To think there should always be a manager?

[Sightforsoreeyez]

We work flexi but because of the type of job we do we will always have 2-3 people working until 5 every day (Mon-Fri).

The managers always bugger off at 3 and even earlier on a Friday. So if you have an issue in that time you’re basically buggered.

Am I right on thinking a manager should be present during our working hours?

Surely it depends on the type of work and the seniority of those left behind. Is it the kind of work where issues need to be resolved immediately and the people left behind have no authority to do so e.g. customer then yes there should be a manager. If its the kind of work where someone can just leave that particularly thing and work on something else until the manager is back then no.

@Sightforsoreeyez

We work flexi but because of the type of job we do we will always have 2-3 people working until 5 every day (Mon-Fri).

The managers always bugger off at 3 and even earlier on a Friday. So if you have an issue in that time you’re basically buggered.

Am I right on thinking a manager should be present during our working hours?

Impossible to answer this unless you name the sector and managerial job type (supervisor?)

Please don't say it's outing... surely a sector isn't outing in itself!

Who knows? Not enough detail.

Do you have business critical decisions that can only be made by a manager and there isn’t one on call? Problem.

A chance to take the lead yourself? I’d see that as a great opportunity to make my job more interesting, and progress my career.

Ha! Welcome to our company where the key holders announce they're going home 2 hours before some of us are due to finish working!

Well we do deal with clients on the phone which is why we have to be available to take calls until 5. However some of the people won’t log in so you’re left taking calls for 2 hours (on a 18 people team - alone)

I don’t feel comfortable telling a person of the same level as me to do their job and it gets repetitive as it’s the same people also you get sick of asking. apparently they get spoken to by management but still continue to do it, so either the talks never happen or they don’t give a shit as there’s no consequences.

Depends on a lot of factors.

How likely issues are to crop up, whether said issues need dealing with straight away, whether there is an emergency escalation if absolutely necessary.

Most teams - even some customer facing ones - could be trusted to manage themselves for a couple of hours. I mean there is some setting up to do before allowing this - like providing contact numbers, confirming task lists or advising actions 'if x happens', but it sounds like it's a regular thing.

Take ownership of issues - tbh the main factor that determines if managers leaving early is a problem is their attitudes and reactions to anything you've done.

If you get penalised for taking the initiative to solve a problem and told off for attempting to contact management, that's a issue. If you're permitted to take (or not) actions, as long as you can justify them, (even if they're not necessarily the right ones), then that's likely okay.

I wouldn’t let that bother me too much, tbh.

You’re paid to be there working until 17:00 - or whenever.

So - just do your work. Even if you could be doing less calls if the lazy colleagues shared the load, you’re still on paid time taking the calls that you do. So you’re not doing more work than you’re paid to do. Personally, I’d rather be busy anyway.

Are you calls logged? Use it in your reviews to show what an important part of the team you are. And use the fact you’re getting more experience, to progress.

Not your problem that it’s a badly managed team!