To think when I am on annual leave my colleague should be doing my work

[Jenasaurus]

Just that really. I have returned from annual leave to find all the work has been waiting for me, emails unanswered despite an out of office on requesting the email my colleague or Manager. We share our role and when he is away I always respond to emails and cover his work as well as my own. This isnt work that should be left or can have penalties and implications.

I have been up until now resolving all the issues just so I can have a more normal day tomorrow, when I log on again at 8am.

I think I need to raise this with my Manager but I noted some of the emails are from her, and really she should know as I am away that my colleague should be dealing with them.

This happens all the time, and I am starting to dread taking leave as it just means double the work when I return.

How do others cope, is this the same for everyone or am I just unlucky

You need a rota for the group inbox. We have one and it works. If I check the inbox and someone from the previous week hasn’t dealt with it, I just ask them to clear the stuff i there from last week.

But keep your out of office reply on while doing catch up to shelter your catch up days. Reply could say something about being contactable x day rather then being on holiday

@Rainbowqueeen

I’d do 3 things

1. Stop people from emailing you directly. Make them use the general inbox. What if you were sick and something urgent came in which was missed because you didn’t have your out of office alert on?

2 speak to your manager. You know them and your relationship best so the right way to approach it. Whatever the response, follow up with an email setting it out eg I confirm our discussion on xxx where you advised that all staff in x department should be providing cover for other staff on leave or whatever so that there is a paper trail 3 next time she raises you taking leave or you apply for leave, remind her of the conversation and email confirming that

Hi OP I agree with the above, and I would also start the conversation by stating we are now in a new working environment, working remotely so it’s good to be clear about all procedures, so nothing gets lost. If it is then considered things can wait for you, prioritise and work through within your working hours. The decision has been made by management that things can wait.

No one does my whole workload, they may do a small bit if I'm away longer than a few days (I have things that need to be done weekly) but only within the perimeters of a handover. Most things can wait until I return. And I spend my first few days catching up.

I think in your circumstances I would push people towards the department inbox.

My boss usually picks up urgent stuff when I'm away but I actually pushed for a work phone for these reasons. If I have a long break I will switch it off, but often I forward the emails to whoever needs to deal with them while I'm off, as that way no one can claim they didn't see what needed doing.

Absolutely do not sit up until 4am 🤦‍♀️ Are you being paid? Then don’t do it. Whenever you email a client, use the generic inbox. Even if they reply to you, respond from the generic inbox and copy in both him and the generic inbox. This is what I do. It’ll take a while but after a while people start to get the idea that they shouldn’t be emailing you but the inbox. People WON’T read your OOO so you can’t really blame your colleague for not picking up on emails that went to you.

Speak to your manager. You've noticed every time you're away, your work doesn't get covered, but you cover 'Bob's' work whenever he's off. Should Bob be covering for me in same way, and if he should, does he know?

You need to speak to your manager, not in a he's not doing my work kind of a way, but a can we agree a process as there is inconsistency and are concerned some urgent things may be missed.

You also need to mention that a number of people are avoiding the mailbox and emailing you directly and that you will be forwarding these to the mailbox for action in future to ensure work is logged and distributed correctly.

I agree you are creating a problem by responding to emails to your own inbox.

A system needs to be created where an administrator in the department ‘mans’ the departmental inbox daily and forwards requests to relevant individuals. Having lots of folk accessing a shared inbox means nobody is tasked with ensuring every request gets a prompt response.

My dh works in a small team of two people mostly but they are part of a larger team. His colleague regularly checks in with him over the week and they both do a hand over before annual leave. Anything she can pick up for him she will and vice versa. In any job certain things cannot be left for a week or two without an answer as tou could be holding someone back from getting on with their own job. Your manager should be aware of your leave and directed all responses towards your colleague or other people in the team. Next time I would do a hand over with your colleague and maybe include your manager too or email them afterwards saying colleague will pick up a, b and c and all other non urgent queries will be dealt with on your return.

I used to work with someone whose annual leave out of office said ...and your message will be deleted on my return, please forward your query to x or y or resend your email after z date

I’ll admit that I was a bit shocked when I first read it, but grew to realise she was basically right. If something needs dealing with urgently, the sender of the email needs to take responsibility for asking the nominated deputy. And the deputy needs the communication in order to fill in.

