A bit of background:
I've been at this company for a little over a year. When I started, I tried to negotiate the salary, but was told "This is what position X starts at and it's not negotiable." Once I started, I realized I replaced 1.5 other people, due to the restructuring of regions prior to my hiring. I cover a larger geographical area and carry literally double the caseload of all others in my department. In the meantime, case requirements have gotten much more stringent, thereby increasing the work required. My boss is awesome, and very sympathetic. He assigned a bunch more cases to me today, and said more are in the queue. He also informed me that he plans to speak with the Big Boss next week about my caseload and encouraged me to do what I can and not get too overwhelmed in the meantime.
Now, he has spoken with Big Boss in the past about hiring another person, to no avail. Big Boss seems nice and all, but company has run into major financial issues this year, with lots of layoffs this summer. My dept. so far has remained unaffected.
Also, they took away my mileage reimbursement and ordered me to use a company vehicle, essentially resulting in a 7k pay cut (aside from wear & tear and depreciation on my 12 yr old 35mpg vehicle). Due to geography and logistics, I'm the only one required to do this.
So now that I've written that novel, what is a good strategy here? It's a hell of a lot of work for only one person, but I've been busting my ass this month and keeping things moving. I feel anyone who looks at my cases would be pleased. I've gotten good feedback from my boss, and from coworkers who are affected by my work. I'm not sure how sustainable it all is, though, if cases keep coming fast and furious. Should I request a raise based on doing twice the work of anyone else? Should I offer to work more hours in exchange for more pay? (We are all salary and OT does not exist) What if the answer is a flat NO?
Please help me, business-savvy business people!