Don’t just assume that you are supposed to be overwhelmed with work. You really are allowed to talk to your boss about your workload. Here are three things you can do to prepare for that discussion.One side effect of working from home is that supervisors have a hard time seeing how hard their team is working
Document your tasks
Have a clear list of everything on your current to-do list, along with dates by which those tasks need to be completed, estimates of the amount of time it will take to complete those tasks, and other people (from inside or outside the organization) that you depend on to complete tasks.
- You want to estimate the time you’ll spend on the tasks.
Analyze Your Workflow
Be clear about where particular requests come from and who you are passing your completed work to
- The position of particular tasks in the overall workflow of the group is valuable because it helps to determine what other aspects of a project depend on your contribution
- This knowledge will help both in setting priorities for the work you do, as well as thinking through who might be able take over some of the work
Suggest Prioritization
Determine which tasks will get done and which ones will either be put on a back burner or given to someone else
- Think about what you would prioritize if the decision was yours
- Explain how you would justify that ordering in the meeting
- Orient the discussion to understanding the reasoning behind the decision
