Taming the Monster That Is Your Growing Workload

At a time when organizations change quickly, job functions and workloads evolve right along with them. Seemingly overnight, your once comfortable, manageable job has morphed into a monster with three twelve heads.

If you’re struggling with a growing workload—a mountain of work projects and tasks—you’re not alone. But only you know your limits. Take stock, get organized, prioritize and communicate as you attempt to slay the monster.

It’s a slow progression …. A co-worker leaves and you’re “temporarily” given a couple of her responsibilities. (In actuality, they fall in nicely with what you were already doing, so you absorb them without too much difficulty.) Then your boss announces she thinks you’re ready for more responsibility and delegates an exciting project to you along with the necessary training. The final straw: Higher ups identify a promising new revenue stream, forcing you out of your normal, streamlined routines. Accounts grow. Workloads expand. Suddenly you’re buried.

TAMING THE MONSTER is possible. But how?

On the one hand all this work and added responsibility seems promising—your boss trusts you (and to be honest, you were getting a little complacent, maybe even bored). But now, the balance has tipped the other way. You’re stressed out—and keeping up this pace seems unrealistic. But it’s not just about you. “Your attitude should be that you want to prevent yourself from having to cut corners or have the wrong things fall through the cracks,” suggests Ann Latham of Uncommon Clarity.

First, analyze and organize your workload to help you take stock:

1. Itemize your tasks and take a closer look at the components. Are there reports you’re compiling that no one is using? Are parts of these tasks unnecessary (maybe a relic from past years with no current use)?
2. Productivity tools abound. Experts suggest choosing a tool that meshes with your natural instinct and organization style.
3. Objectively consider how you can be more efficient. Are interruptions distracting you? Are you involved in routine meetings that you don’t need to be part of? Does it take you too long to get settled into work in the morning? Don’t give up breaks and downtime—everybody needs those. Instead look at the things happening as you work that slow you down.
4. Learn to prioritize. Just because your plate is full doesn’t mean it all needs to be finished today. Many of us have trouble leaving tasks unfinished. But by creating a weighting system, you’ll know what to tackle first.
5. Ask for deadlines. As projects are being thrown your way, find out how much time you have, so you can create a timeline. By doing this you’ll be able to let the person giving you the project know of any potential conflicts. Or you can get help determining which of two projects takes precedence. This takes us to the next point—opening a dialogue with your boss.
6. Determine which parts of the additional work (if any) are temporary and which are permanent.   

Then, communicate with your boss in an organized, solution-based way:

1. Approach your boss with carefully considered solutions. Show your boss that you’ve considered what’s on your plate, tried to become more efficient and where you anticipate bottlenecks. Your boss might be able to involve colleagues or an assistant to help if there’s still too much.
2. If you’re getting assignments from more than one person, it’s important to communicate when you see a problem with scheduling. By organizing your work, you should easily be able to spot bottlenecks. Ask your boss for help in prioritizing. Work together to find a solution.
3. Ask for help. Sometimes an assignment can grow larger than planned. It’s important to keep your boss in the loop. Suggest logical ways to divide and conquer.
4. Can you say “no”? You want to be a team player—eager and helpful. If you’re a new hire, chances are you won’t have much leverage to turn down work. But if you’re a little more established, and your time is already stretched, sometimes it’s important to realize your limitations. Start by considering the request. Ask some questions that will give you information about the amount of time needed, the timeline, etc. Ask if you can have some time to consider and take a look at your schedule. Take time to weigh the benefits of this added project. If it’s something new and challenging that you’d like to do, but there’s another assignment in the way, see if the opposing task can be reassigned. Or if the new project can be segmented with you handling a smaller portion of the project rather than the whole thing.

Only you know how much is too much—when your workload has reached a point where you’ll be sacrificing quality to accomplish everything on your plate. Fine-tune your work methods and communicate well.

 

Side note: In cases where overtime is extreme, and the norm, and you’re wondering where the line is … existing Department of Labor rules are of little help to anyone making over $455 per week or $23,660 annually (They haven’t been updated since 1975), but a proposed adjustment has been in the works since 2016. It is now expected in January 2018, to increase the earnings figure to somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000 for any employee (managerial or otherwise).