Relieved of Duties

Not quite that extreme as the title of this post would suggest. But it has been very busy the last two weeks professionally. Last week was the week from hell where most of the staff was out trying to use up the remainder of their vacation time before the end of the fiscal year. My employer has a policy of “Use it or lose it” and many in the department sometimes find it hard to get away because of obligations. Not including the secretary, there is a total of five employees within the department. Two of the employees were out the entire week. Add to this that the other two remaining employees were taking off Fridays and Mondays so in essence it was me by myself since the secretary is not well-versed (and shouldn’t be) with the codes and regulations.

Yesterday, I had the guts to approach the boss regarding my work load and how I needed to be relieved of some of my duties. Surprisingly, he agreed and at the staff meeting about 30 minutes later, it was announced what my subordinate was going to take over from me. For me, the one thing I really hate doing is giving up responsibilities with the fear that I would be fired or laid off since my work load was lessened or what remained someone else could be hired to do at a lower salary. But I see this as giving me more time to do what I find to be most interesting with my job. And that’s always a plus!