Company changed my duties at work. Unhappy and wondering what to do.

[secondname]

Without getting into specifics, one of the senior partners in my firm passed away unexpectedly. His wife was his division's secretary so she's not coming back either as she deals with her loss. That is a ton of institutional knowledge suddenly gone. The remaining partners have asked me to learn parts of that job to help the now-understaffed division. They expect this will be about 50-75% of my time from now until the foreseeable future.

We are a small firm and I have always been flexible but I have no experience in this division and frankly don't have any desire to work in it. The work itself is boring for me staffed by folks with a completely different culture/outlook than me, and I have zero passion for the work. There is no upward mobility in the area as I do not have the certifications some of the other employees have and honestly don't want it.

My current work has slowed down due to covid-19 and I'm not as productive in my current roll as I once was. Not to a level of getting laid-off but certainly to a level where I cannot use my current responsibilities as an excuse to not move divisions. This is not a case of getting a raise or promotion to do a new job; this is transferring me to something I have no interest in or long-term desire to learn.

How should I approach this? Do I talk to my boss/partners about it? Do I seek other employment while learning these skills? Do I suck it up and do it forever? To move jobs and keep my salary would mean moving to a new city, which I am open do doing, but not the preferred route as my kids just started a new school year. Your thoughts and help would be appreciated.

 

[Cyclone27inQC]

IMO:
1) Talk to your partners and be open with them.
2) Get your resume polished up and see what's out there.
Good Luck

 

[cycloner29]

Be honest with them. If you have a good relationship with them they should be reasonable to work something out. Look at it this way, you must be doing something right if they came to ask you to learn parts of it.

 

[LeaningCy]

If they view you as a keeper of some of the institutional knowledge that suddenly disappeared, you could give them a stopgap solution in the interim until they find a long term replacement.

If you feel confident in your standing in the organization and want to stay, you can make it clear that you understand their challenge and that you're being a team player for now, but you want to outline a clear transition plan with concrete phase-out dates so you're not stuck in a position that makes you unhappy in the long run.

 

[JM4CY]

Life’s too short. Find a way to address it

 

[RonBurgundy]

Try to use it as an opportunity to "define" a role that would challenge and satisfy you. Combine some of the aspects of the new assignment that are critical to helping this new division, but eliminate anything that you think is not material. Then add some other elements either from your existing activities or even brand new responsibilities that you would think benefit the firm. Create your own position.

Have it all well thought out, and even written out. Then ask for a meeting to discuss it with upper management.

Bottom line, if they reject it, accept the requested assignment and give it a month or two. And do it with a smile on your face. If then you hate it, get the resume flowing.

 

[mywayorcyway]

Do I suck it up and do it forever?

Whatever you do, do not do this. Even if you go into with the plan of doing it short term until you've figured something out, there's a good chance you fall into complacency and end up miserable but not changing anything.

It happened to me - I was flipped to a new role due to a massive re-org. My options were limited so even though I knew it would suck, I figured I would see how it went. Two years later and I had completely lost my mind.

 

[helechopper]

Do the ******* job until you find another that is better. A pandemic is no time to be making demands on those that run the show.

 

[pulse]

It’s 50-75% for the foreseeable future. You don’t like it.. at all.. sounds terrible and a recipe for misery.

 

[intrepid27]

IMO:
1) Talk to your partners and be open with them.
2) Get your resume polished up and see what's out there.
Good Luck

Totally agreeth both of these. First, be up front with your employer. Nobody want unhappy, unproductive employees.
2nd. Never hurts to see whats out there.

 

[3TrueFans]

Find a new job while you have a job.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Horror story that sounds something like your present situation, unfortunately.

I have an acquaintance. Let's call him "Hal." Hal was doing well at a small company. Then COVID-19 hit, but Hal was doing well and certainly not at risk of being laid off (at least relative to some others).

In fact, management wanted to promote Hal. They wanted to give him a fancy title with "Manager" in it along with a commensurate increase in responsibilities. Unfortunately, they were not backing up the increase in responsibilities with an increase in pay, offering him something like 3% to 5% despite the promotion.

As most of you would note, that is barely even a pay raise at all accounting for inflation.

Hal decided to say... no thank you. He'd rather stay in his current role and forgo the increase in title/responsibilities that does not come with the increase in reward. He probably shouldn't have done that so bluntly.

