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Uncovered maternity

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  • 13-08-2020 3:36am
    #1
    train.up.
    Registered Users Posts: 32 ✭


    Hi,, I work for a small company with 5 staff. We are one person in accounts, one in admin,,two technicians and the boss. The admin is gone on maternity and will apparently not be replaced. Even though we have not been informed by the boss of any plan to cover her work, I suspect we the remaining staff will get landed with more and more of her duties.
    What are our rights in terms of refusing the extra work? We will be busy enough in our own jobs for the foreseeable. While helping out from time to time is not a problem, I feel this would be the start of a gradual creep in assuming extra duties that there is little enough time for.
    Thanks for any input.


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    #2
    dennyk
    Registered Users Posts: 1,660 ✭✭✭dennyk


    Odds are your contract includes "other duties as necessary from time to time" or similar language, so yes, you may need to take on some of the admin's duties while she is out.

    By the same token, though, your boss needs to understand that having three people doing the work of four means that there may not be time to complete all of the tasks that were being done within the same time frame. If the added workload is too much to complete during your normal working hours, you need to speak with your boss and ask which tasks need to be prioritised. "Hey, boss, I have tasks A, B, and C to do this week, but I will only have time to complete two of them; which would you prefer that I focus on as the highest priority?" If the boss tells you that you have to get them all done and won't advise you on the priority, then you'll have to prioritise them yourself going by your best judgement and complete as much as you can within your normal working hours and let the chips fall where they may.

    Just don't let your boss push you into working unpaid overtime on a regular basis to complete the extra work. You don't have to go tools-down at 5PM on the dot or anything, but you should push back on demands for excessive extra time; if you don't, your boss will begin to expect it as a matter of course and it will be much harder to dial it back to reasonable levels in the future. Some small business owners have the unreasonable notion that all of their employees should be as committed to the business as they are and just as willing to sacrifice their personal time to see it succeed, despite said employees having no ownership stake in the business themselves. If that happens here, you need to be firm and set reasonable boundaries on your time from the beginning.


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    #3
    train.up.
    Registered Users Posts: 32 ✭train.up.


    dennyk wrote: »
    Odds are your contract includes "other duties as necessary from time to time" or similar language, so yes, you may need to take on some of the admin's duties while she is out.

    By the same token, though, your boss needs to understand that having three people doing the work of four means that there may not be time to complete all of the tasks that were being done within the same time frame. If the added workload is too much to complete during your normal working hours, you need to speak with your boss and ask which tasks need to be prioritised. "Hey, boss, I have tasks A, B, and C to do this week, but I will only have time to complete two of them; which would you prefer that I focus on as the highest priority?" If the boss tells you that you have to get them all done and won't advise you on the priority, then you'll have to prioritise them yourself going by your best judgement and complete as much as you can within your normal working hours and let the chips fall where they may.

    Just don't let your boss push you into working unpaid overtime on a regular basis to complete the extra work. You don't have to go tools-down at 5PM on the dot or anything, but you should push back on demands for excessive extra time; if you don't, your boss will begin to expect it as a matter of course and it will be much harder to dial it back to reasonable levels in the future. Some small business owners have the unreasonable notion that all of their employees should be as committed to the business as they are and just as willing to sacrifice their personal time to see it succeed, despite said employees having no ownership stake in the business themselves. If that happens here, you need to be firm and set reasonable boundaries on your time from the beginning.

    Hi,,I agree,,we will try and be accommodating, but there is only so many hours in the day. The thing is that no consultation occured before the admin left which is typically annoying.
    Thanks for your input.


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    #4
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,944 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    train.up. wrote:
    Hi,, I work for a small company with 5 staff. We are one person in accounts, one in admin,,two technicians and the boss. The admin is gone on maternity and will apparently not be replaced. Even though we have not been informed by the boss of any plan to cover her work, I suspect we the remaining staff will get landed with more and more of her duties. What are our rights in terms of refusing the extra work? We will be busy enough in our own jobs for the foreseeable. While helping out from time to time is not a problem, I feel this would be the start of a gradual creep in assuming extra duties that there is little enough time for. Thanks for any input.


    If you're landed with it, I wouldn't be running around killing yourself, just carry on as normal, I do realise this can be easier said, and let it all go to sh1t , if possible, boss will have to do something then, but tensions will rise. Best of luck with things


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    #5
    train.up.
    Registered Users Posts: 32 ✭train.up.


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    If you're landed with it, I wouldn't be running around killing yourself, just carry on as normal, I do realise this can be easier said, and let it all go to sh1t , if possible, boss will have to do something then, but tensions will rise. Best of luck with things

    Cheers, I think it's slowly dawning on him already. Tensions are already rising but I intend to do my work and be neutral otherwise,,I'm already busy enough and will prioritise that above all extra duties.
    Thanks for the input.


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    #6
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    I would ask for a meeting between the staff and your boss and ask directly what the plan is for this persons workload while they are out. This will let them know that you are not going to just take on extra work with no consultation and also instigate putting an actual plan in place. Otherwise you are all just going to get more frustrated and angry and nothing will improve.


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