In thinking I should not be adminished for not answering work emails out of hours

[hoovercraft]

I work part time but can access work emails from home. I stupidly do look at them on occasion, especially on monday night to see if there will be anything to deal with on tuesday (I dont work monday).

My admin assistan has ssent me 3 client enquiries out of my work hours - two after 5 pm on thurs and one today. She has copied this in to our manager with a comment/question as to why I havent responded. The copying alone is pretty snidey but really should i have to do that in my non work hours just because I can access them?

Has your manager responded back to her that it is likely to be because you have not actually been in work to open them yet?

Of course you shouldn't. Did your boss respond at being copied in on this?

If there is something that can't wait until your working hours, you should ensure that you have cover ("you" meaning yourself and your boss should ensure this arrangement is put in place).

Try explaining to the admin in a good talking to small child voice that you don't work Mondays - she may have "forgotten".

I would be sending an email back to her, with your manager copied in, reminding her of your hours and telling her that you'll speak to her about the matter on your return. Cheeky mare.

No, you should not have to answer your emails on your days off, unless it's something very important that your manager has asked you to deal with, and you've agreed to.

I would simply reply to them both and say you haven't responded because you are not at work

YANBU unless it's part of the contract/life or death. I'd suggest that you:

A. Sit tight, say nothing and wait for the boss to point out that you don't work on Monday, so saving you the bother and

B, If the admin assistant mentions the emails say, "^Really?" with an arched eyebrow, followed by, "I wouldn't know, I never open my work account out of my office hours.". :o

Do you put an out of office message on on the days you're not working? That might help to remind her.

I get a lot of this crap too, I suggest taking Minshu's approach, don't let this set a precedent and your assistant needs to be told what's what asap.

Depending on the email system, it may show if emails have been opened or not though.

Respond back (ccing in boss if you want to)-

"I've just seen this now. I thought you were aware I don't work on Mondays and therefore don't routinely check e-mails outside of my normal working hours. If you need a response to something on my non-work days, you must either contact XXX, or if it is an emergancy that only I can deal with, call my mobile. The number is XXXXXXX.

Please make a note of my working days to make sure we don't have mistakes like this again."

outrageous behaviour. Has she got some ulterior motive (doesn't like you, wants your job, etc etc) that she is trying to do what she can to make you look bad?

I'd not answer them now but answer them as your first priority on monday morning.

and in the mean time (and with the help of MN!) come up with a good line about how you are responding as soon as you are at work and find a passive aggressive nice way to ask her if she is incapable of remembering when you are in the office and to whom she should be addressing urgent enquiries if you are not at work or able to work out what things are urgent...

End result - you have answered them straight away in your work time - and she ends up looking like an idiot

Do you use the 'out of office assistant' to auto reply when you are not actually there? I'm in the same boat as you btw - sometimes read emails from home but would never deal with anything that could wait a day or two.

The 'script' on the email tells the sender to contact my (named) line manager or colleague and has their contact details on.

I think sometimes people have an expectation you are sitting waiting for them to email you (like you have nothing else to do!) and expect an instant response! I get mighty hacked off when people phone me 10 minutes after they have emailed me because they didn't get an instant reply

Think the admin assistant sounds a bit sneaky! Do you think she's after your job?!

I think FakePlasticTrees has the right approach, don't leave it unchallenged, as your boss may think that you had had an arrangement with her to check in for something and you will look bad.

She is just a cow....thinks she is the deputy manager.

She emailed me the enquiries and asked to be copied into the responses.

Thing is, Id say the boss would also be bitching at me for not answering these too.(both bullies)

Im worried it will appear petty considering I have actually opened the emails

boss probably asked her to send them so I would tread carefully

however I think that the response as scripted below with the phone number is virtually spot on and I'd send that in the morning.

Why would you copy an assistant in on a response to one of your clients? How odd!

Will they know you have opened them? Have they made it easy for you to see urgent emails when you are out of the office (eg provided a blackberry or some such)?

No...the latest one was sent at 7 pm tonight as well.

BTW - YANBU whatever the reponse but if they do provide a blackberry you might need to deal with their expectations differently.

I only get paid to do 21 hrs a week....crazy this

They won't know that you have opened them unless they have gone on to your email account.

Well then don't worry about seeming petty or if you want to be completely truthful respond now saying that you have just seen the email as you don't normally check emails during your non-working days and then continue as suggested previously...

They won't know that you have opened them unless they have gone on to your email account.

they will if a receipt gets sent

Oh shit yes, Tis been a while since working in an office!

Who deals with your client enquiries when you're not there? Should they be redirected, or can they be parked until your next working day? I think you need to make this about why your admin assistant hasn't covered your non-working days appropriately. If it's a new arrangement you can play the 'I'm sure we'll all adjust to this soon' card but basically, a strategy that depends on you reading emails when you're not working is just plain silly. If there's any confusion around expectations between you and your boss, sort that out between you and then let her know what she needs to be doing.

cc'ing your boss is really silly, you might want to ask (nicely-ish) why she did that, was she trying to flag up a concern that she genuinely didn't know what to do with your enquiries during your days off? I'm certainly not suggesting you're not managing her properly, but if you say "I'm very sorry, I did think all the arrangements were clear but let's go through them again to be on the safe side" she's not got much comeback.

Plus you must use out of office. Two guys who used to work for me were p-t and didn't, but they had a shared mailbox which they worked tirelessly to encourage people to use for general enquiries, rather than their personal accounts. The mailbox was manned all week, the personal accounts were both inactive one day a week. In your case, I would be tempted to set your out of office to say "thank you for your email, I work part-time Tues-Thur. If your enquiry is urgent, please contact [your admin assistant] who will redirect your email as appropriate".

I have just noticed that the email she copied in to my boss included an email request from someone dated the 20th. I was bloody in that day all day anyway.

I wonder if she is trying to make it look like she is sending it for a second time whereas it is the first time Ive seen it.

I have not responded to her but have forwarded it to the boss with a short message to say I would like to sepak to her abut this.