I've worked at several different companies and know many others that work in all sorts of businesses. They all have bosses and managers, some are good, some are bad, some are useless, some make your life easier, and some make it a nightmare.
No matter the manager, most companies (unless it is the government) they will give you more and more and more work until you throw up your hands and scream "NO MORE!". Then they will give you that exact amount of work forever.
Now, for those people that always feel swamped or overwhelmed, or about to burst, here is a few simple tricks that people told me that helped me keep my sanity.
1) Ask yourself, "Do I get paid to worry about this?" a lot of the time, people find other problems that hinder or prevent them from doing what they need to do. They figure someone needs to fix it so they take it upon themselves to do it. This gives them more work when in fact, someone else should have been doing it because that was THEIR job, they just don't know or are too lazy to do anything correctly. On the other side, people will outright give you more stuff that is not really your responsibility but since you don't say no, everyone assume you can and will do it. Don't kill yourself. Do what you can and email your boss the problem you came across and move on.
2) You don't have a time machine. Basically you have 6-8 hours of productive time each day to do work. Somehow, you have 10-15 hours of work to do each day. That math does not add up. You can't clone yourself, you don't have a time machine, you are not a magician. Don't let your boss think otherwise. If they give you too much work, they are bad managers, so you need to fix them by sitting with them briefly and say, "hey boss, you gave me X number of jobs to do that will take more time than I have so let me know the order of the tasks you want done and I will do it in that order. Keep in mind that the bottom ones will most likely not get done for a while." If they don't listen, don't care, or don't help, simply do the same thing with their manager. It will make them look bad, but since they are not helping you, they are trying to make you look bad so it is only fair.
3) Don't kill yourself for them. You work there, they pay you. You are give jobs, you do the jobs for as long as the work day lasts, then you stop and go home. If your work wants you to take your work home with you, they had better make it worth your while by giving you overtime pay, time off in lew, or a commission. If you aren't getting something back, have a conversation with your boss and see what can be done to compensate you for this extra time. If your boss is trying to keep this overtime "under the covers", that means that he does not want his boss to know that he is abusing his employees. Don't let this happen unless you are really okay with this situation. Talk to another boss (preferably one your boss does not get along with) and ask for their advice. Hopefully they will point you in the right direction.
I tried to keep this stuff generic but I hope this stuff helps. Remember, don't worry about the stuff you can't control. And if you aren't getting paid all that much. You should probably not be that stressed out at work.
No matter the manager, most companies (unless it is the government) they will give you more and more and more work until you throw up your hands and scream "NO MORE!". Then they will give you that exact amount of work forever.
Now, for those people that always feel swamped or overwhelmed, or about to burst, here is a few simple tricks that people told me that helped me keep my sanity.
1) Ask yourself, "Do I get paid to worry about this?" a lot of the time, people find other problems that hinder or prevent them from doing what they need to do. They figure someone needs to fix it so they take it upon themselves to do it. This gives them more work when in fact, someone else should have been doing it because that was THEIR job, they just don't know or are too lazy to do anything correctly. On the other side, people will outright give you more stuff that is not really your responsibility but since you don't say no, everyone assume you can and will do it. Don't kill yourself. Do what you can and email your boss the problem you came across and move on.
2) You don't have a time machine. Basically you have 6-8 hours of productive time each day to do work. Somehow, you have 10-15 hours of work to do each day. That math does not add up. You can't clone yourself, you don't have a time machine, you are not a magician. Don't let your boss think otherwise. If they give you too much work, they are bad managers, so you need to fix them by sitting with them briefly and say, "hey boss, you gave me X number of jobs to do that will take more time than I have so let me know the order of the tasks you want done and I will do it in that order. Keep in mind that the bottom ones will most likely not get done for a while." If they don't listen, don't care, or don't help, simply do the same thing with their manager. It will make them look bad, but since they are not helping you, they are trying to make you look bad so it is only fair.
3) Don't kill yourself for them. You work there, they pay you. You are give jobs, you do the jobs for as long as the work day lasts, then you stop and go home. If your work wants you to take your work home with you, they had better make it worth your while by giving you overtime pay, time off in lew, or a commission. If you aren't getting something back, have a conversation with your boss and see what can be done to compensate you for this extra time. If your boss is trying to keep this overtime "under the covers", that means that he does not want his boss to know that he is abusing his employees. Don't let this happen unless you are really okay with this situation. Talk to another boss (preferably one your boss does not get along with) and ask for their advice. Hopefully they will point you in the right direction.
I tried to keep this stuff generic but I hope this stuff helps. Remember, don't worry about the stuff you can't control. And if you aren't getting paid all that much. You should probably not be that stressed out at work.
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