This is my first time posting here but I’ve found myself in quite a baffling situation. So the director of our department (my immediate supervisor) is retiring in March after 25 years of working there. She announced her retirement in October and said she was hoping they would hire her replacement before she left so she could train them. I was excited for her as she is a nice lady and certainly deserves to spend her golden years relaxing. It’s almost February now, so a couple days ago, I asked if we’ve gotten any good applicants yet. She proceeded to inform me that HR hasn’t even posted the position yet and we will likely be without a director for months after she leaves (if they ever even decide to hire one at all). She tried to assure us that we are capable of running the department ourselves, which we did not find reassuring at all. I asked half-jokingly if we were each going to part of her salary to make up for all the extra work and she said she would ask if we could get a temporary raise but she couldn’t guarantee it. Now I’m basically being forced to take lead on a huge project that I don’t feel comfortable with as someone who hasn’t even worked there a year yet. And frankly, I make $20/hr, which is nowhere near enough to make up for all the stress all this extra work will cause. My husband is of the mind that they are going to dissolve the department after she leaves since we are very small (4 people including director) and not the most financially lucrative division. I see his point and have already started looking for a new job. I’m just so frustrated because I initially took this job, in spite of the relatively low pay, because they said it was hybrid-remote. However, they spent 9 months making excuses to not let me work remotely (I needed more training, etc.) and I just got my hybrid contract locked in a month ago. The time saved not having to commute every day is great as I am working on my Masters part-time and need every spare second I can get. If I have to find a new job, it may not have this flexibility. I’ve also considered switching to school full-time and just quitting, but my husband and I really need both our incomes. The student loans I qualify for are enough to cover my tuition but not my share of the bills. I really don’t want to take out a private loan as I’m on an IBR plan for my federal loans and from what I understand, you don’t get those options with private loans. Ugh, sorry for the long rant, but I just don’t know what to do.
TLDR: Director is retiring but instead of replacing her, they are expecting us to shoulder all of her responsibilities on top of our own.