How to Tell Your Boss When You’re Overworked
by Rebecca Knight for Harvard Business Review
No matter how busy you are, it can feel exceedingly difficult to talk to your boss about your heavy workload. The reason is twofold, according to Julie Morgenstern, productivity expert and author of Never Check E-Mail in the Morning. First, you may worry that by saying something you’re going to lose your job. “In the bottom of your belly is this feeling that if you can’t handle the work, there’s someone else who can; you feel dispensable,” she says. Second, “the natural tendency is to think, ‘I am not working hard enough, smart enough, or efficiently enough. I should be able to handle this.’ So you suffer in silence.”When you feel snowed under, you need to let your manager know. Here are a few ways to make the conversation go more smoothly:1. Provide solutionsHaving a candid conversation with your manager about your workload requires the right mindset, says Morgenstern. “You are partnering with your boss to fulfill the company’s goals.” She suggests beginning the conversation by “stating the organization’s shared objectives” to ensure that you’re both on the same page. “Then state what’s getting in the way” of you accomplishing the goals. Be as specific as possible. You might say, for instance, “This assignment requires a lot of research, which is time-consuming,” or, “Now that I am managing a team, I am spending more time planning, and I have less time for day-to-day work.”
No matter how busy you are, it can feel exceedingly difficult to talk to your boss about your heavy workload. The reason is twofold, according to Julie Morgenstern, productivity expert and author of Never Check E-Mail in the Morning. First, you may worry that by saying something you’re going to lose your job. “In the bottom of your belly is this feeling that if you can’t handle the work, there’s someone else who can; you feel dispensable,” she says. Second, “the natural tendency is to think, ‘I am not working hard enough, smart enough, or efficiently enough. I should be able to handle this.’ So you suffer in silence.”When you feel snowed under, you need to let your manager know. Here are a few ways to make the conversation go more smoothly:1. Provide solutionsHaving a candid conversation with your manager about your workload requires the right mindset, says Morgenstern. “You are partnering with your boss to fulfill the company’s goals.” She suggests beginning the conversation by “stating the organization’s shared objectives” to ensure that you’re both on the same page. “Then state what’s getting in the way” of you accomplishing the goals. Be as specific as possible. You might say, for instance, “This assignment requires a lot of research, which is time-consuming,” or, “Now that I am managing a team, I am spending more time planning, and I have less time for day-to-day work.”