New York Lawyer
April 24, 2003

Q:
I am a legal secretary for a state agency. I do work for approximately 60 employees. Many clerical people, who are supposed to help the secretarial staff, have been laid off in recent times, increasing the workload for all of us. And, in any event, the clerical staff often doesn't have much ambition for getting their work done.

As a result I have been swamped with work. I work in a very sensitive area, and I cannot let legal documents fall behind in processing, nor other such related tasks. I have been bringing work home on my own time to do it in an attempt to keep caught up somewhat. I do not get compensated for such acts.

What can I do to make this situation ease up?

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A:

This situation describes a clear failure on the part of management. Supervisors have a responsibility to keep tabs on work-flow to ensure that it's distributed fairly, so that some people are not overburdened while others have time to put their feet up on their desks. Many workers these days are being required to "do more with less" (and that's in offices across the country, not just legal workplaces), which often is a fiscal necessity but has many pernicious results, some of which you are experiencing.

While there certainly are secretaries and clerical staff who underperform, part of the problem is that often they are treated shabbily. Work is heaped on them and they are rarely thanked or recognized. I have often despaired, after consulting in a company or law firm, at the way support people routinely are treated - without respect and recognition, as if they are invisible. No wonder the performance often goes downhill. This is not always the case, of course, but it happens more often than it should. Law firms in particular tend to be overly hierarchical, and more so than mainstream corporations, thus there's a tendency to thoughtlessly overburden staff or look down on them. Indeed, it's easy for lower-level people to be taken advantage of, and when they complain it's often dismissed as "they always say that."

While some may think that secretaries and clerical staff are fungible, that's obviously not the case. Just as with lawyers, each member of the support staff has an individual personality along with a collection of abilities, skills and habits making him or her useful or not in varying degrees. A good support person can be as vital to a successful practice area as any other element or person.

As for variations in performance among support staff, the surefire way to help sort out who's doing the work and who isn't is to require rigorous performance reviews, resulting in logical consequences. On an ongoing basis, this is the best way to build responsibility and accountability for performance in the workplace. Unfortunately there are many workplaces with performance reviews more in theory than in fact; they aren't done very much, or if done they aren't taken seriously, or the results are manipulated to support pre-ordained conclusions.

I don't know whether your workplace has performance reviews, nor what steps you've taken thus far to deal with your dilemma. You should reconsider your well-intentioned practice of bringing work home. You sound like an extremely conscientious person who doesn't like the public to suffer due to the inefficiencies of your office. At some point, however, you will burn out (maybe you're already there). That won't work for you, your office, or the public. If you do the extra work on your own time, most workplaces will be more than happy to take advantage of you. Moreover, the people in your office may not know what you are doing; if you are bringing work home and others aren't clued in, they'll only see that the work gets done and assume everything is okay. If work starts piling up, by contrast, the problem becomes more obvious. If you were a lawyer, I'd say working all hours goes with the territory, but I don't think it's appropriate on a regular basis for a secretary to be required to take work home.

It obviously would make sense to try to speak with your boss. You should talk with him or her very factually, not in conclusions but in observable behaviors and actions: "Here's how much work I have, here's how much time it's been taking." Offer fact-based contrasts between how much time your work used to take and the present reality. Talk about the effect on the office and clients ("I'm concerned that we will fall behind with work that must be done promptly, and that the public will suffer") rather than the effect on you ("I'm resentful and burned out"), as complaining might just be dismissed. Suggest that temporary help be hired, or that others within the office be pressed into service. If you keep the focus on the effect that this state of affairs has on the success of the office overall, you will have more credibility and be better able to communicate with your supervisor.

Sincerely,
Holly English
Principal Consultant, Values at Work