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βHow to Talk to Your Boss About an Excessive Workloadβ
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β± Reading time: 6 minutes
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How to Talk to Your Boss About an Excessive Workloadβ
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Reading time: 5 minutes
π Key Takeaways
- Why high performers suffer in silence the longest.
- The warning signs your workload has become unsustainable.
- How to prepare so the conversation lands professionally.
- The one question that turns a complaint into a solution.
- The mistakes that make this harder than it needs to be.
A few weeks ago I shared a post on LinkedIn that got a lot of engagement.
It was about a Global HR Business Partner I had interviewed in Singapore. When she resigned, her company couldn't find a single person capable of replacing her. So they hired three regional HR Business Partners instead, one for each geography she had been managing on her own.
The post reached over 250,000 people.
My inbox filled up almost immediately. HR professionals. Business leaders. Senior executives. All sharing versions of the same story.
"This is me right now."
"I've been carrying this for years and nobody knows."
"I didn't know how to say anything so I just kept going."
The post clearly struck a nerve. And it made me want to address the question that kept coming up in the comments and messages I received.
What do you actually do if you're a high performer carrying an unsustainable workload?
Because here's the reality. Most people in that position don't raise it. According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, employees experiencing high levels of workplace stress are significantly more likely to disengage and start looking for new opportunities. Yet the vast majority never tell their manager they're struggling. They worry they'll appear incapable, uncommitted, or unable to handle the pressure.
So they say nothing. They absorb. They deliver. They find a way.
Until they don't.
This article is about what to do before you reach that point and how to have the conversation that could change everything.
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Why High Performers Are the Last People to Ask for Help
Most employees don't stay silent because they enjoy being overloaded.
They stay silent because they're worried about what speaking up says about them.
They fear being seen as incapable of handling pressure. They don't want to disappoint their manager or let their team down. Some assume everyone else is carrying the same weight. Others have raised concerns before and seen nothing change.
And so they keep going.
The problem is that managers can only make informed decisions about workload if they understand what's actually happening. If deadlines continue to be met, it's easy to assume everything is manageable. Behind the scenes, employees may be working longer hours, skipping breaks, sacrificing annual leave, and running on empty just to keep up.
High performers are particularly vulnerable.
They're dependable. Proactive. They step in whenever something needs doing. Over time, those extra responsibilities quietly become part of the role. The workload expands. The team doesn't. And nobody has the conversation that needs to be had.
Until someone leaves.
The Warning Signs Your Workload Has Become Unsustainable
Every job has busy periods. Quarter-end reporting, major projects, organisational change, these are normal parts of working life.
The issue is when those busy periods stop being temporary.
If several of these sound familiar, it's probably time to have a conversation before the situation starts affecting your performance or wellbeing.
You're regularly working late just to complete your normal responsibilities. You feel like you're constantly reacting rather than planning. Your workload has increased because colleagues have left and haven't been replaced. Strategic work is continually pushed aside by urgent requests. You're making mistakes simply because you're trying to juggle too much. You've started thinking about changing jobs primarily because of your workload.
That last one matters.
In my experience as a recruiter, people rarely start looking for a new job because of one difficult week. They begin looking after months of carrying an unsustainable workload with no clear end in sight. By the time they're sitting in an interview, they've often already made the decision that leaving is easier than continuing to struggle.
It doesn't have to get to that point.
How to Prepare for a Workload Conversation With Your Manager
The most productive workload conversations are based on facts rather than frustration.
Before you speak to your manager, take some time to understand exactly why your workload has become difficult to manage.
Ask yourself what has changed over the last six to twelve months. Have additional responsibilities been added without removing existing ones? Are you covering work previously done by colleagues who left? Which tasks take up the majority of your time? What creates the greatest value and what could realistically be delayed or delegated?
Documenting your workload for a week or two can be incredibly useful. Most people, including managers, significantly underestimate how much time recurring meetings, urgent requests, administration, and ad hoc projects actually consume.
Most importantly, think about possible solutions before the meeting.
You don't need all the answers. But arriving with ideas shows you're trying to solve the problem, not simply offload it.
How to Talk to Your Manager About an Excessive Workload
Once you've prepared, the next step is having the conversation itself.
Choose the right moment
Avoid raising workload concerns in passing or during a stressful meeting. Schedule dedicated time and frame it clearly from the outset.
"I'd like to discuss my current workload and priorities to make sure I'm focusing on the areas that will have the biggest impact."
That immediately positions the conversation around performance and business priorities rather than personal frustration.
Present the facts
Be specific about what has changed.
Perhaps you've inherited projects after colleagues resigned. Maybe the business has grown significantly but the team hasn't. Or perhaps responsibilities have gradually accumulated over time without anyone noticing.
The more objective your examples, the easier it is for your manager to understand the situation clearly.
Explain the business impact
Rather than focusing on how stressed you feel, explain how the workload is affecting your ability to perform at your best.
Important projects are being delayed. Strategic work is constantly interrupted by urgent tasks. Quality may begin to suffer if nothing changes.
This shifts the conversation from personal pressure to business performance, which is where it needs to be.
Ask for help prioritising
One of the most effective questions you can ask is:
"Given everything that's currently on my plate, which priorities should I focus on if everything can't be completed at once?"
This encourages your manager to make decisions about priorities rather than expecting you to somehow fit an unsustainable workload into a normal working week.
It also makes clear that your goal isn't to avoid work.
It's to deliver the right work well.
The Mistakes That Cost You When Raising a Workload Concern
Even with good intentions, it's easy for workload conversations to become less effective than they could be.
Waiting until you're completely burnt out. By the time you've reached breaking point, the conversation becomes harder to have professionally and the situation is far more difficult to recover from.
Being too vague. Saying you're "too busy" without providing specific examples gives your manager nothing to work with. Facts and context are everything.
Comparing yourself to colleagues. This rarely helps and often creates defensiveness. Focus on your own responsibilities and what has changed.
Approaching it emotionally. Frustration is understandable. But a calm, prepared, solutions-focused conversation will always land better than one driven by emotion.
Assuming your manager already knows. They probably don't. If you're continuing to deliver, it's easy for a manager to assume everything is under control.
Conclusion
Having an excessive workload doesn't mean you're failing. It often means you've become someone your organisation relies on heavily.
The challenge is making sure that reliability doesn't come at the expense of your wellbeing, your performance, or eventually your decision to stay.
The Global HR Business Partner whose story reached 250,000 people on LinkedIn wasn't replaced by one person.
She was replaced by three. Her leaders didn't understand what she was carrying until she was already gone.
Don't wait until you're at that point.
Prepare. Have the conversation. Focus on priorities and solutions. Give your manager the chance to do something about it before the only option left is finding someone, or in her case, several people to fill the space you leave behind.
If you're looking for more career and workplace advice, you may also find these useful.Cushy Job vs Career Growth: Should You Stay or Move On? explores how to know when comfort has become a ceiling. 7 Ways to Build Career Visibility Without Bragging shows how to stay front of mind with the right people without it feeling forced. And 5 Reasons Being a "Yes Employee" Can Stall Your Career looks at why being reliable isn't always enough and what to do instead.
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