My boss wants me on call every night, after I work all day. Help?

Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on workplace, career and leadership in her advice column, “Got a Minute?” This week: fatigue after working overnight, a promised promotion that never came and cleaning up.

A modern award should include protections around the maximum weekly hours you can work.Credit: Dionne Gain

I work during the day, then I am on call at night, every night, five nights in a row. If I’m called out during the night, I can be out for two to five hours on average before I return home and am entitled to take a 10-hour break. Some weeks, I may go out every night; others, I may go once or twice. My company says it’s up to us to manage our fatigue, but the job description states we need to be on call overnight. My concern is, if I’m called out with less than five hours of sleep and have an accident, am I protected by industrial laws?

Please don’t wait until you have an accident to find out if you are protected by industrial laws. You should have this conversation with your employer straight away and if you belong to a union, you can also speak with them. I asked an expert, Sarah Queenan, the managing director of Humanify HR, what she recommended.

Assuming you are on a modern award, which includes protections around the maximum weekly hours you can work, Queenan recommends you talk to your employer so they can consider alternate options for rostering your shifts to reduce the impact of fatigue. As Queenan says, prevention is always better than a cure, and raising this concern means you can help create a safer workplace for yourself and your colleagues. Rest well.

I joined the company from a more senior position, and now earn more than I did in my last role. During the hiring process, I was promised a promotion to a position equal to that which I previously held. This didn’t happen. My colleague got the promotion. I’ve now been in the role for 15 months with no career growth in sight. My manager is based overseas, and we haven’t had a one-on-one meeting in a year. I work with some good people, but I’m concerned. I would rather try and fix it than move since the job market has taken a turn. Any tips?

Have you investigated what opportunities there are within your company for talent identification? There is most likely a process where HR and other senior leaders are identifying people to receive development opportunities and be considered for promotion.

Even just asking someone in HR or a more senior leader about whether this sort of thing exists will open the door to having a conversation about your ambitions within the company. I wouldn’t be shy about sharing your aspirations with people who can help. Be proud to share your desire to do more and ask to be considered for any new roles that come up in the future.

I work for a not-for-profit and have enjoyed being productive in this job since starting a couple of years ago. My morale has, however, been negatively impacted recently due to the employment of a new, more senior staff member. She lacks basic skills, competence and suitability to work in the field. My own workload has increased significantly due to having to rectify her constant mistakes. The difficulty is that she’s a friend of the boss, and he is mentoring her. He is not aware of the extent of her incompetence, so I worry if I take any leave I will need to fix her work on my return, as well as catch up on my own. I do not want to be constantly going to my boss to vent my concerns and report her errors. What are some tactful ways to approach the problem without affecting my working relationship with my boss?

My first thought is why do you feel the need to manage your colleague? As frustrating as you might find it, I would let her do her job, and you focus on yours. If your boss is mentoring her, he is not being given the chance to understand where she needs support because you are constantly fixing her errors. We all work with colleagues who we may judge to be less than competent, but that doesn’t mean we should be taking on personal responsibility to bring them up to a standard we might expect. I would take some leave and enjoy the time away from work. If she is as bad as you say, that will soon become obvious to your boss if you are not there to fix things.

To submit a question about work, careers or leadership, visit kirstinferguson.com/ask (you will not be asked to provide your name or any identifying information. Letters may be edited).

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