bunnzy Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 I work as an Office Assistant in facilities management and basically look after the Operations and Maintenance of 25 very large and busy buildings. I am being snowed under by backlog and weeks of invoices, contracts, Purchase orders and Cheque Requests. I am very depressed at work, have only one other Facilities Manager in the office, and only then very occasionnally, he is always on the road, and right now is on leave for 2 weeks so i am by myself. I am getting paid very well, have fantastic corporate health benefits, and great job security, but i am getting very stressed out. This happened at my last job too, and I quit because it got too much. I dont think reception is for me, even though i am trained i dont seem to be handling it well. Link to post Share on other sites
cosmogal Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 If "Office Assistant" is your acutal job title...then they sure ARE overwhelming you with work! Don't quit. Then you'll be stuck without a job! Especially if you have good pay & benefits. Link to post Share on other sites
curiousnycgirl Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 You need to speak with your supervisor about the fact that you feel completely overloaded. Any good manager will figure out a solution. Link to post Share on other sites
Art_Critic Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 I agree with curiousnycgirl .. It sounds like you need help .. Possibly there needs to be another assitant. Link to post Share on other sites
Author bunnzy Posted October 24, 2005 Author Share Posted October 24, 2005 There are about 8 other offices nationally that have 1 Facilities Manager and 1 Office assistant each. They all seem to be going OK. They are very pedantic with processes, and it makes things harder than they have to be. Everything has to be checked and approved like 4 times before it is completed, its like working for the government. What should i say to my manager? I am still relatively new, only been here for just over 3 months, so he is still carrying some of my workload. If is talk to him while he is on leave he will come back, and i dont want to do that, he's in holidays in New Zealan at the moment, so dont want him to come back just because im stressing out. But i will t5alk to him when he comes back, but what should i say? Link to post Share on other sites
cosmogal Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 I also agree w/everybody here...talk to your supervisor/mgr about how things are too much. Say something along the lines like, maybe even suggesting they bring in a part-time office clerk to assist you with some of the work to allow things in the office to run smoother. This shows your taking intiative to the situation and willing to delegate responsibilty to another person. It shows you're company minded too! It may cost you your job to go to your supervisor and say "you're giving me too much work, I can't handle it!" or something along those lines. At least in my experience, I knew of a fellow co-worker who had this problem, complained everyday, and brought it to her boss's attention. To make a long story short...after she told them she was overloaded, she was discharged shortly after. You can get your workload down by pointing out how an assistant may be of some help to the company. Maybe you can write an outline of daily duties your assistant or office clerk would do and discuss it with management. If they don't agree, suggest they hire a college student to come in 2-3X a week to help out with some office duties in your department. They wont have to worry about budgetary constraints, since part-timer clerks are paid hourly. Just my suggestion. Don't quit your job unless you have another one set up and ready to go, otherwise, you loose your income and benefits too. Trust me, being unemployed now, it really sux! I mean, for the first few weeks, it was a nice little vacation. But now, sitting at home, doing nothing but searching for a job and practicing the computer programs, it 's boring. Having no $$ sux too! And, by the way, if you leave your job on your own will; quitting, you don't receive unemployment insurance. So unless you have a good amount of money saved, I would bring that suggestion to management and if things don't change in the next two months, start sending out resumes and head out of there! Good luck!!! Link to post Share on other sites
curiousnycgirl Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 Since your manager is away - how about calling one of the other Office Assistants to ask for tips and pointers? Perhaps they can help you get yourself organized. Are there more projects going on in your building vs the others? Perhaps you are overloaded because of that? Those are my two cents for now. Link to post Share on other sites
SummerRae Posted October 29, 2005 Share Posted October 29, 2005 Since your manager is away - how about calling one of the other Office Assistants to ask for tips and pointers? Perhaps they can help you get yourself organized. Are there more projects going on in your building vs the others? Perhaps you are overloaded because of that? Those are my two cents for now. Good call! I hear ya! I'm currently brand new at a place, so I know how overwhelming it can be. If I were you, I would definitely call another Office Assistant as curiousnycgirl suggested. That way you can see if there's anything you can delegate. Maybe your particular office is busier than others? Good luck and keep us posted. Link to post Share on other sites
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