Dear Work It Out,
I am tired of doing my team’s busy work. A while ago I took on some regular tasks like meeting notes and a daily report after the most junior member of our team left for another company. I was told I’d only have to take on these responsibilities while my manager looked for someone new to hire and while they were onboarded, but we hired a new team member two months ago and my boss hasn’t mentioned them taking on these tasks.
I’ve been stuck with the thankless day-to-day tasks my colleague should be taking on because I’m faster at completing them. It’s not work that I want to do or am passionate about and it’s keeping me from the bigger projects I could be working on.
Presumably my new co-worker will get up to speed at some point, but I’m worried I’ll still be stuck with the busy work. How do I talk to my boss?
Worker bee
*
Dear WB,
It can be super frustrating to get caught up in tedious tasks just because someone has to get them done and you’re who’s available. It seems like you did a good thing for your team by stepping up to fill a void when you were in hiring limbo — and hopefully your boss appreciates that.
Of course, just because you’re capable doesn’t mean you should have to permanently add these disagreeable tasks to your job description. When you agreed to take on these responsibilities, you were agreeing to a timeline. So let’s get you back on it.
Here’s what might be going on:
- Your manager hasn’t had the time yet to teach the new hire how to do them well
- Having you take on these reports and notes has been working for the team, so your manager has found it easiest to stick with it
- Your manager conveniently forgot this arrangement was supposed to be temporary
So it would be helpful to convince your boss that having the new hire take over will be better not only for you but for the whole team.
Remember that, for a lot of bosses, on-boarding a new hire is both a relief and a burden. They’ve (finally) gotten extra headcount or found a great candidate to help them achieve whatever goals they’ve put in place. Great! But now they have to make sure the new person is trained and brought up to speed. It can be a time-intensive process.
When you talk to your boss, go with that in mind. So instead of saying something like, “When will Bowen take over meeting notes like he’s supposed to?” bring a fully thought-out plan that includes the following elements:
1. An explanation of how the busy work is affecting your team’s goals
Show the real impact of the time you’re spending on the annoying day-to-day stuff. Maybe you set a stretch goal at the beginning of the year or have team performance goals you could be better contributing to.
Use those as examples of why, even though you’re capable of taking meeting notes and such, and you’re speedy with the other work, for the team’s sake, your energy would be better devoted elsewhere.
2. A timeline for making the transition
When someone new has joined the team, it can be hard to recalibrate everyone’s responsibilities. That’s especially true as you’re getting to know the newbie’s strengths. But there still has to be some sort of timeline for when they take over the responsibilities they’ve been hired for, and it’s fair to ask about that.
Setting a deadline to transfer the responsibilities isn’t just good for you, in terms of knowing there’s an end to your misery in sight. It’ll help everyone gauge how quickly your new team member is picking up the skills they need to succeed, and will hopefully give them a way to mark what they’ve accomplished on their first few months on the job.
Ask your boss about the specific items you’ve taken on and when your new colleague will be taking over. If they don’t have a date in mind, you can suggest your own, drawing on your own experience: “I think Sept. 30 seems like a reasonable deadline for Bowen to take over the expense reports.”
3. A plan to make the transition as seamless as possible
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