Ignoring work texts

[CdnCarrie]

Yes. This was all we wanted. We all just normal office workers. It's a laid back office. I would have just said "no sorry I have plans". Was not an emergency but we could have used the help

What kind of office has scheduled shifts? Aren't most offices M- F 9-5ish? Or are you open evenings and weekends?

 

[Nancyg56]

I agree he was under no obligation to reply, but it probably would have been the courteous thing to do. Especially if he knew the manager needed to locate coverage for the days. It depends on the culture in your work place, but at my work, people would roll their eyes if they didn't get a reply but they wouldn't be held accountable for it.

This is somewhat annoying to me. Now we are obligated to check text messages in order to be considered courteous? If something is important and a response is required, a call should be made. Unless communication via text is the normal method in the workplace, I think it is kind of rude to expect that we all now are responsible for text messages.

I understand that for your environment, text seems to be the normal communication route so my response is not directed at you.

 

[Nancyg56]

What kind of office has scheduled shifts? Aren't most offices M- F 9-5ish? Or are you open evenings and weekends?

I am not who you were responding to but wanted to chime in. We are a small office and so we are staggered during the week in order to have a wider range of coverage. We maintain a calendar so if someone needs to make a change from their "normal" schedule, we all know in advance and can adjust if need be. We are covered from 6:30 AM to about 5 PM during the week, with extended and Saturday hours during tax season. Summer hours are reduced but if a client needs to be here after scheduled hours, we will make a change.

 

[Squirlz]

I go for days without looking at my phone. I feel absolutely no obligation to respond to messages of any kind.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

This is somewhat annoying to me. Now we are obligated to check text messages in order to be considered courteous?

But people complain when others are always on their own at dinner, or at the movies, or at church, or driving, or ...

 

[elaine amj]

This is somewhat annoying to me. Now we are obligated to check text messages in order to be considered courteous? If something is important and a response is required, a call should be made. Unless communication via text is the normal method in the workplace, I think it is kind of rude to expect that we all now are responsible for text messages.

I understand that for your environment, text seems to be the normal communication route so my response is not directed at you.

For us salaried employees, our communications is primarily via email. Urgent things are handled via texts/calls although nobody expects any of us (other than front line managers) to respond to either immediately during our off hours.

When I supervised the front-line employees, I ended up deciding to go with whatever the employee's preference was. Most preferred texts so I went with that. One preferred calls, so I would call her if I needed to get in touch. To me, it wasn't a big deal either way although I had a slight preference for texts because of the records I had of our conversations. My staff preferred it too as they could easily look back to see what shift they agreed to.

The manager who took over after me when I switched departments felt texts were unprofessional so he did primarily emails with a few calls when absolutely necessary. I stayed out of it but I know the staff far preferred texts (which they checked regularly) over emails (which they tended to check only when they were at work). I certainly noticed a significant delay in communications with the employees after that. Since we don't do earth-shattering things, it wasn't a big deal in the end.

 

[Squirlz]

At a job years ago one Friday everyone in the department were grumbling about the IM they received telling them to come in Saturday. Well the boss failed to include me on the list so I didn't go in. He was PISSED but all he could do was sputter and fume while I laughed at him. I ended up quitting because of him.

 

[tasha99]

My phone drops texts all the time. Or delivers them late. If it were really important, someone should have called. But, he's under no obligation to respond and come in unless he was on call.

 

[Nancyg56]

But people complain when others are always on their own at dinner, or at the movies, or at church, or driving, or ...

I am not sure I understand, so if my answer is off the mark, I apologize.

I think that there is a difference between responding to texts between friends and family and responding to texts between employers and employees on their days off. However, I also think that no one is obligated to check texts during dinner, movies, or at any other time. I had a friend who would get snippy if I did not respond to a text quickly, and I was told that is how she and her family are about texts. Um...not with me. I am not married to my phone, and I don't expect anyone else to be. If it is important I will find a way to get in touch with you, if not, it will wait til you get around to replying. IF you need to reach me quickly, call.

I do not understand the need for instant reply gratification.

 

[piccolopat]

A text is not a command to respond. If someone is on PTO or it is not their scheduled day to work, unless they are on call they really have no obligation to respond. My phone is usually off when I am at home. If you're in an office environment, what was so important that your boss needed to bother someone like this anyway?

 

[elaine amj]

My phone drops texts all the time. Or delivers them late. If it were really important, someone should have called. But, he's under no obligation to respond and come in unless he was on call.

I agree. No obligation at all. Unless he was consistently the one that was never willing to help out. That would eventually get pretty annoying (although still not something he is obligated to do).

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I am not sure I understand, so if my answer is off the mark, I apologize.

What am I getting at is that we can't win. If we don't have our phone on us or aren't paying attention to it, then we are being unprofessional when the office is getting ahold of us on our day off. If we are always paying attention to our phone, we are self absorbed and rude. Either you aren't dedicated or you're a workaholic.