They... laid him off soon thereafter. Said it was part of "restructuring" but it was easy enough to figure out the management didn't think he was a "team player," or at least they realized he would not dependably tolerate such tomfoolery on their part, so they decided to cut him loose pretty quickly. Pretty stupid, but lots of managers are stupid.

Hal is unfortunately still looking for his next opportunity. He is a good kid and should land well, even if it is hard right now. But he should have taken what was given, or so I think, and started looking elsewhere.

 

[Brandon]

Go full office space

 

[isufbcurt]

Quit and start a competing firm!!!!!!!!!!

 

[KnappShack]

Without getting into specifics, one of the senior partners in my firm passed away unexpectedly. His wife was his division's secretary so she's not coming back either as she deals with her loss. That is a ton of institutional knowledge suddenly gone. The remaining partners have asked me to learn parts of that job to help the now-understaffed division. They expect this will be about 50-75% of my time from now until the foreseeable future.

We are a small firm and I have always been flexible but I have no experience in this division and frankly don't have any desire to work in it. The work itself is boring for me staffed by folks with a completely different culture/outlook than me, and I have zero passion for the work. There is no upward mobility in the area as I do not have the certifications some of the other employees have and honestly don't want it.

My current work has slowed down due to covid-19 and I'm not as productive in my current roll as I once was. Not to a level of getting laid-off but certainly to a level where I cannot use my current responsibilities as an excuse to not move divisions. This is not a case of getting a raise or promotion to do a new job; this is transferring me to something I have no interest in or long-term desire to learn.

How should I approach this? Do I talk to my boss/partners about it? Do I seek other employment while learning these skills? Do I suck it up and do it forever? To move jobs and keep my salary would mean moving to a new city, which I am open do doing, but not the preferred route as my kids just started a new school year. Your thoughts and help would be appreciated.

What is the endgame? Is this a situation where you will learn a new skill or show the ability to step up and help the small company in a time of COVID crisis and unexpected departures? Does this potentially springboard you forward when the dust settles?

If not, then you should consider leaving. Work isn't family. It's transactional. They will keep you as long as they want or you will stay as long as you want. No more. No less.

Get a feel for that. Move forward. Life is too ******* short to work a job you don't like.

Life according to KnappShack

 

[ISUTex]

Without getting into specifics, one of the senior partners in my firm passed away unexpectedly. His wife was his division's secretary so she's not coming back either as she deals with her loss. That is a ton of institutional knowledge suddenly gone. The remaining partners have asked me to learn parts of that job to help the now-understaffed division. They expect this will be about 50-75% of my time from now until the foreseeable future.

We are a small firm and I have always been flexible but I have no experience in this division and frankly don't have any desire to work in it. The work itself is boring for me staffed by folks with a completely different culture/outlook than me, and I have zero passion for the work. There is no upward mobility in the area as I do not have the certifications some of the other employees have and honestly don't want it.

My current work has slowed down due to covid-19 and I'm not as productive in my current roll as I once was. Not to a level of getting laid-off but certainly to a level where I cannot use my current responsibilities as an excuse to not move divisions. This is not a case of getting a raise or promotion to do a new job; this is transferring me to something I have no interest in or long-term desire to learn.

How should I approach this? Do I talk to my boss/partners about it? Do I seek other employment while learning these skills? Do I suck it up and do it forever? To move jobs and keep my salary would mean moving to a new city, which I am open do doing, but not the preferred route as my kids just started a new school year. Your thoughts and help would be appreciated.

Tell them you will do it short term until they find someone. Maybe you will like it. If you hate it, and they don't find someone. Resign.

 

[KnappShack]

Do the ******* job until you find another that is better. A pandemic is no time to be making demands on those that run the show.

Depends on the industry. Mortgage companies can't find enough bodies.

 

[VeloClone]

Or alternately:

Tell them you will do it short term until they your regular division picks back up post COVID. This will give them time to find someone. Maybe you will like it. If you hate it, and they don't find someone. Resign.

 

[LincolnWay187]

Economy is improving. I have been furloughed the past 6 months and just got recalled today. I shot out some resumes the past couple weeks and had about 5 or 6 different companies call me for interviews. Not sure its like that across the whole country though.

 

[DurangoCy]

I would tell them that I would do it in the short term, but have a target end date in sight. If you're able to pull this off, then go back to your other tasks, IMHO you're way more valuable to the firm in the future for the purposes of a continued upward career trajectory, because people who know all of the divisions inside and out are the ones who can management them well. ...assuming that's what you want.