Feeling peeved and resentful: How to work less, but still progress?
May 18, 2018 3:03 PM Subscribe
Just over a year ago I accepted a counter-offer to stay at my current company. I accepted on the basis that I was given additional responsibility, not just more money. So we agreed that I would continue to do my existing role 70% of the time and spend the additional 30% on a new project, which would eventually become a full-time role in a year or two.
However since then, the 70% role has become really pressured and has become a 100% role again. The 30% role has also grown and become a 50% role. So basically I’m working a lot, and I’m starting to feel pissed off and resentful.
My direct boss only cares about the 70% role (the project work isn’t his remit) and is not remotely supportive. I mentioned that I was working long hours and his response was ‘I don’t ask you to do that, it’s your choice’.
My boss’s boss, who manages the project, is pretty flexible about the whole thing and would be ok with me keeping the project as 30% role, or even dropping to 20%. However, the less I do of that, the less they will see the value in it and the less likely it is that it becomes a full-time role eventually.
I don’t know how to manage this, and feel really stuck. All of the options I can think of have drawbacks:
a) Continue working all hours, be stoical about it, keep both bosses happy and hope it eventually pays off.
b) Set out clear time limits for each role, e.g. Monday to Thursday lunch is role 1, after that is project work (not totally practical because both need quick responses when something comes up).
c) Raise it with my direct boss and ask for his support/input (could go very wrong – and I’d have to be very careful it didn’t come across remotely moan-ish because that’s when he shuts down and becomes totally unsupportive)
d) Do a half-assed job somewhere along the line (goes against all my instincts)
e) Leave! (Admit I've looked into it but I actually like my job when I'm not working weekends...)
Anyone got a silver bullet? I don’t mind hard work but I also want my life back!
Thanks!
However since then, the 70% role has become really pressured and has become a 100% role again. The 30% role has also grown and become a 50% role. So basically I’m working a lot, and I’m starting to feel pissed off and resentful.
My direct boss only cares about the 70% role (the project work isn’t his remit) and is not remotely supportive. I mentioned that I was working long hours and his response was ‘I don’t ask you to do that, it’s your choice’.
My boss’s boss, who manages the project, is pretty flexible about the whole thing and would be ok with me keeping the project as 30% role, or even dropping to 20%. However, the less I do of that, the less they will see the value in it and the less likely it is that it becomes a full-time role eventually.
I don’t know how to manage this, and feel really stuck. All of the options I can think of have drawbacks:
a) Continue working all hours, be stoical about it, keep both bosses happy and hope it eventually pays off.
b) Set out clear time limits for each role, e.g. Monday to Thursday lunch is role 1, after that is project work (not totally practical because both need quick responses when something comes up).
c) Raise it with my direct boss and ask for his support/input (could go very wrong – and I’d have to be very careful it didn’t come across remotely moan-ish because that’s when he shuts down and becomes totally unsupportive)
d) Do a half-assed job somewhere along the line (goes against all my instincts)
e) Leave! (Admit I've looked into it but I actually like my job when I'm not working weekends...)
Anyone got a silver bullet? I don’t mind hard work but I also want my life back!
Thanks!
New job! You want to do the new role! They don't care! Find someone to hire you who wants you to do a lot of new role! Someone who values new role! Someone who doesn't expect you to work 150%. Don't negotiate with current company. They didn't follow through with their promises last time. It's not new responsibilities if you're basically doing it as a volunteer activity after your old job full time. Leave!!!!
posted by Kalmya at 3:34 PM on May 18, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by Kalmya at 3:34 PM on May 18, 2018 [18 favorites]
However since then, the 70% role has become really pressured and has become a 100% role again.
If you have already proven statement this via project documentation and booked hours in a company-sponsored time tracking system and shown to leadership that you are overworked then find a new job now.
If you haven't then I would suggest sticking it out and start recording and detailing those hours for the next 6 months and giving the report to your higher ups in 6 months detailing and proving that your company needs to invest in additional people to do the work at hand. If they balk then start interviewing elsewhere.
If your company has no method allowing you to prove your time investments to them then, if I may, quote Portlandia: "YOU GOTTA GET OUTTA THERE"
posted by nikaspark at 3:50 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you have already proven statement this via project documentation and booked hours in a company-sponsored time tracking system and shown to leadership that you are overworked then find a new job now.
If you haven't then I would suggest sticking it out and start recording and detailing those hours for the next 6 months and giving the report to your higher ups in 6 months detailing and proving that your company needs to invest in additional people to do the work at hand. If they balk then start interviewing elsewhere.
If your company has no method allowing you to prove your time investments to them then, if I may, quote Portlandia: "YOU GOTTA GET OUTTA THERE"
posted by nikaspark at 3:50 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Time for a new job. You gave your company a chance
to keep you, they flubbed it, now it's time for a new job. Easy decision.
Start looking, and good luck!
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:33 PM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
to keep you, they flubbed it, now it's time for a new job. Easy decision.
Start looking, and good luck!
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:33 PM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
Do the 70% role for 70% of the number of hours you are happy to work each week. Then if you want to work overtime on the second project, go for it, but use at least some of the extra time you have been spending on the 70% project to go get a new job.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 5:25 PM on May 18, 2018
posted by the agents of KAOS at 5:25 PM on May 18, 2018
Now that you have resume fodder for the role you’d like to evolve into, start looking for a new job in that role.
