CO under insane pressure

M1ntyPyth0n

I work in a gov department and have been there less than a year. I was brought in to do a separate strand of work from the rest of the department, trained up on the job and then the colleague who trained me was pulled back into the general strand and I was left on my own running this subdivision under the direction of a hands off manager. The work involves processing requests for assistance from the department and all sorts of general admin stuff you'd expect in an office.

Requests went up an insane amount and have short deadlines to fulfil. I made the case of having two COs and another new hire was brought in to help. This worked great for a time but then they left. No replacement is being hired and I am also expected to do the same general duties of other colleagues in addition to all the work in my subdivision at CO level. HR is disinterested as is my manager's manager. I've brought the strain I'm under to them several times and each time I'm told we'll see what we can do, maybe someone is temporarily assigned to help me but that quickly fizzles out as they are pulled back into the general strand of work only again.

I've stopped doing any of the general duties to focus on my subdivision work. I have brought it to their attention again that I am close to burnout even just doing that work alone at the demand experienced and it isn't fair for the service users for their requests to stall if I am sick or whatever as nobody else will do the work. The person who trained me is unreliable and ineffectual, makes mistakes constantly and then others have to try and sort them out. Other colleagues want to help but are continuously pulled from it due to the other duties.

I'm at a loss at what to do and have laid out again and again what I'm experiencing and what I need in concrete terms to make this workload manageable. I've told them I'm seriously considering leaving unless something changes even though I think the work I'm doing is important, but it's not worth my health.

Has anyone dealt with this in the public sector and has there been actual change? I'm thinking it's time to move on to private or another dept, but I have the opportunity for a load of upskilling training paid for here so I want to stick it out in a way

Mrs OBumble

If you are too good at what you are doing, you won't be give the chance to upskill because you're too valuable where you are.

You are not a manager, and not responsible for the consequences of your manager's decisions.

Given the wage you are on, do a fair day's work at a reasonable pace. No more.

Yes, it sucks that the clients have to wait. But thats how management have set things up to be. Refer complaints to your manager.

SortingYouOut

It sounds **** but it won't be forever and is some serious experience, if that is what you're after. You shouldn't have to do this though and fair play for successfully making the case for an additional worker, that shows incredible initiative and something fit for a HEO.

BattleCorp

First thing, don't leave.

You say you are in the Department less than a year. Are you on probation?

spaceHopper

Are you in a union, can they help. You could get signed off sick with stress and then gradually return to work that way they would have to assign somebody to work with you. Arrange a return to work meeting, in it ask will x be kept in the department or will I be back where I was a few months ago?

Flinty997

Nothing will be done. You have to pull back and only do what what reasonable.

LimeFruitGum

I don't know about the public sector, but at least OP is doing the right thing in terms of reporting risk, documenting, and highlighting volume data. I would be pleased to see a direct report doing this, instead of moaning generically at me about "too much to do" but giving me nothing to go on.

Any manager should know the basic throughputs for a process like the one OP describes. Requests for assistance have to be done, but it sounds like managment are ok with the requests taking longer to turn-around (even if there is a short deadline), as long as more critical items in the department are taken care of first. Are there seasonal peaks to these requests? They should be developing data like that and figuring out resourcing.

I would be curious to know why the new hire left.

At CO level, you should not be worrying about this; your manager clearly isn't. I know that's easier said than done because you're the one who'll have to do it. Keep noting your flags and risks: "I can get 10 requests done today, but it means I can't do tasks A,B,C today. Alternatively I can process 5 requests and Task B today. Is that ok, please confirm".

Daft Q maybe, but is it not possible to develop documentation for people to work from, and only then if that doesn't solve their problem, then they can go ahead with a request?