership qualities by acting as a mentor to and advocate for Susan to get a promotion. In the context of the redistribution of work you could also be having discussions about your own interest in growing into a management role, or at least taking over some of the responsibilities of how work is assigned; which obviously puts you in the best position to offload your own projects. Come prepared with a plan that makes it clear you understand how/why work is prioritized and where you think a repriortize would benefit the company. Which projects that you are currently backlogged on do you think Susan is especially suited for. Present them in terms of what the company will gain by having her focus her efforts on those projects rather than how it will lighten your own work load. Although, part of that pitch can be that if she's able to take over X, Y Z projects you'll be able to devote more time etc. to Projects A, B, C which have the potential to bring in M amount of revenue or N new clients or however success is measured in your industry.
As important as your own goals you want to make sure that you understand what Susan's goals are. Is she interested in stepping into a role similar to your's and Anne's full time rather than returning to a more general assistant role. If she is then you can start thinking her of her as a potential ally by stepping up and helping her make the case to management for a promotion. She'll, hopefully, see your backlog of work as her stepping stone to more responsibility and you won't have to "steal" her. Even just that you recognized how important her contributions to the team were will have that effect and she'll want to work with you. As the person with seniority in the position part of your role should be recognizing and nurturing talented people anyway.
How did the assistant tasks get taken care of while Ann was gone; was Susan doing both roles? If people were doing their own admin work while she was filling in for Ann this the perfect time to make this pitch since you won't have to fight other people (besides Ann, maybe?) for her time. If she was doing both jobs you'll probably have to do some extra work around demonstrating that she's more valuable focusing her new training / enhanced skills in a specialized roll to the company rather than doing general administrative tasks.
posted by DarthDuckie at 7:20 PM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Given that you're interested in helping Susan develop professionally, it may be helpful to frame it to the boss (and likely Susan and Anna) as, "How can we make sure Susan's getting the professional development she deserves, and should we maybe be hiring another (part-time?) assistant-level position?" I think the more you can frame it as making sure Susan's needs, your needs, the company's needs, and Anna's needs are all met as much as possible, the more of a win-win(-win-win) solution you'll be able to help generate.
posted by lazuli at 8:17 PM on August 31, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by lazuli at 8:17 PM on August 31, 2016 [4 favorites]
Agreeing with those who suggest developing Susan so she can take over more work in an official capacity. Considering that Susan has stepped into Anna's shoes in her absence and done it well, she likely will need to be leveled up a bit to account for the growth she has experienced with the added responsibility she took on. It can be really hard to fade back into the background after being asked to step up in a maternity leave situation. I've seen it happen time and time again - sr employee goes on leave, jr employee steps in and does great, sr employee returns and things can't just revert because the dynamic has shifted. What usually happens is one of 3 things: jr employee levels up or takes on a new role to account for new skills, sr employee leaves because they've been rendered obsolete or can't adjust to sharing/reallocating work, jr employee leaves because they are expected to return into their old role and no longer feel challenged. Smart companies adjust. If not, she may take that experience elsewhere and you'll all be feeling the pinch!
posted by amycup at 8:21 PM on September 1, 2016
posted by amycup at 8:21 PM on September 1, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by brainmouse at 1:26 PM on August 31, 2016 [4 favorites]