As a manager you can play a part in proactively determining workload for you, individuals in your team and the team overall. Creating a culture of openness within a team so both Line Manager and team members can discuss workload honestly, mitigate associated stress and put in place appropriate support is crucial. This workload mapping tool could be useful to analyse and document individual or team workload pressures and can be completed individually by team members or by a line manager for an entire team.
A workload review should be an integral part of your regular one to one meetings with your Line Manager or team meetings.
Individual
You can always schedule time with your line manager to review your workload and discuss any concerns you may have. To support these meetings consider preparing a workload mapping document and or a stress management self relection to use as a framework for discussion and on-going monitoring.
Teams
For group meetings, a Line Manager could complete the workload mapping document to discuss with the wider team.
During either of these meeting or any workload discussions, it may be helpful to discuss:
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Prioritising or pausing projects – Consider how realistic deadlines are. Think about which projects you need to prioritise to help you fulfil your role. Could work be paused on a particular project to make your workload feel less overwhelming? Think about a date to revisit this.
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Exploring new ways of working – are there resources, tools or digital solutions that could help make some processes or tasks less time consuming.
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Collaborate or delegate – Is there potential to involve others in the delivery of some projects? Could you upskill a colleague to enable them to help support with the task? Think about how you can draw on expertise from colleagues across the university who have a focus or specialism in that area.
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Regularyly review - Agree a timeframe to review individual or team workload and assess the impact any changes have had on workload, stress or productivity. If you or your line manager feel that a more detailed stress risk assessment should be completed please follow the guidance here.