A change in work responsibilities and I am really unhappy about it

I am not happy about a sudden change that occurred in my work responsibilities. Our team manager, who is a content writer, decided he no longer has the room on his plate to do content writing, so he is shoving the task onto the rest of our team to handle, when none of us are skilled content writers or content developers. We are digital marketers, not content writers.

So now I am REQUIRED to write on a medical topic, with medically backed research, when I am not a content writer.

My team manager sent me an overwhelming list of about 30 resources to weed through in order to write this content.

I had already expressed my concerns to my boss and to my team manager about my writing this content. I told them it's not going to be as high in quality, and that the client probably won't be happy with it. I had already attempted to write content for this one client before, and they were not happy with my work. I told both my boss and manager this.

So when I received this enormous list of resources, I told them by email that it's an overwhelming list, and I don't know where to even start.

I know I am coming across as a bit obstinate and resistant, but I really don't care. This work is NOT in my original job description, it's being shoved onto me so that I have NO choice in the matter, and I do not have the skills to accomplish this successfully.

I am beyond pissed off about it.

I also told them both it's going to take me three times as long to do this as it would take our team manager.

And not only do I have to write this medical piece this month, but another one on Falls Prevention, in addition to an article that I myself had proposed for a client. How the hell am I going to pull this off?????

So I am no longer a digital marketer.... I am now becoming a content writer, without wanting it, without asking for it, and when I'm being forced to do it. And when it's not my forte and it's not in my job description.

This company is run SO poorly, and I am SO angry.

They have to provide and pay for additional training if they want people assuming additional tasks they aren’t trained for. Have you talked to your boss about it? CEO? Personally I’d not touch medical topics no matter how many articles they give me to read or use as reference. I don’t know if these articles are valid! How do other people feel about it?

Falls prevention? Like how not to fall? You aren’t a doctor.

No you aren’t being obstinate or difficult. They are being unreasonable

Thank you!!!!!!!

It really helps to feel validated on this issue!!!!

I agree that they are being unreasonable.

The team manager has YEARS of experience, professional experience, writing content. My team, including myself, have NONE. Our team manager also has a PhD... in what field, I do not know, but he is used to doing this kind of research and references.

And no, there's no training available. I will hand in what I create to my team manager for review and editing.

And yeah, like hell..... I am supposed to write medically sound, medically supported content???????

And yes, I am supposed to write an entire Web page on Falls Prevention... having to do with falling down.

It's insanity!

And..... I cannot say anything about this. I cannot complain to higher ups or else I may place a target on my back unknowingly. I've already complained about my boss to HR several times over. I cannot be the one in the office who is constantly complaining about unfair business practices. This company fires people very quickly and very easily.

But I am livid.

I am about as livid over this as I was when my boss was trying to undermine my success at work. I feel like they're trying to set me up for failure. Then again, it's not just me that has to now do content writing... it's our entire team.

IF I do fail at this, I will tell them, where was this in my original job description?????

I’d not complain to HR but I’d ask CEO for additional training. Even if you know how to write research paper, first of all it’s a very lengthy process and second of all it’s not area of your expertise. Writing about medical topics? They think everyone can just do that?

It's a sink or swim kind of work environment. Our team manager has no time to train us on how to write and research. I have to figure it out on my own.

Screw them. They're going to get crap work from me, and that's that. I hate them right now SO much.

I just wrote my boss and manager an email saying "I will do my best, but I have other work to deliver and work on this week for my other clients. I will spend up to 7 hours on this this week, and will see how far I get."

7 hours is the amount of time that I am allowed to work per week for this one client for whom I must write this medical content. Any work over 7 hours in the week, we're not being paid for by the client. So I set my limit and boundary.

We have half days on Fridays during the summer. Like hell I am going to be working all Friday afternoon on this one task if it's over the 7 hours I've already devoted.

I’d sure need more than 7 hours to do medical research on
topics i know nothing about! Any prospects with job search? This place is insane

It is insane! THEY are insane! This is totally beyond my job description and totally beyond the scope of my abilities to accomplish.

What I ended up doing is copying and pasting content from the articles into a Word document, organized the content into sub-topics, and sent my manager an email saying this is the best I could do, it is beyond my ability, and that I didn't understand the studies, the content or the language.

If I get fired for this, I'll be beside myself.

No prospects with the job search. UGH!!!!! I mean, I've applied once per week for a job, and have no leads yet and no interview requests.

I am SO angry over this, I can barely focus on my work today. It is the biggest bunch of BS that I've ever seen in this company. I am truly beside myself. And all because our team manager is overloaded by his own work responsibilities, that were of HIS CHOOSING, that I was placed in this position. He asked to become the content specialist on our team! He wanted this responsibility, and NOW he gets to offload it on US, when we're not trained or experienced in professional writing????????? SCREW ALL OF THEM! Seriously, they can all go to hell.

Now I am worried I am going to be in trouble.

How can you be in trouble? It’s not your job and you aren’t trained to do it

I was worried there would be backlash. But there's been NONE! Nothing at all. Thank goodness. I was worried that they would come down on me.

I did speak with HR about this.

HR told me that the company has the right to change my job responsibilities at any time. She said there is an inclusion in my offer letter that states this.

What absolute BS. I cannot believe they give themselves that right.

I really hate the way my company is run.

I could see that company can assign you additional tasks or different tasks. But if the task isn’t something you are good at or trained to do, at the very least they have to provide training of sorts or give you time to learn new skill

Exactly. And this has nothing to do with my actual work. It’s a totally different type of task requiring a totally different skill set.

The good news is: my boss had to call me yesterday, and I thought it was about this issue. Luckily, he did not say a single word to me about it. He wanted to talk about a different client of mine and a totally different topic.

So far I've received no backlash, no comments and no reprimands for handing in the work that I did and for saying that the task is beyond my ability. What are they going to do? Try to force me to do something that I say is beyond my ability?

Good news! My team manager wrote the content, and when we met 1:1 yesterday for our weekly meeting, it did not even come up in conversation as an issue or point of contention for him.

I even initiated on my own doing research to identify sources to help him with the next content piece he is meant to write, and he was very appreciative of my efforts to help.

So, I managed to sidestep and navigate my way through this work issue without getting into trouble and without causing open conflict and tension. I am very happy about the outcome! YAY!