Lifestyle
Looking for Lifestyle Exclusives? Get your Cheeky Card!Q: My company just finished a second round of layoffs. Two people were cut from my department. My boss is pressing me to work more hours to “cover” these jobs even though my work load almost doubled after the first layoff! I’m getting an MBA at night and I can’t put in more hours. How do I respond to my boss, especially since the company pays two-thirds of my tuition?
A: Before you explain why you can’t take on more work and don’t want to drop out of your program, ask your boss about her priorities. Put on your consulting hat. If you create a list of what you think needs to be done – the musts versus the shoulds – you’ll both work from your agenda. You’ll find that lots of useless tasks could be eliminated and no one would know or care. It’s true everywhere. Your boss is undoubtedly under extreme pressure to do everything she’s always done and more with less help and she may not have had time to think through what matters and what doesn’t. Unless you and she create a new job description you are in danger of missing something vital while trying to cover everything. One of the (unsolicited) benefits of layoffs is the opportunity to rethink priorities. Since you are unlikely to find a perfectly healthy company in the next few years, learning as much as you can about practical job restructuring is a vital skill. Your boss is likely to welcome your help as she probably can’t get help from human resources at this time. They are still busy with severance and more cuts.
Posted in
Office Politics
