being taken advantage of at a job

[Anonymous]

I was hired for a specific management position and to work for specific set of projects. Fast forward a year later, my boss asks me to do tasks that are 2 levels below my job responsibilities and in addition to my other regular management responsibilities, so now, I have to do what I used to do, plus do the job that people reporting to me 2 levels below are doing, because I possess certain tech skills that apparently they need. I used to do contracting making more money with these skills, then outsourcing and downsizing of rates happened and I tried to diversify, go into other type of tech and move to management, hoping to build a career of sorts since my livelihood is gone. Now, they know I have these skills, and their current resources are failing and not doing a good job apparently or they don't have money to hire more developers. So, they make me do this and want me to do my regular job managing tech leads, being involved in their projects, fighting for their promotions, etc. I find it impossible to do both jobs well. I also feel ripped off and demoted, I know that going 2 levels below is NOT GOOD for my career, so I am getting a short end of the stick working harder and not doing the type of job that can get me promoted, plus foregoing the high pay rate I used to have doing just this tech job.

The complication is that I cannot leave now because I am pregnant, how do I go on and feel good about myself and not let this kill all the self-esteem I have left. Mainly, how do I juggle two jobs when I feel physically terrible most of the time?

[Anonymous]

Don't worry when you come back from maternity leave they will have found someone to do your job and they will probably give you the lower job when you get back. All in all you will feel differently after you have the baby so just do your job as best you can and worry about other things later. Maybe use your maternity leave to look for another job.

[Anonymous]

It's not clear to me if you are doing the job 2 levels below because the people at that level don't have the same knowledge or if it's because they have the skill set at the level but need more people doing it to get the work done.

If it is a matter of the people at that level not having the skill, as a manager you can try to factor in staff development, on the job training, and I would have them do peer review to help pool together their knowledge. Teach them to fish so to speak. Also your pregnancy ( congrats by the way) is another reason to make sure the job 2 level below is getting done when you are out.

Also, as much as it sucks and takes time you don't have, you need to document where your time goes. I definitely had that feeling where I felt I was being taken advantage of and everything was being dumped in my lap, but the only way to dig out of that hole was to document all the time and hours spent with task X that took away from my main task Y and bring it up under any concerns, that enabling our users to do more for themselves would lessen the x hours I spent answering things they could do if they had access. I also suggested priorities and top ten lists. When people visually see you have two or three items deemed top ten due the same time it warrants a conversation of extended a deadline or getting more resources ...but it doesn't happen unless it is visible in a way that isn't comp,aiming that you have too much and that is very matter of fact in discussions.

[Anonymous]

Funny, I'm in almost the exact same position. It's tough, because we essentially have a hiring freeze, so we're not going to hire additional help below me, and as long as things are getting done, then senior management doesn't see a problem.

I think if the economy was better, they would hire additional staff below you (and me), but at the moment, this is the new normal. It's really unfortunate that you almost have to fail, miss deadlines, etc. just to get additional help.

[Anonymous]

They are taking advantage bc they know they can bc the economy sucks