Learning English

Image: Getty

• Sharing ideas
• Giving advice

Introduction

Sometimes a new challenge at work is exciting. But sometimes extra work can be stressful. In this episode of Office English, Pippa and Phil discuss how to talk about new opportunities with your line manager and what to do if you have too much work.

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is a transcript of a spoken conversation and is not a word-for-word script.

Phil
Do you go above and beyond at work?

Neil
I think you have to be careful that you don't end up spending a lot of your own free time working on something that you're not supposed to be working on, or that you're not, in fact, being paid for.

Becca
If it's something that you actually really enjoy, then I think it's totally OK to do things outside of your job description, so long as you're looking after yourself and you're not putting too much pressure on yourself to get it done. Because at the end of the day, you're not being paid for it.

Pippa
In today's episode of Office English, we're talking about doing work outside your job description.

Phil
Hello and welcome to Office English, your podcast guide to the world of work. I'm Phil.

Pippa
And I'm Pippa. On our website we have subtitles and a transcript so you can read along with this podcast, head to bbclearningenglish.com.

Phil
So Pippa, we're talking about what work you do and how much you do, and this can be a difficult subject at work. So let's start by looking at some common terms we hear when we talk about this.

Pippa
Yes. So we've got our job description. And that's what we're expected to do every day, day to day. So your usual tasks, your usual role, what is expected of you at work. Yeah.

Phil
We have this expression which we started the programme with today: going above and beyond. And that means putting in extra effort or extra hours on something that you're doing at work.

Pippa
Mhm. Yes. And then we also have this idea of taking initiative. And if you take initiative that means you do things without being asked to. And we'll talk later in the programme about whether you should take initiative at work or when you can. Um, and in this episode we'll discuss language and approaches to how much work you do.

Phil
OK. Let's start with a scenario. There's a project coming up at work that you're really passionate about. You'd like to work on the project, but it will involve doing things that aren't technically part of your job and possibly some extra work. How would you approach this?

Pippa
Well, it will depend on your workplace and your manager. In some workplaces, managers like you to kind of be passionate. They like you to ask to work on things. They would be quite excited if you had a request like this. In other places it might be a bit more hierarchical or structured and your job is very set. You have to do certain things. There's not spare time or flexibility for you to do other things. So, that will be kind of something you have to think about. But generally it's a good thing to be passionate about work. And you could demonstrate this if you want to talk to your line manager about working on a project, you could say something like, 'I think I can bring a lot to this project, and I'd like to take it on alongside my day-to-day work'. So if you can bring a lot to something, that means you have lots of skills that could be useful.

Phil
So you could say something like, 'this would be a good chance for me to stretch and challenge myself and learn new skills'. We use that expression stretch and challenge to talk about doing something, doing something difficult, but often with the idea that you're going to make yourself better by doing something difficult.

Pippa
And this might be a scenario where you want to go above and beyond. Or a similar phrase, go the extra mile. That means just doing a bit more than your normal day-to-day job. And you could use those phrases when you're talking to your line manager.

Pippa
OK, let's think about another situation. You go to a networking event outside of work, and you're inspired to start some new relationships and explore some collaborations with other people in the industry. Should you take the initiative, Phil?

Phil
I mean, that is an interesting question because it really will depend on your workplace, your manager, the kind of culture that you have, because it can be good to show initiative, to take things forward if that's what you're expected to do. Um, but it is possible that you might go too far.

Pippa
Um, yeah. So, you don't want to overstep. And overstepping means basically doing things that you shouldn't do and taking on responsibilities that you shouldn't do. So perhaps your manager doesn't want you to start new relationships with other people in the industry and organise collaborations. They want you to just focus on your job. And also you don't want to spend time working on something that isn't a priority for your team, and then take that time away from your actual job, from the things that you need to do.

Phil
Yeah, there's a nice expression here. You can talk about looking at the big picture, which is how everything fits together. And so it might be that when you look at the big picture, that actually that collaboration that you thought was a really good idea around one small thing just doesn't fit in to like the bigger, the bigger picture.

Pippa
So if you're talking to people outside your work, you want to be careful about how much you share first of all. So if you are taking initiative and you don't really know how much permission you have to start these relationships, don't share lots of company secrets would probably be good advice, but also don't overpromise. Um, so don't kind of tell people that you absolutely can collaborate with them, you absolutely can take this idea forward, if you don't know that that's true.

Phil
It could be that you need to say something when you're talking to people: 'Yeah, this is a really exciting opportunity, but I need to check that this aligns with our priorities', um, that this fits with what we're doing.

Pippa
Yeah. Another way to phrase that would be to say something like, 'it would be great to work together - I'll feed back everything we've discussed to my team to see what's possible'. And this idea of feeding back, that means you'll tell your team and your manager what you've been talking about, and it just shows the other person that you don't really have the authority to make a decision right there and then.

Phil
Yeah, and then, of course, when you go back and you talk to your team or your manager, you might want to say something like, yes, 'I took the opportunity to speak with some colleagues across the industry. I think there's some potential to work with others'.

Pippa
You could also say something like, 'should we take this forward?' or 'should we pursue this?' And both of these mean, should we do this? Should we explore the possibility of it?

Phil
OK. We've talked about when you want to do things outside your job description. But let's talk about a different scenario. What do you do if you're being asked to do things outside your job description all the time at work?

Pippa
Yeah. This is a really difficult situation and it can be difficult to have these conversations at work. So this is where you're working extra hours all the time. You're doing lots of tasks that are actually maybe above your pay grade, we might say, which means that they're taking on responsibility that is not normally done by somebody who's paid what you are, who has your job. And depending on your workplace, a conversation with your line manager is probably the best way to deal with this. So you could say something like, 'I've recently been taking on extra responsibilities outside of my job description. Will this become a permanent part of my role?' And that question is basically asking, are we able to make this more official? I've been doing these things sort of unofficially in addition to my normal job. And you're kind of saying, I want to be recognised for doing that.

Phil
Yeah. Or you might say, 'look, my role is supposed to be...' this, 'but I'm increasingly spending lots of time on...' something else, the other task that you're doing, 'is there something we can do to make sure that I have time for my day job?' And when we say day job, we mean what your normal job description is.

Pippa
Another way of phrasing this: you could say 'requests to work on other projects are impacting my ability to get my job done. Can we find a solution?' That's a slightly stronger way of putting it because you're basically saying, I can't get all the work done, and your line manager then can hopefully take some action to make sure that you can get your work done.

Phil
Yes, of course, sometimes it might be that you're in a situation where you are just being asked to do too much, and perhaps your manager doesn't see the issue with it, and then you might need to question it and say whether, whether something is acceptable or not acceptable in the situation you're in. But that will depend a lot about the industry you're working in and the culture of the company that you're in.

That's it for this episode of Office English. We'll be back soon with another episode.

Pippa
In the meantime, practise your English skills on our website. Why not try The Reading Room where you can read graded articles on interesting topics and test your understanding? Find a link in the notes below this programme.

Phil
Bye for now.

Pippa
Bye.

Now try this...

Practise your reading skills