How to Talk to Your Boss About Your Workload
In a perfect world, you would have the perfect amount of work to fill your day. But let’s be honest: the chances are slim that you’ll just show up and get the exact number of assignments. It is much more likely that you will (at least at times) feel depressed, underutilized, or outright bored.
This post was originally published on the Muse website .
To get to the list of projects that suits your workflow, you need to talk to your boss. She may be too busy to notice signs that you think are obvious (like the 11:00 pm timestamp in your email), or she may think it works for you (because you never told her otherwise, and she can’t read minds).
So, take a time to talk and tell her what’s really going on. Open communication is the first (read: important) step towards finding a solution.
When you’ve got too much to do
It’s great that your manager has faith in your ability, but even on your most productive day, after implementing all the tips, tricks, apps, and hacks you can find, you’re still drowning in work . I remember crying all week during lunch break at my first job because I didn’t know how I was going to do everything and thought that if I told my boss he would regret hiring me.
Well, I spoke to him, and instead of realizing our worst fears, we brought in an intern so I could get some help. Remember that everyone has a busier week than usual and some people always look stressed; so unless you tell your manager that this is not a fleeting expression and not your typical expression, he will not be able to find out.
What to say
The conversation can be intimidating because you don’t want your boss to think that you are ineffective or not doing your job. So don’t just say, “I can’t do X,” “I don’t have time to do Y,” or “I forgot what my apartment looks like.” Instead, ask them to discuss your overall workload and then explain to your manager how long the various projects actually take and what problems you identified.
It is important to come up with a few solutions before the meeting (besides wanting to leave on time ). Would you benefit from turning a solo project into a group project? Is there a technical glitch or outdated procedure that is causing a common task to take longer than it should? Focus on what you can do – suggestions and innovations – and your boss will be much more receptive to the part of the discussion where you are discussing pushing back tasks with lower priority.
When you have too little to do
When I was the scholarship program manager, one of the questions we asked applicants was, “What would you do if you didn’t have enough work ?” Before they answered, they often had expressions on their faces that seemed to say, ” Wait, is this a real problem in the workplace?”
It is, and it is terrible. (Just ask the person who, after a couple of months in their role, sent me an email saying that she doesn’t know how many more hours she might be spending on GChat every day.) Think about it: you are wasting all this time searching work to find her. something worthwhile; and then feeling like you’re not doing anything is demoralizing. Not to mention, if you don’t really do anything, you know that you will be replaced.
What to say
Obviously, this is a delicate conversation, especially if you could mention all your free time a little earlier. The trick here is to be honest (but not to give too much weight to how many hours you’ve spent shopping in your phone). You want your boss to be impressed with your transparency and your willingness to do more.
Again, you will want to come up with ideas. Have you noticed places where there was not enough staff? Can you think of a few projects that fit the company’s goals? Does it make sense for you to spend time on other teams?
Also, do not leave without asking your boss if there is anywhere that he might need additional help. You can go from underworked team member to MVP.
When you have a quality problem, not quantity
Sometimes you have enough work to keep you busy, but it all feels like hard work. You may feel like you are always being asked to deal with unexpected things. Or maybe your workload made sense a year ago, but now you want to get challenged and try something new.
Of course, it’s scary to admit that you’re not really into what you do, and of course everyone has to settle for some hard work. But a good boss will thank you for nurturing the desire to grow and challenge. This shows that you are better promoted where you are than leaving somewhere to develop professionally.
What to say
Telling your boss that you are interested in new, different projects is a start. But for a truly successful conversation, you need to consider what skills you would like to use or develop. Want more tasks to help you develop certain hard or soft skills? Do you want to take management training? Would you feel more interested if you socialized more with your colleagues?
When you talk about what opportunities you are looking for, you are giving your boss a framework to consider changing your role. And, even if he can’t change something right now, he can tell you about interesting opportunities in development (and how you can prepare to become an internal candidate).
You can often make significant progress in solving problems related to your workload by discussing the topic with your boss. It will most likely require more than one conversation, so you will need to ask for follow-up appointments to see how things are going. Just knowing that you two are on the same wavelength can be rewarding. And, in the worst case scenario, if your boss isn’t receptive, it’s best to find out sooner rather than later.
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