I need advice on an issue at work!

  • Let me start off by saying I love my job. It is part time, but it deals with animals (I am also in school so part time is all I can handle).

    I work for an animal rescue and am an adoption coordinator. There are four of us at my rescue, two who work at the office (we work opposing days) and two that work from home. The ones that work at the office have actual set hours (this is me), but make the same per hour as those who work from home.

    This was fine before as we all did the same job, they just worked from home. However, the rescue has decided to "merge" some positions meaning I and the other girl who work at the office are now taking over the data entry in one area (aka more work). They also decided to merge another position which has me having to "sign on" to work 6 hours prior to my shift to assign applications to myself AND the girls who work from home, which takes quite a bit of time. Basically, I HAVE to sign on or the other girls dont get work, plus I have to do all of their data entry.

    The issue I am having is that well I do work more hours, I am still getting paid the same hourly for having way more responsibility now. Yes, there were days were I had "down time" at the office, so thats why they decided to give us all this other work, but I also feel that since I am responsible for so much more, that the two of us who work from the office should be making more than the girls at home who just sit back and wait for us to assign there stuff (which does take a long time and involve alot of work), plus be responsible for their data entry (which used to get done by a 5th person who was not an A.C.).

    This is stressing me out quite a bit and I am not sure if I am just being crazy. Some days, I can barley fit it all in and have to stress since I need to do their part too. I did bring it up to my boss about doing their data entry, but she said she doesn't want "several people doing it since it would be hard to track errors" (as said, it was all done before by 1 person who was not an A.C.)

    Opinions? (P.S. , I know I am lucky to be paid for what I do, but they are very determined to keep everything very business like and this just seems unfair).
  • If you are getting paid by the hour for the extra time worked, then I don't see a problem & therefore will be making more than the other girls.
  • But from what I understand she isn't working more hours, except for when assigning, she is expected to do these extra tasks during the hours she was already working while the other girls are just doing what they have always done.
  • Quote: If you are getting paid by the hour for the extra time worked, then I don't see a problem & therefore will be making more than the other girls.
    That's part of the reason I think I might be nuts lol! One side of me agrees with what you said, but the other side is annoyed that if I am too busy to get it done, I either have to work over time or it goes undone and I get in trouble. I never signed up for the extra work and during my hours I am stuck frantically rushing with an overload of stuff to do. It was just assigned to me after I had already been there a year. I still have all of my applicants to deal with on top of their data entry and assigning which is very very mentally draining as it some severe is multi-tasking while they just have their applicants to deal with.
  • Is it possible for you to take on less applications than the work-from-home people to even out the work load?
  • Animal rescues are typically non-profit. So while I sympathize with the situation, you probably will not get a raise (which isn't to say you shouldn't ask) .

    However, depending on the work culture of the animal rescue you could find yourself given the cold shoulder from your boss for even suggesting a raise. People in the administration of non-profit tend to be a bit fanatical for their cause (and god bless them for it because someone needs to do it).
  • I would say if your new tasks are generaly the same level of work but more hours then your job would not require a raise or change in job description. If you are doing something that requires a different / higher skill set, or you are managing some one else and their performance then yes....you should probably get a raise as your job description would be changing to a higher skill set.
  • Is your boss the one who sets the wages? If so, instead of asking for a raise I'd ask for her help/advice in figuring out how you can best do all the tasks you're responsible for within your scheduled hours.

    Doing so, perhaps she'll see that you are working much above and beyond the others and maybe this will get you a raise, but like PatLib said, your shelter is probably a non-profit... At least your boss will know how hard you're working.
  • Can you tell them that you need to cut back hours because of school? Or that having to login to the system six hours before your shift is not always feasible because of your school schedule, and so you'd rather they have someone else be responsible for it?
  • re:
    Ask for a raise and do it with supporting documentation. What's the worst that can happen? I highly doubt they would fire you. If they don't, let them know that the extra work is interfering with your other priorities and that you're unable to work outside your shift.

    Is there some way to reduce the amount of data entry - a new process you could propose?

    I'm assuming the animal rescue is non-profit. (I used to work for one.) That's the price you pay unfortunately sometimes for getting to do a job you love for a meaningful cause - the pay, if any, is awful.

    It appears that's the way work is now in the US, companies asking more of employees without paying them more.
  • I understand the concern. You're being assigned more work for the same pay while the people who work from home aren't being assigned more work. There is an element of unfairness but at the same time there's not much you can do about that. While you're on the clock your boss can assign you whatever he/she feels is appropriate and within reason. But if you feel you are doing more work then maybe you should hash it out with your boss. Say "while I'm fine with taking on more work, it feels a bit unfair that those working from home can't take on any of these duties, I'd like to reconsider working from home, or what can we do to even up the playing field?" or something like that.

    But I totally understand where you're coming from. I hate going to a store, waiting in line and walking up to the counter and then the person who is supposed to help me tells me to hang on while she answers a call from a customer on the phone. I'm the one who's dragged myself down here, waited in line and it seems like I'd be better off if I just called!