People need to make up their minds.

 

[soccerdad72]

And that is one of the biggest problems with corporate culture in the US. Who knows what this person was doing. He could be spending the day with his kids or picking his toenails, it really doesn't matter because it was his time to use as he pleases. To hold taking time off against people is just asinine.
DH and I sometimes deliberately leave our phones home when we are with our kids. They are our personal phones. We pay for them. We are off. That is our time. If its a true emergency, I will respond when I get back. If not I will wait until I am in the office.

I don't disagree with you, but some of this is just human nature, meaning, if I were in the unfortunate situation where I needed to get rid of someone from my staff, I would naturally gravitate towards keeping the employee who is more likely to step up and help out when asked.

 

[wilkeliza]

No obligation to check a work text if it is a day off. If I am desperately needed at work on a usual day off I expect it to be handled in advance (like when we know a Saturday will count as a business day for financial closes) or through a phone call. If you want my help a phone call goes a lot further then a text. A lot of times when I worked shift jobs texts went ignored because I found them unprofessional. Even as a team lead. If you needed me that badly take the time to call. A call is a signal that this is something important. A text is something I do with friends and family and casual conversations not anything important. Now my current manager has made it clear that the preferred means of communication for updates on telecommuting instead of coming in is a text so I do that mostly because I'll be working anyways and online momentarily so no need to physically call. They texts are just a heads up and don't even happen half the time anyways. I use to not be as strict but I've had some managers take advantage and require the whole 24/7 connectivity when the pay just didn't match that. I finally put an end to it when I was getting work texts as my nephew was being born and I just said sorry I put in the request to have this off and was approved for it off unless this is an emergency the answer will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

[Gracie09]

I don't disagree with you, but some of this is just human nature, meaning, if I were in the unfortunate situation where I needed to get rid of someone from my staff, I would naturally gravitate towards keeping the employee who is more likely to step up and help out when asked.

Is it human nature or conditioning. Does it really matter if in the long run if someone takes their time off and is actually off? People who work longer hours tend to be less productive and make more mistakes. DH's old company use to expect people to work whenever they say, even if they had vacation plans - tickets, plane reservations etc. They would tell him to cancel his doctor's appointments (appts he needs to receive necessary treatments) so he could work. He worked 24 hours straight on more than one occasion because the bosses expected it, not because he was needed.
It was a happy day when he was let go because he wasn't dedicated to the job. His offense, going to the doctor.
He got a new job less than 10 days later at a place that respects his work life balance. That does not insist he work all hours of the day and night and is appreciative when he does put in extra time. And he has been promoted and rewarded every year.

 

[Poohforyou]

It's not really that complicated. He was home. Asked to come in. Ignored the question. Was asked to come in tomorrow (today) also ignored. Not on vacation.

How do you know he was at home?
How do you know he received the text and ignored it?

I've had people text me and never received the text. It does happen. Maybe he did get it and ignored it. If I wasn't scheduled to work and wasn't asked to be on call I might ignore it as well (depends how i felt about my boss and the job situation). It's usually easier to ignore than feign an excuse.

 

[Nancyg56]

What am I getting at is that we can't win. If we don't have our phone on us or aren't paying attention to it, then we are being unprofessional when the office is getting ahold of us on our day off. If we are always paying attention to our phone, we are self absorbed and rude. Either you aren't dedicated or you're a workaholic.

People need to make up their minds.

On that we agree.

 

[Sadie22]

My husband sometimes receives texts and voice mail messages hours or even the next day after someone sent it. He has an older phone but also spends a significant amount of time in areas with no cell towers. We accept we cannot always reach him instantly.

 

[Marchand63]

Depends on your career aspirations, or how you want to be viewed in the event of downsizing.

I remember talking to someone once about a particular measurement that we were evaluated on. This was a good worker and a smart person that thought this particular measurement was silly and the tracking was a waste of time. While I didn't disagree with the sentiment, I told them that it's a tangible thing that they can point to. You have to play along. They easily could have met the metric if they wanted to. This person was eliminated when reductions came through, largely due to that measurement.

If this person doesn't care if they are the first to go in the event of staff reductions, then stand their ground and stick with no response on "my time". If they value their job, and want to viewed favorably, take two seconds and respond that they had plans for the day and can't change them. This assumes that the text was received and deliberately ignored.

And this is why I like a Union job - level playing field no subjective measurement at the whim of an over aggressive boss.

 

[Pixiedustaway]

No he just choose to ignore both texts. Yes he's under no obligation but he will have a story to go along with why he didn't get it. That's all. Just frustrating you know?

What kind of office has scheduled shifts? Aren't most offices M- F 9-5ish? Or are you open evenings and weekends?

Retail. We are open weekends and holidays. No one does a 9-5 shift.