It sounds like something out of a Dilbert comic strip: A secretary has so much work that she's basically doing the job of two people. What does her employer do? Give her a second computer system.

Unfortunately, this really happened to an AFT member, which makes it a lot less amusing. Office employees represented by the AFT around the country certainly are not laughing about the crushing workloads--and the accompanying job-related stress--they face. An online survey the AFT has been conducting among secretarial-clerical employees in school districts as well as colleges confirms both how common the problem of excessive workload is and how unhappy many office employees are about their jobs.

Answers to the survey's very first question--"Are unrealistic or excessive workloads an issue of concern in your school district/college?"--show the extent of the problem: 83 percent say yes. What's more, 94 percent of elementary school secretaries say unreasonable workloads are "widespread throughout the district." Among the other survey highlights:

• Sixty-nine percent say they spend at least 30 minutes per day completing work outside their regularly scheduled hours; 22 percent frequently or usually take work home.
• Only 5 percent of them always get paid for this overtime.
• Eighteen percent--rising to 44 percent for elementary school employees--are never able to take a break.

Given a chance to add their own comments to the survey, the complaints practically jump off the page. Here are just a few:

• "I hate to come to work and start feeling sick to my stomach when I am at work."
• "I cannot get the job done that I was hired to do."
• "I take the job home with me, sometimes only mentally, other times physically."
• "I am so busy that I do not have time to even stand and stretch as I should. I only use the restroom two times a day and have bladder and kidney infections as a result."

When asked to select among a list of factors contributing to work overload, respondents overwhelmingly pick three: increased paperwork, improper staffing and reduced staffing. Clearly, the final two are related; no one who answered the survey complimented their employer on hiring lots of new office employees. The other significant finding is how common many of the complaints are across the board, whether in higher education or K-12, central office or school site, elementary or secondary school.

As troublesome as excessive workloads have become for many office employees, some of the survey respondents who were contacted for more detailed comments declined out of fear of retaliation from their bosses.

"We have a lot of passive members who don't want us to do anything for them because of fear of retribution," says Kelly Singleton, a vice president of the Association of Cincinnati Public Schools Office Personnel, who works in the district's central office and answered the survey. Nevertheless, her local and many others that represent office employees around the country have begun to address the problem, while ensuring at the same time that members don't face retaliation.

Another problem, Singleton adds, is that many members don't make the connection between job-related stress and health problems. When the union did a survey on ergonomics, Singleton says, "We were totally surprised by how many people experienced problems but didn't relate them to their work or to the atmosphere on the job."

The survey also shows that many office employees regularly work without taking their allotted breaks or collecting overtime pay for extra hours. Comp time is sometimes offered, but if someone can't take time off because of excessive workloads, comp time is not helpful.

"We encourage our members to take their breaks, to get up from their desks, to leave the building for lunch, and to work for overtime and not for comp time," says Ruby Newbold, president of the Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees and an AFT vice president. "But it's tough because they always have more to do."

"Even some of our best people, who have been in the district for years and are great employees, are struggling," says Betty Grawe, president of the Cincinnati office personnel local. "That worries me."

The situation is no better for higher education office employees, survey results and interviews with members indicate. At Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College (WITC), "Coverage is an issue in a lot of ways because we're short on staff," says Joetta Ford, a member of the WITC Educational Support Personnel Association who manages the bookstore and--that curse of office employees everywhere--performs "other duties as assigned." She and her colleagues have been denied vacations, for example, because they simply don't have enough staff. "We're the ones who keep the wheels churning" at the college, she comments.

As a veteran employee, Ford says, she has learned over the years how to deal with on-the-job stress. Yet, she adds, "I have seen stress-related problems pop up with younger people. We all take our jobs seriously, but some of them take it as their life." At one point, Ford says, she worked in such a high-stress office that the majority of the employees were on anti-depressant medication.

Across every job category, increased stress--cited by 85 percent of respondents--is by far the No. 1 problem office employees have experienced due to workload problems.

The workload survey is still posted on the AFT's Web site for office employees who want to complete it.

The survey is the first step the AFT's PSRP department has taken to develop resources and strategies to help affiliates deal with the workload issue. The department plans to continue working with members, leaders and staff at all levels to develop a variety of both traditional and creative responses to the problem of excessive workloads. Look for future workload surveys for other PSRP job categories.