Excessive Workloads: Say No!
If you thought working through excessive workloads with insufficient staff is being professional, think again.
Unfortunately when the work keeps piling up without the staff support needed, it can create significant pressure. It can create situations where people get over-worked and neglect their own health because they have to plough through the work.
When you are stressed and overworked errors can occur and mistakes can be amplified. Stress and being overworked can lead to serious health problems leading to increased time away from work. As you will know, errors and mistakes can make a major difference in a diagnosis or treatment; or critically delay a diagnosis for urgent treatments to be established.
There is nothing professional or beneficial to patients in allowing your health to deteriorate because managements are refusing to manage staffing levels and workloads appropriately. There are no benefits to patients about having excessive workloads because managements refuse to employ sufficient staff to do the work. And there is nothing beneficial to patients about working unpaid through meal breaks and before rostered starts or longer hours in order to get normal work done, especially if leads to increasing health problems for you.
Excessive workloads are not about you and your level of professionalism; it’s increasingly clear excessive workloads are about management refusing to properly manage staffing levels and workloads and ensuring the availability of sufficient staff to undertake the workload.
Remember: say No to unpaid work.
