Wow! You ladies are amazing!! I debated about posting this here, I almost deleted it after I wrote it, but I'm so glad now that I didn't delete. I really do feel better after reading your input, and even though I have no idea what the final outcome will be, I feel that I am so much better equiped to handle this meeting now.
Since you all have been so helpful and supportive, I want to share something with you....
As I'm preparing the information that I want to bring to my meeting with HR tomorrow, I did a little research by calling 4 hospitals in this state who are about the same size as where I work.
None of the hospitals have done what mine has, namely, combined several lab areas into one large area and put one supervisor over the whole thing.
In two of the hospitals, there are three different people supervising the areas that I supervise. In one of the hospitals, there are two separate supervisors. And in the last hospital, there is one supervisor of the area, with two department leads/assistant supervisors, for a total of three people.
Hopefully this objective information will make them rethink our set-up.
Twodog, don't be nervous. YOU are the one in control. You're willing to quit if you have to, so you're ready for anything. Anyhow, imagine the **** they'd have to go through to replace you.
Good for you for doing research on other hospitals!
Be strong... we love you...
Does your employer offer EAP (Employees Assistance Program)? You can get immediate short-term counseling, and that would help, just to have a place to blow off steam! I'd also suggest talking to your family doctor, and perhaps taking a medical leave of absence. File a claim with Workman's Comp if you have to, just to give yourself some breathing space.
Your complaint is something we are going to see more and more, I'm afraid. With downsizing, layoffs, cutbacks, and consolidations, folks are going to be doing the jobs of several people and it's going to hurt.
Sorry I didn't get back to give you an update until now....
We met on Friday, myself, my manager, and the Human Resources Generalist assigned to our area.
We talked about the issues, concerns, etc, but ran out of time before we could start talking about potential solutions. We have scheduled another meeting for this Wednesday for that conversation. So I didn't present the information that I found out in my research of other similar hospitals, that will wait until Wednesday.
I'm not sure how I feel about the meeting on Friday. I came out of that meeting feeling that we didn't really accomplish what I had hoped we would, but I guess the discussion that we had was needed to establish the groundwork. I really don't know what my manager is thinking about the whole situation, as she didn't give any good clues....I suppose that will become more evident at this week's meeting.
I'll let you know how it goes this week. Thanks again for the support and good thoughts, I can't express how much I appreciate it!! You ladies are doing more than you know to help me get through this.
That was a great idea!
