Everything is urgent and team is reduced in size, how do I cope?
Hi everyone,
I am trying to understand whether this is normal or if my team is unusually stretched.
Right now, almost every task is treated as urgent. Most requests come to me with same day or next morning deadlines, and new urgent work keeps landing throughout the day from different associates.
I’m finding it hard to prioritise or plan, because everything is considered high priority.
Our team has also gone from 4 paralegals down to 2 and a few other Associates are leaving, but feels like the workload has stayed the same and even increased.
Despite this, the expectation is still that everything will be turned around immediately. There is also an assumption that AI tools will allow us to work faster. In reality, most tasks still require review, formatting, and inputting data so it doesn’t feel like AI is actually reducing time spent.
At the moment, the only way to keep up would be working until 10 or 11pm every night. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can best cope? I am job searching but need some coping strategies in the meantime as I am feeling really burnt out, struggling to eat or even taking care of myself.