Need career advice needed!

Hello,

I need some career advice. I am currently working at a marketing agency and run their web department. I currently have 20 full websites I project manager for, and also oversee all the hosting and maintenance for about 10 websites, along with regular web updates on all past website we have created. I do all the client relations on all these jobs and make sure we are on budget. I also frequently need to assist in design and development to move jobs along.

Is this normal for our industry to have that much responsibility? I feel completely overwhelmed all the time, and timelines to clients are not being met because I just can’t seem to keep up. I also work on average 60 hour weeks, but sometimes more. What is the average number of jobs once can typically handle for websites? We have mostly medium sized custom WordPress sites, a few large ones, and a couple small ones.

I have been doing this job for almost 2 years and I am not sure I can keep up this pace. I am pretty close to burn out.

Looking for any insight or advice here at all.

Thanks!

Have you asked your job for help? What did they say?

They don’t seem to understand why I can’t get it done. The owners don’t really have much knowledge on how web departments run or how much work is involved. I have been asking for help for 2 years now and have an assistant who helps me part-time on project management, but that is all I am getting. Due to Covid-19 my wage was cut drastically too and my assistant isn’t near her level of pay she should be.

The danger is that by just tell them you are over-worked (that’s not to say they shouldn’t take heed), if they are not responsive, then it could just come across as moaning,

Instead, present them with a costed solution. As a manager of these tasks, it is not unreasonable that part of that management role is delegation. If they are paying you overtime for your long hours (if it helps, we’ve all been there and not alway with overtime), then there is margin to reduce your hours and increase help.

I can empathise. I remember a couple of times where I have worked for a few years on silly projects that required long days, weekends and all-nighters. You get to the point of tears. The frustration becomes unbearable. It will end. For me, one of them came to a natural end. The other I quit, as my health, mental and physical, was suffering.

Try offering them a rational solution first before doing anything a drastic as quitting and point out to them, logically and in a business-like way, how the economics and efficacy of it all will be affected if you are taken out of the game – even temporarily – due to burn out. Remain dispassionate and logical, keeping your personal emotion out of it. Present it as a business case and you’ll more likely get a favourable response.

If they don’t understand how it works, you haven’t explained it well enough. Help them understand where you are coming from, in language they will understand,

Best of luck.

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Sounds like we’re in a similar field. I feel this way about timelines a lot but have to remind myself that even if the client provides me with 100% of their images, text, menu preferences, competitor sites, sites they like, logos etc then it is still very likely the website won’t be finished “on time”. In reality more changes are always needed.
Plus often our sales staff presents these websites as able to be made in 2 weeks and they don’t express to the client that this is ONLY if all content is provided up front.

I can’t say what is considered “normal” or expected for work ethic and number of managed websites but this many hours, personally, not ok. I cherish my time away from work and 60hrs when the team is in code red is fine but absolutely not for a regular weekly schedule.

I think I might have revisited that part about drastic pay cut…
Even with Covid, depending on your location and whether or not they could get someone to replace you…yeah. A cut in pay is expected, if the work load has dropped off, not “because Covid.”

Oh, but Covid is now the #1 universal excuse for anything.

I’m not one of those who’ll say the pandemic is overblown or not real, but I’m dismayed by how so many have seized the opportunity to alter their operating model to someone’s disadvantage. Many major retailers have cut their store-open hours by as much as 50%, and their payroll and other operating costs have gone down right along with that while prices have risen. We shoppers will just adapt and get in there for what we need during the reduced hours. The stringent disinfection and occupancy protocols that prevailed early in the crisis are gradually falling away, so the stores are more crowded, the public is at greater risk, and employees are paid less, while sales are brisk and costs are way down.

That’s just one example, but many outfits have cut payroll just because they can, as may be the OP’s case. If you’ve been to a medical facility since this started, imagine how much more convenient it is for them to operate without all the non-patient (potential witness) traffic they now freely restrict in the name of Covid, whether or not it truly applies to the situation. You don’t have to look far to find more examples.