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Unfortunately this is a trend in my (own personal and therefore limited) experience. This is partly the dark flipside of the work from home/anywhere but only when I feel like it culture prevalent among younger workers as “work hours” have become blurry and less meaningful, and partly due to increased demands on workers enabled by technology. The technology itself has fueled instant gratification in the culture generally, which in turn puts pressure on the working world in some cases as well. Another contributing factor is the prevalence of outsourcing and distributed teams across different time zones, where timing of meetings is often necessarily inconvenient for someone on the team.
If someone on my team needs to know something after hours, I don't mind answering a text or a quick phone call. I've been in a situation lately where I've had to call end users from my personal cell number. Some have called me back on that wanting run of the mill business down. I delete the VMs.
If I'm on-call, I usually stay remoted in to my work PC from my home PC. I might answer emails then.
There is. You are responsible for setting your own boundaries. Don't say "sorry, I'm in a hurry." As you learned, that doesn't work. Set a clear line. Like I said in post #2, say that you are off duty, and they're welcome to contact you when you're at work. Lather, rinse, repeat as many times as necessary. Who cares if it makes them mad? That's not your problem.
Sure, but you won’t be the one getting the raises and promotions. People who opt for lifestyle jobs don’t make the money of people who do what it takes to make the company profit. You get to pick. Just don’t go starting threads about not getting the raises and not getting the promotions.
I work from home and answer emails anytime between 6AM and about 10PM. I check email constantly throughout the day and try to respond within 24 hours, 7 days a week. If I can help someone out I always do. But, I get very tired of the constant flagging down when people see me and the expectation that I can fix a problem in 1 or 2 minutes and be "on call" 24/7.
I work from home and answer emails anytime between 6AM and about 10PM. I check email constantly throughout the day and try to respond within 24 hours, 7 days a week. If I can help someone out I always do. But, I get very tired of the constant flagging down when people see me and the expectation that I can fix a problem in 1 or 2 minutes and be "on call" 24/7.
If you are responding to non-urgent emails outside of regular business hours, you're somewhat encouraging the bad behavior.
Sure, but you won’t be the one getting the raises and promotions. People who opt for lifestyle jobs don’t make the money of people who do what it takes to make the company profit. You get to pick. Just don’t go starting threads about not getting the raises and not getting the promotions.
Not true. I've set clear boundaries. People don't necessarily like it, but that's not my concern. Just got a 10% raise (unexpectedly) in September. I do my job, and I do it well. I just do it within the confines of my working hours.
Not true. I've set clear boundaries. People don't necessarily like it, but that's not my concern. Just got a 10% raise (unexpectedly) in September. I do my job, and I do it well. I just do it within the confines of my working hours.
A lot of jobs are also back office cost centers. We aren't generating revenue. The best we can do is create efficiencies inernally.
I'm the OP, and my complaint is not with an employer. It was a general comment regarding people's lack of courtesy by asking work related questions outside of appropriate hours or setting. I suspect it happens more for people who provide a service. I am a recreational sports manager so I have large numbers of people who participate. But that doesn't mean that those people can flag me down in parking lots, interrupt my conversations with other people, tell me they have a "quick question" and bend my ear for 45 minutes when they bump into me at the grocery store, and generally get an attitude if I nicely request that they contact me during my office hours and per the guidelines I have set for everyone. I do not use texts, yet some people will find ways to get my personal cell phone number and text me at all hours saying it's URGENT. (What can be urgent about a recreational sport?) I don't respond to these texts, but it is still annoying.
I don't know that there is a solution to the problem. People can be pretty clueless because they often think they are the only person asking a question. Sometimes I allow people too much leeway, but many times I do stand firm and politely ask them to shoot me an email so that I can give a better and complete response the next day. However, that always seems to make them mad?
Easier said than done but try not to care if they get an attitude or angry when you politely redirect them. You should not take on their reaction as a problem that you need to solve. A simple "I'm sorry but I'm on my own private time right now. Please call or email me during business hours" should not make people angry, and if it does, that's their problem.
If he doesn't have someone in place who is authorized to act in his stead, then perhaps vacation isn't a good idea.
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