I am paid to work part-time. How do I stop my boss from giving me a full-time workload?

Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on workplace, career and leadership in her advice column, “Got a Minute?” This week: managing expectations of availability when you work part-time and handling a change of management style.

I work in a part-time office role three days per week. I love the work I do, and I am eager to help my colleagues whenever I am there. Unfortunately, the people I work with, including my boss, seem to forget that I don’t work in the office every day. They will often ask me to do something on a day when I will not be there. It is then left to me to apologise and explain I can’t do it when they have asked as I won’t be in the office. I always feel bad and apologetic, and they often look disappointed and even annoyed. How can I fix this situation, so I don’t feel bad all the time, and they don’t think I am letting them down?

You have nothing to feel bad about, although I understand why you do. You are only paid for the three days you work and while your colleagues may not always remember that, your boss certainly should. If the scope of your role is bigger than the three days per week you are paid for, they need to speak with you about increasing your days.

In the first instance, let your boss know how much you love working in the role and explain how there appears to be some ‘confusion’ about which days you work, since you are often left to explain why you can’t complete a task in the timeframe they might want. Seek your bosses’ advice on how everyone can be more aware of your part-time schedule so you don’t have to keep explaining and apologising. And if that fails, next time you are asked to do something on a day you don’t work, please don’t feel the need to apologise. Just say “sure, I would love to help you with that when I am back in the office on [whatever day].”

I have a new leader who has arrived like a bull at a gate. They ignore existing processes, steamroll meetings and conversations, want to change everything without context, and do not show any regard for the great work that has already been done. How can I provide feedback without appearing change resistant, or sounding like I am stuck in the past? On the one occasion I did try, I felt gas lit and inadequate because the response was “if you’re struggling with all of this change, we may need to look at your productivity and efficiency”…..? What do you advise?

It doesn’t sound like your new boss is going to hear any feedback you have to offer. If they want to change everything, without understanding the background, it sounds like they are determined to create an entirely new workplace culture too. Whether that is the right decision from a business perspective is impossible for me to know - sometimes teams do need rebuilding from the ground up - but what I do know is that the approach your boss has taken will be counter-productive.

Even in a team where wholesale change is needed to improve processes, there is background context which is important to understand. All your new leader is doing by behaving in this way is guaranteeing people will feel disengaged and unwilling to speak up in future. While I would normally advise finding a way to offer someone feedback, in this case it sounds like you tried, and it didn’t work. I suspect your new boss is on a mission - whether of their own making or one that has been given to them by their boss - and you may not have much luck suggesting an alternative path.

I have a mature age PhD student who joined our team recently and is extremely chummy with our boss. The new student has started bossing everyone around, and even senior staff are ignoring her abhorrent behaviours because they are afraid she will snitch to our boss. Not only has she been loud and disruptive, she makes everyone’s daily tasks her responsibility, and randomly inserts herself in meetings, speaks out of turn and says random words when we clearly know she has absolutely no experience or knowledge in that field. How do I deal with this, or what should I do to make everyone feel normal again? It all feels so horrible.

I think you and your colleagues need to speak with your new colleague in the first instance, or, if you don’t think you can for whatever reason, speak directly to your boss. Be upfront by saying you find this difficult to raise since you know they are friends, then explain how her behaviour is having a negative impact on the team. I would have clear examples of what has happened for your boss, so the behaviours can be managed appropriately.