Details of Case
Riley accepted an administrative assistant position at a local high school two months ago. She is assigned to assist the head principal of the school. Her core responsibilities include filing, student data entry, and processing tuition payments. The hourly pay is not what she had hoped for but she will receive a performance review in 90 days that may allow for a pay increase per her performance rating. The position she filled had been vacant for an extended period of time, which left many administrative duties undone. She is excited about her new job and very enthusiastic about the new and challenging tasks given to her to get the files back into order.
There are three office staff members assigned to handle student issues and the daily functioning of the school. Martha is a senior and elderly office aid who is partially disabled and can barely stand for long periods of time. Daniel, the receptionist, has a spotty attendance record because this job is one of his three part-time jobs. Lastly is Linda, who tries to keep everything together by making up for the deficiencies of her co-workers.
Riley’s first month went by smoothly as she started to get a handle on her job duties and performed well. However, Martha had taken a fall at home and is now out on medical leave. Daniel, when he shows up, is not much help as he believes that answering the phone is his only responsibility.
Riley, young and full of energy, decided to be a team player and help Linda who has been running around the office trying to keep things operating by herself.
Riley finds herself handling parent and student issues when they arise. Parents randomly burst into the office when there is an issue with their child or the school. Disciplinary students are sent to the office by their teachers to be reprimanded. However, Riley enjoys working with the students, and they now look to her to resolve their issues of lateness, uniforms, early dismissals, etc. Even the parents are taking advantage of her ability to immediately handle their issues and complaints. Success in these endeavors gives her joy and a sense of value being the go-to person in the office.
Now Riley has been called into the principal’s office to be reprimanded as the principal has been raising the issue of new students’ files not being updated and grades not being entered in a timely manner. She explained that she had been helping the office staff with parents and students.
While the principal has expressed her appreciation, she explains to Riley that she has an annual report that she has to submit to the school board and it must be completed in ten days. Therefore, while she is helping out in the office, student files, grades, and tuitions must be updated and recorded in order to generate an annual report.
Juggling her core responsibilities and assisting the office staff, Riley is feeling overwhelmed and underpaid as the job that she has accepted initially has changed dramatically. Due to her high energy and work ethic she pushes through each day despite being mentally and physically drained.
The mental and physical stress has caused her to withdraw from being a team player. She is drifting back to her cubicle next to the principal’s office more and more each day. Martha, who has gotten use to her being there, calls on her for help, but Riley insists that she has too much work and cannot assist at that time.