You gave this job a chance in good faith to benefit from your expertise in exchange for reasonable accommodations, and instead they’re pushing you to do the jobs of two people while your boss tells you it’s your own fault. Give me a break. DTMFB and look for a new gig.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:36 PM on May 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
You gave this job a chance in good faith to benefit from your expertise in exchange for reasonable accommodations, and instead they’re pushing you to do the jobs of two people while your boss tells you it’s your own fault. Give me a break. DTMFB and look for a new gig.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:36 PM on May 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
I disagree you should give up the project, because the project is the thing you want. I also disagree that changing the percentages is the answer, because you will end up feeling pulled in both directions no matter what. The answer, as far as I can tell, is that you push them on the transition to the project being your new job. It's time to phase out the 70% completely and get on course to focus on the 30%.
"When I decided to stay on, we talked about Project X transitioning into my full-time role, but in the past year, it's felt like I have just been working two jobs. Can we put together a transition plan so I can fully switch over to Project X by July 1?" I mean, I don't know how you word it, but that's what you want. If they can't commit to a plan or if Project X can't actually be your full-time job and they lied to you, then yeah, look for a new job.
I suspect that any company is going to let someone work two jobs if they can. Your immediate supervisor sounds like a dick, but he won't be your supervisor anymore once you switch over to the project. So I'd give it a shot by directly asking for what you want and demanding some sort of concrete follow-through, because I can't tell from your question that you've actually done this - it sounds more like you've said you're working too much, which isn't going to yield anything unless you propose solution/ask for something specific to fix it. But again, if directly asking for what you want doesn't work, be prepared to job hunt.
posted by AppleTurnover at 5:44 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
"When I decided to stay on, we talked about Project X transitioning into my full-time role, but in the past year, it's felt like I have just been working two jobs. Can we put together a transition plan so I can fully switch over to Project X by July 1?" I mean, I don't know how you word it, but that's what you want. If they can't commit to a plan or if Project X can't actually be your full-time job and they lied to you, then yeah, look for a new job.
I suspect that any company is going to let someone work two jobs if they can. Your immediate supervisor sounds like a dick, but he won't be your supervisor anymore once you switch over to the project. So I'd give it a shot by directly asking for what you want and demanding some sort of concrete follow-through, because I can't tell from your question that you've actually done this - it sounds more like you've said you're working too much, which isn't going to yield anything unless you propose solution/ask for something specific to fix it. But again, if directly asking for what you want doesn't work, be prepared to job hunt.
posted by AppleTurnover at 5:44 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
a new project, which would eventually become a full-time role in a year or two.
Is there a specific plan and timeline for when and how this is going to happen? Particularly the part where someone else starts covering Old Project? Because if not, it's never going to happen.
To be honest I think you may have painted yourself into a corner here by asking for more responsibility and taking on two separate roles at once. (If nobody was assigned to take on the remaining 30% of old project when you dropped to 70% on it, then it was entirely predictable that it'd all wind up in your lap again eventually.)
(For what it's worth I did almost exactly the same thing at my last job -- we lost a key developer, I "temporarily" covered the role until we could find a replacement, which of course never happened because the company was getting two workers for the price of one, which from their point of view is a great deal.)
The best you can do at this point is the opposite of what I did in your situation (which was "tough it out for a year or so and then burn out spectacularly"). Work out in detail exactly how and when you'll be transitioning to the role you actually want: a hand-wavey "in a year or two" means "never".
You're going to have to be the driver of this process; Boss's Boss is being hands-off, and Direct Boss has the opposite of an incentive to help you transition out of his department. Lay out a business plan, in as much detail as possible, for moving old project to someone else -- find someone you can start delegating Old Project tasks to, figure out how to partition the role during the transition period, which tasks should go first while you train that person up on the rest, etc. Match this with a specific plan for ramping up New Project. Emphasize New Project's importance and urgency, because after all you're asking the company to spend money on a new hire (either directly for Old Project or to cover the previous role of whoever gets promoted to cover Old Project.)
I'm just guessing at the office politics here but it sounds like you should get Boss's Boss's informal sign-off first and then ambush Direct Boss with it as a done deal.
posted by ook at 6:41 AM on May 19, 2018
Is there a specific plan and timeline for when and how this is going to happen? Particularly the part where someone else starts covering Old Project? Because if not, it's never going to happen.
To be honest I think you may have painted yourself into a corner here by asking for more responsibility and taking on two separate roles at once. (If nobody was assigned to take on the remaining 30% of old project when you dropped to 70% on it, then it was entirely predictable that it'd all wind up in your lap again eventually.)
(For what it's worth I did almost exactly the same thing at my last job -- we lost a key developer, I "temporarily" covered the role until we could find a replacement, which of course never happened because the company was getting two workers for the price of one, which from their point of view is a great deal.)
The best you can do at this point is the opposite of what I did in your situation (which was "tough it out for a year or so and then burn out spectacularly"). Work out in detail exactly how and when you'll be transitioning to the role you actually want: a hand-wavey "in a year or two" means "never".
You're going to have to be the driver of this process; Boss's Boss is being hands-off, and Direct Boss has the opposite of an incentive to help you transition out of his department. Lay out a business plan, in as much detail as possible, for moving old project to someone else -- find someone you can start delegating Old Project tasks to, figure out how to partition the role during the transition period, which tasks should go first while you train that person up on the rest, etc. Match this with a specific plan for ramping up New Project. Emphasize New Project's importance and urgency, because after all you're asking the company to spend money on a new hire (either directly for Old Project or to cover the previous role of whoever gets promoted to cover Old Project.)
I'm just guessing at the office politics here but it sounds like you should get Boss's Boss's informal sign-off first and then ambush Direct Boss with it as a done deal.
posted by ook at 6:41 AM on May 19, 2018
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Then, working a sane number of hours, you'll be happy.
You can refresh a bit and reenergize and then look for another job.
posted by JamesBay at 3:07 PM on May 18, 2018 [5 favorites]