Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Work and Employment
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 10-09-2011, 02:49 PM
 
853 posts, read 4,022,149 times
Reputation: 664

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by andywire View Post
Seems every company is running their workers to the bone. Everyone is behind, and quality suffers. Right now, everything is about costs, and quality is less of a concern. Pretty sad, but it's about the almighty dollar right now. You could seek work elsewhere, but this seems to be the norm. Salaried people seem to be getting the biggest screw job of them all. I would never work for a salaried position in this day and age.
Originally I was glad that it was an exempt position because I assumed that meant it came with the a certain level of responsibility

I do think lots of workers are getting worked to the bone, so I would rather stay put and try to make it better. It's also a good place to work, except for the amount of work, and my skills seem to be needed, so I have not started looking elsewhere (I was also unemployed for a year before I got this job a year ago, so I really am not ready to think about leaving!).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-09-2011, 04:32 PM
 
4,796 posts, read 22,854,652 times
Reputation: 5046
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reneeme View Post
Thanks Kodaka. Just to clarify, what I mean by last minute requests, are requests where the customer gives me only a short time to do all the things I need to do in order to meet their request. I schedule things, and have to send them things, and sometimes the date they request is reasonable, and other times, in order to meet their date, I have to do things more quickly for that one request (so instead of ordering once or twice a week all at once, I have to go back and do all the steps just for that one), which slows me down overall.

It is not in the culture to ignore these requests, however, my boss would be more OK about it than others.

Also, I do usually leave on time, I just end up working a lot after the kids go to bed. When I do stay late, everyone worries that I am working too much, however, they still want everything done :-O
I'm not saying ignore the request, just respond with a counterproposal.

Look, clients do this to me all the time. Some of them are just pushing to get as much as they can from me. Not just with time but with fees too. They'll push until I push back. When I do, they are usually pretty quick to accept to my counterproposal. And then there's those who just don't know how long it takes for me to do what they're asking. And again, when I offer a counterproposal they usually accept. They aren't malicious, they just don't know what it takes to do my job.

The same principle applies to your employer. If you never push back, they'll never know that they're giving you too much. Some employers are awful and don't care. But if that were the case here, there would be other signs of disfunction besides just the work load, and it doesn't sound like that's the case. Most employers just aren't aware of how much you are overloaded until you call uncle.

So for those few clients who push but don't acquiesce when you counterpropose--I get these about once a year, they think they're Donald Trump--just take them to management and say you're overloaded and let them sort out how to handle it. That's their job. They might make a call to the client, or they might redistribute the workload, or reprioritize the work. Regardless, you shouldn't just be sitting there mum, taking on a mountain of work you can't handle.

Remember, at some point you will reach your breaking point, and your work will suffer. And once you've made a mistake or dropped the ball on something major, it will be too late to explain that you've been overworked. So be proactive and set reasonable expectations with both your employer and your customers.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-11-2011, 12:29 PM
 
Location: Central, CT
856 posts, read 2,007,213 times
Reputation: 333
I was in a similar position but I was non-exempt. I don't think that aspect helped me because they just pushed me harder, to make sure there wasn't OT. The department I worked in had a serious imbalance of workload and favoritism issues. They hired someone to take on some of the duties I was performing and while she acted like she did them, I was still performing most of them. I tried to raise cause and "counter-propose" but she was always favored...they actually promoted her which just cut through me like a knife.

In the long run, the projects with impossible deadlines and workload caused a problem that made it impossible for me to work there. I know I was being "used" but I liked the projects and walked away with a significant amount of experience. I hope you find something and can transition out. If I were to do it again I would still put in the same level of effort and dedication, because that's the kind of worker I am, but I would try to transition out sooner.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Work and Employment
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top