PT-LawMom

So I have recently gotten a promotion and a move to exempt status. Since then, I have been working an average 11-hour day. Butt hits chair at 9, rarely, if ever, take lunch, and it’s unusual that I leave before 7:30 and without at least another hour or so of work to do from home. Since my “raise” was equivalent to 5 OT hours/week at my former salary, they are most definitely getting their moneys worth and then some. That said, I’m really enjoying what I’m doing.

I have been working on a large initiative for about 9 months that finally kicked off this week and has been super successful so far. Another related initiative launches in two weeks and, while a bit more intimidating due to the number of things that could go wrong, I am up for the challenge. Unfortunately, I had a small team of people helping me until a few weeks ago when I realized that their system wasn’t able to properly support my initiative for a variety of reasons. When I told them I was going to go another way until they could get their system in line with my expectations, I lost their help because the department head took it personally. Sigh… So I’m a one-woman team right now on a project that touches upwards of 40,000 people. Fun!

Also, my boss has left the company… Can’t really elaborate but, regardless of why, it’s a good thing.

A not-so-good thing is that I have to be interviewed by a BigLaw attorney next week representing my company in some very unpleasant litigation prior to a full deposition in a case where I have been named as a key witness. I’m nervous. The reality is that most of my “knowledge” is hearsay, but still… Kinda wishing I’d taken some litigation classes to know how to handle this. I tend to want to be helpful and am too much of an over-sharer. My plan going into this is to answer the questions I’m asked and try to restrain my typical “diarrhea of the mouth.” Sigh… No fun.

Wish I could tell you more but, alas, I must shut my mouth now. Suffice it to say that work is not boring these days.

Colleague got a warning letter as her performance review. From a guy who used to be her peer and has only been supervising her for about 60 days. About “issues” from before he was her boss. Nice…

I, on the other hand, successfully negotiated a bit more of a raise (roughly equivalent to a guaranteed 5 hours of OT/week at my current salary or a 20% raise, but I’m moving from a non-exempt paralegal to an exempt “professional”… hmm.). I have also negotiated a new title. I just don’t know what that is yet.

In the meantime, I have about 70 hours of work per week, no replacement for my fired friend/colleague in sight, and just a leeeetle stress. But it’s time to start pushing back, setting boundaries, etc. Okay… it’s past time.

In the meantime, networking, professional development, etc., and doing the best I can on my major projects are my main goals. I have a weeklong seminar and certification course scheduled in southern California in April that should move me towards my goals for this year. Will reevaluate in 2011.

I cried at work today. In front of one of the directors of our three departmental groups. Lost it. Hard! Frustration, stress, exhaustion, irritation = bad, bad, bad. I am taking tomorrow off. Obviously I am losing it…

Okay, I said that. And then I read this. Thank you, as always, T, for making me see things more clearly and reminding me that my life is within my own control. (((HUGS))) And even though I did indeed send you the card, I am now ordering the book!! Apparently I need it…

To answer Shels, no, no promotion or bonus. Not sure if/when/if ever that will happen. However, I did put my resume on Monster this week just to see what is out there. I love the work I do and really enjoy my job. But I am extraordinarily over-extended and rather than getting help, I’m just getting more work.

This month alone I am coordinating rollout of a new policy in 18 languages to 50,000 people in 96 countries… by mail. I am also working on development of two training modules related to those policies, each of which have to be completed and sent out to employees in January using a new training system that the company’s employees are unfamiliar with (oh, and the IT department is being outsourced the very WEEK my boss is planning to roll out our first course…). I am responsible for our worldwide employee hotline (receiving reports through online system and sending them out to the proper investigators in each location and following up to close out the cases). I am working on follow-ups to a company-wide questionnaire. I field, respond to and translate questions from our Latin American locations because I am the only Spanish speaker. On top of all that I am designing websites and file repositories for my department and each of its three composite groups and working with IT on rollout of a new software package. Then this week I get an e-mail from Big Boss asking me to work another 15 hours per week through the end of the year on yet another major project.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Big Boss. I love my job. I want to succeed, impress, do well. And I am thrilled that he recognizes that I can do more than my title. But, DAMN, I have way too much on my plate right now. Sigh… And the items above are just the big things – don’t include the daily assistance to the five attorneys in my group on various initiatives because, after all, I am a “paralegal”. Um… yeah, sounds like it, huh? I need the title and pay that go with the work I do. Believe me, I have told him. Hanging in, hanging on, hanging out.