Increased workload - how to get another person recruited?

[solo2]

Hi,

As title says, I've been in my role a little over 3 years and have seen the workload drastically increase to the point where I am often logged in up to midnight most workdays and often one day a weekend just to keep it ticking over but by no means on top of it.

My employer is good and I am certain they would accommodate a part time or even full time role to work alongside me but the first thing they would ask for is details of why and this is where I come unstuck. I've never been that good at describing what I do, and how long it takes me. I can say with all honesty I spend 90% of my day answering emails but when I try to quantify exactly why it takes that long, I cannot. And then I spend so much time keeping on top of emails that the actual work is not getting done. There are potential late fines to be applied to the company if I do not keep on top of it - nothing huge but if everything is running as it should then there wouldn't be any. I just literally have more than I can do even with spreadsheets that take a lot of the work off me by means of v-look up etc etc.

Any ideas on a format to present to Management so they will seriously look to recruit before I have a breakdown. I love my job, I do not want to leave and I really like the company, only I have just been a bit too good at what I do and grown the role more than I can do.

[Scabutz]

I wouldnt try and do a time and motion study on your day to day work. You'll run the risk of a bad manager then inspecting every task and the time you take and will say you're too slow.

What you need to do is highlight key points that have changed since you were hired and how they have driven the work up.

For example

- Bob left in April and I assumed some of his duties
- Client A came on board and had higher reporting requirements than most which has increased my workload.

Etc

[heisthegaffer]

Can you not look at your job spec/goals and hightlight examples of where you're a) hitting metrics and b) provide examples of doing these tasks?

You can then identify what you're not doing and prioritise what you need to do going forward?

[rog007]

Some further context may help with responses, for example industry, role, KPIs, any direct reports etc.

In principle, you find yourself in a not unusual position, in that as you get established in a role and others become more familiar with you and your role, and particularly if you’re good at it, you will encourage growth in demand for your services and skills. Those who respond to emails in a timely and helpful manner also encourage growth as folk know they will get a response.

Some tools that can help are to ensure that you are clear, with your line manager, on your must/should/could do’s so that you’re prioritising your work and accepting that the should/coulds may not get done. If you have direct reports, are you delegating sufficiently. And are you focused on your KPIs and not suffering from mission creep; it may be that you need to recalibrate.

If after all of that, your role has genuinely increased in scope and responsibility, then there’s usually two options (or a blend of both): seek a job evaluation that may see you get a pay rise to compensate for the increase; or seek additional resources to support you.

These are things that one should be discussing regularly at 1:1s and at appraisal time so that it doesn’t reach the point of being unmanageable.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.