A senior team member left 3 months ago.
Ask
A senior team member left 3 months ago. My manager asked me to temporarily cover their critical work until a backfill was hired. Yesterday leadership announced a company-wide hiring freeze, and my manager told me offhand: 'You've got this handled, we'll keep operating as-is.'
I am working 60+ hour weeks, quality is dropping, and this is unsustainable. My regular weekly 1-on-1 is this Thursday at 2 PM.
Can you give me an exact, speakable opening line to say to my manager that lays out the facts and asks to formally prioritize my deliverables (dropping or pausing non-critical tasks), plus the exact comeback line if my manager responds with: 'We all need to pitch in and be team players during this freeze'?
Answer
**Opening (Thursday 2 PM):**
"For the past three months, I've been covering the critical work of the senior teammate who left, on top of my own. I'm at 60-plus hours a week and quality is dropping. With the backfill frozen, I need us today to formally prioritize my list — tell me which non-critical deliverables I drop or pause so the critical work stays sustainable."
**Comeback for "we all need to pitch in":**
"Pitching in sustainably is exactly what I'm asking for. At 60-plus hours and slipping quality, I can't keep covering everything. Let's pick the non-critical tasks I drop or pause today — that's how the critical work stays covered."
**To make "formal" actually land:** bring a one-page list — three columns: *keep (critical)*, *drop or pause (non-critical)*, *already slipping*. Hand it over so the decision is on paper, not just words in the room.
If your manager still won't drop anything after this, that's a different conversation — tell me how Thursday goes and we'll work the next step.