How to ask your employer for more responsibility…

April 2, 2021

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It may be the case that your workload has significantly increased during COVID. Most days we read articles on ‘How to deal with burnout’ or ‘How to switch off from home’. Two things have proved to be difficult for people as they work from home. But what if you find yourself not as busy as you’d like to be?

We all know that to grow our careers, we need to take on more responsibility. But how do we do that in a way that sets us up for success, rather than just adding to our workloads?

Recruit Ireland spoke with Resilience Coach, Best-Selling Author of The Burnout Solution, International Speaker, and Psychotherapist, Siobhan Murray on how best to approach your boss requesting more responsibility without the awkwardness.

Here are her top tips;

“Asking your boss for more work may seem like a simple task but there are a few things to take into consideration before you ask.

1. Be clear in your mind why you want more work: if you want more work in order to be ‘busy’ you could end up getting tasks you aren’t suited to or are not comfortable doing.

2. Research: Doing a bit of research into what extra work you could take on allows you to approach your boss with a solution rather than a problem ie the problem being you have no work to do and now the pressure is on your boss to find you work to do which could add more stress to them. If you are able to present a solution, such as, you know there is work to be completed that you can do, and you are happy to take it on, then the pressure is taken off your boss to find the work for you.

3. Courses: If you are looking to expand your knowledge and upskill in your job, present your boss with courses you have researched that you could do which would benefit your role and in turn allow you to take on more responsibility which will benefit both of you.

4. Solution-focused: Most importantly be solution-focused in your language, if your boss is under pressure in their role demonstrating your enthusiasm rather than frustration will go a long way in getting more work!

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May 25, 2020