Help me think through this

[Anonymous 1]

For the sake of this conversation, I am a certified and licensed professional in my field. I am salaried plus I make commission.

When I started at this company, I was hired for a specific position. Occasionally, I will have a day or two when I do not have any work to do or when I am waiting on things from other people before I can finish my work and it may take a few days for them to get back to me. Some days, I stay at the office and clean out the supply closet or find other things to do without being asked. Other days, I will be told to go home early and they will call me if they need me.

Now they are wanting me to start helping other people complete their work on the days I don't have a lot to do. These are positions which are very different from what I do and I don't have any training in their fields of expertise. They would have to train me.

My employment agreement does not cover this.

I feel like they are adding to my responsibilities and if they want me to be responsible for more areas of the company, they need to give me a raise as well as cover any further training I may need. Even when I worked in a grocery store, if I were cashiering and they wanted me to stock, they would have given me a raise and trained me on how to stock.

What do you think?

[carterscutie85]

Yeah I'd be demanding a raise.

[EarlGrayHot]

It's typical in this day and age. You do your work and then do the work others should be doing. Modern management cannot bear to have someone sitting when they could be doing other people's work.

[MonarchMom]

If it was a field that I wanted to stay in, or move up the ladder, then I would want to get the training and experience of more positions.

The additional work position might not be a job you want to move into, but it might be a position you supervise in the future, or need to have a working knowledge of for the next step.

I would expect the company to cover the cost of any training and pay me for my time spent learning the tasks.

[Anonymous 1]

It's typical in this day and age. You do your work and then do the work others should be doing. Modern management cannot bear to have someone sitting when they could be doing other people's work.

I feel like I am worth my salary precisely because I am good at what I do and I can do it quickly. For them to give me busy work is just incentive to be not as good at my work, or do it slower. So, I guess if they want to push this issue, I will just be constantly busy and behind? No more projects finished super quickly?

[Anonymous 1]

If it was a field that I wanted to stay in, or move up the ladder, then I would want to get the training and experience of more positions.

The additional work position might not be a job you want to move into, but it might be a position you supervise in the future, or need to have a working knowledge of for the next step.

I would expect the company to cover the cost of any training and pay me for my time spent learning the tasks.

Hmm. I'm not sure. I do see a future with this company but if I move up, I won't be over this department. It's really completely separate from what I do, there is no crossover whatsoever.

[Anonymous 2]

Are you paid hourly or salary? How often do you not have work to do? Are these other positions typically paid more or less than yours?

[LiveWhatULove]

What was the motive behind this request?

What is the work culture like?

How does leadership respond to employee requests typically?

Is the company publicly traded? Do you know how it is doing financially?

Are you at the bottom, the middle, or the top of the salary range for your industry?

Are you at the bottom, the middle, or the top of the salary range for your company?

Could you find a job with ease that provides similar or better salary and benefits? Or do you need a job for financial security?

When hired, what were you work hours expectations? How many hours are you actually working per week?

Do the extra tasks or responsibilities aide your long-term career goals in any way?

[Pjmm]

I did take on extra work without an increase because it was Covid and my boss has helped me when I needed. I did get good bonuses for doing this work and I could do it within my normal working hours. Now we've hired someone so I am no longer doing anything but my original job. Usually if I have down time I take educational courses related to my job or assist my coworkers with theirs. If I'd been working for anyone else and the extra work interfered or increased my hours I'd ask for a raise. But like livewhatulove said there are questions that you should ask first. I agree with her.

I did have a job where I took on extra work but it interfered with me making commission. That commission thing was a whole mess anyway for various reasons. If this work interferes with your commission I would have that renegiotated. yes my spelling is terrible.

[Anonymous 3]

“That’s not my job” was an instant “do not hire again” thing to say when you’re on a film set, so I don’t know…

I guess it depends on the job.

My mother was the highest paid producer on a set and she still helped sweep up at the end of the day to help get everyone out of there faster. I learned from her, so maybe my work ethic is farther than it should be.