No one does my work when I'm off. I took 4 days off last week and came back yesterday to 286 new emails, 95% of which needed responding to and some of which contained serious safeguarding/risk related information that should've been passed to a colleague while I was away, to be dealt with quickly. My employer doesn't redirect our emails due to the very sensitive nature of our work and need to know basis of the information. I did put my out of office on with alternate contacts and my colleague was willing to deal with any emergencies, but people just don't bother, it's like they email and wash their hands of it.
If it is possible in your work to have all emails processed through a joint mailbox do it, it also means your manager can monitor the inflow of tasks and if there is a backlog building up. Our admin have some boxes like this and each one contains a sub folder with their name on and within that an in action and completed folder, so if they are dealing with something they move it to their in action folder and once done, into their completed folder. It means the admin manager has a good grasp of who is pulling their weight and who isn't.

I worked with someone who had auto delete on their ooo. Never had the guts to do this though.

People need to email the generic inbox, with the queries you both can desk with. Every time someone emails you with a generic email request email back and tell them the email will be sent to xxx@xxx to be dealt with.

If you use outlook I think there is a way of redirecting emails when you're off to a different email address but it would do it for everything.

Or when you get back just move all the generic emails to the inbox and tell others that they need doing asap and do half each.

I would be tempted in your position to check my emails each day on holiday and forward anything important directly to the colleague with a comment needs action before I return

Ridiculous suggestion, she's on holiday. What needs to happen is either that the manager does this, or a nominated replacement, either the colleague mentioned in the OP, or an administrator.

In fact, that's what needs to happen permanently. Someone needs to be responsible for monitoring the inbox to prioritise the incoming queries and farm them out to available staff, so that urgent tasks are done ASAP, work is shared out fairly and by specialism, and nothing gets missed.

Letting a team of people pick and choose from a shared inbox is a recipe for disaster because no-one knows who's doing what and certain tasks will always get missed because everyone assumes someone else is picking them up.

I think the main issue here is you think it’s in any way acceptable to sit up late during your AL to catch up on work.

@Porridgeoat

The other way round this is to to tell your manager you will need one day of catch up time for every week of holiday. So after two week holiday you’ll need two days catch up period. This way you know you’ve got a backload to deal with and have allocated time to do it on your return.

This.

I'd make an issue of all the emails you came back to, and that you need at least a week to catch up.

You should use work time to catch up on work issues

The mistake you’re making is to log in early and clear the mess. You need to let this guy be seen for what he is. Show your boss that nothing has been done and that he needs to help sort this out as he created this mess.

You sometimes have to let things fall over for people to see what the problem is.

I’d also be taking the he colleague to take personally actually.

I think redirecting everyone to the dept email box is a good start, and not rushing to save people when they let you down.

I get your point, but then it goes back to what is the point in taking annual leave if you just have double the amount when you return.

Unfortunately I think this is quite normal. I have a madly busy day every time before I go on AL - getting things in a fit state to leave - and then a horrible week catching up when I return. Every time. But I a paid quite well so can't complain. If yours is a min wage job, don't do it! But if it's well paid I think this just goes with the territory.

I think it depends on your job. No one covers my work when I am away unless it is urgent, when it comes through to the daily duty worker.

It means I come back to a bazillion unanswered emails and issues that have been stored up for my return. But my work involves knowing the cases and it would take someone an age to get up to date with the case.

I do a pre holiday hand over of any issues which may spill over when I am off, but I just expect my colleagues to fire fight until my return.

And yes, it means I come back to double the work and sometimes it feels not worth going off for.

Can you start forwarding things that are sent to you but should be departmental to the communal inbox? That way it isn't necessarily you doing them and all replies will come from there so people will get used to using that one.

Also yes, that all nighter was a really daft idea.

Letting a team of people pick and choose from a shared inbox is a recipe for disaster because no-one knows who's doing what and certain tasks will always get missed because everyone assumes someone else is picking them up

We have a system where general emails are highlighted with a different colour according to who's dealing with them. If they're not highlighted, no-one's dealing with them yet. Our manager checks those and allocates them.

Where DP works, everyone has a clearly defined set of clients/issues, so whoever's on the rota to deal with the inbox forwards them to the right person. Each person has a colleague designated to cover when they're on leave, so nothing gets missed.

auto reply email that states you are away until X date and directing to your work colleague and general phone number for emergencies....

As someone who does pretty much the same job as you all those emails should be coming to eg helpsesk@mumsnet. Surely you have your rent and rates set up on a monthly direct debit? Nothing wrong with your manager emailing your work email when you are off, it gets it off her list - you aren't expected to respond. Your colleagues presumably has enough work to fill their ours so how can they do yours too. I totally understand you are being conscientious but you really aren't doing yourself any favours.

Set your out of office to read

"I am on annual leave until XXXXX. Please direct your enquiry to YYYYY or alternatively email me again on my return. This email will be deleted."