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Spreading Joy: Sharp Consultancy’s Annual Easter Egg Drive

At Sharp Consultancy, our annual Easter Egg Drive has once again brought together our team, clients, and community to support local charities and spread a little cheer. As a finance and accountancy recruitment business rooted in Yorkshire, we’re proud to use our network to give something back—and this year has been no exception.Led by Tom Davage, Senior Consultant in our South Yorkshire office, our team has been out and about collecting Easter egg donations from our fantastic clients. The generosity shown has been incredible, especially given the ongoing challenges many continue to face. Thanks to everyone who contributed, we were able to deliver meaningful support to three wonderful charities in our region: Paces, a specialist centre supporting children with cerebral palsy and motor disorders; St Luke’s Hospice, which offers compassionate end-of-life care; and The Family Works, a trauma informed, family support project working alongside underprivileged families.Tom, who organised this year’s initiative, shared: “When you hear the stories from the people working within these charities, it really opens your eyes to the challenges others face. If we can bring a smile to someone’s face—even through something as simple as an Easter egg—it makes it all worthwhile. Every bit of support counts.” Seeing familiar donators from past years and welcoming new ones has been truly heart-warming. It’s a testament to the kind and community-minded nature of the businesses we work with. To all our clients who donated, thank you. Your kindness and continued support make this initiative possible and help us make a real difference. If you’d like to get involved next year or learn more about the causes we support, we’d love to hear from you. Together, we can keep making a positive impact—one small gesture at a time.

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Here’s the first in a new regular series where we look to offer help and advice to candidates, employees and employers on a range of career progression and recruitment topics. Our highly experienced team of consultants will utilise their skills and knowledge to share insights in how to best to handle today’s burning workplace issues.

My workload is becoming too much for me to handle; I need some help but I don’t know how to ask as I’m worried it will look like I can’t cope and could affect my career prospects. What should I do?

Firstly, well done for recognising that you have become overloaded; it’s not always easy to admit and many people will try to hide the fact because, as you say, they are concerned that if they seem to be unable to cope it could affect their chances for promotion.

It is important to understand that feeling overwhelmed is not a sign of failure or that you are unable to do your job. Try to establish why you are overworked – is it because it is a busy time at work, there’s an important deadline looming or you are covering for a colleague who is absent, in which case your increased workload may be a temporary issue or is this an ongoing situation as too much is being expected of you because more tasks have been added to your remit.

Whatever the cause, it is important to address the matter in the right way; you don’t want to come across as complaining – even if your concerns are genuine – but instead you should demonstrate that you want to do the best possible job and that you don’t feel you can currently perform to the best of your ability.

Before speaking to your line manager, give some consideration to what tasks you are currently working on, what time will need to be allocated to them and any deadlines that have been set so you can look at how they can be prioritised. It is possible that after doing this exercise you may find that you can manage your workload better than you initially thought.

If however, you find that there is too much that needs to be done in too short a time frame, arrange to speak to your boss to agree the most appropriate way forward. Demonstrate that you have given the matter some thought by going into the discussion armed with possible solutions such as where another member of the team could provide assistance, a deadline that could be rearranged or a task that could be allocated to a colleague.

Your manager should appreciate your honesty and that you have identified not only that there is issue but have taken the initiative to come up with possible solutions before it’s too late to resolve the matter. In doing so, you will have demonstrated to your manager that you are prepared to take responsibility for your workload and can think through a situation and are not simply wanting someone else to sort out the problem for you.

Good luck!

Sharp Consultancy specialises in the recruitment of temporary, interim and permanent finance professionals. With offices in Leeds and Sheffield our highly experienced team of consultants recruit for positions throughout Yorkshire and beyond. CONTACT US today to discuss your recruitment needs with a member of our team.