A friend of mine was stunned – STUNNED – to find out he was scheduled 56 hours worth of work in a 16 hour work period this week.
Monday is traditionally his company’s “scheduling” day. They analyze their projects, look at their project timelines and available time, and schedule accordingly. And when I say “they,” I mean the boss. The team doesn’t have any input into it.
56 hours worth of work due by end of day tomorrow. It was suggested – by someone far smarter than I – that one of two things was occurring: He was being tested, or he was being set up to fail.
Both possibilities are reasonable. But I disagreed when told, suggesting that perhaps something else was going on. Upon gentle questioning, it became apparent that 25 percent of the company management is on vacation in the next two weeks, and 50 percent of the workforce is on vacation over the next three weeks.
He’s not being set up to fail. He’s not being tested. He’s probably being overworked to cover bad planning by the management. Figuring this out didn’t make him feel better, really.
Poor guy.