Can only talk to manager for 45 mins a day! AIBU to find this unhelpful?

[Funkyslippers]

I work in support in education. When she joined 1 year ago, line manager sent out emails saying"my door is always open...always here to listen" etc etc. She's now said that unless it's urgent, we should only go to her, and another senior, in the early morning meeting (30 mins, but I don't attend as I don't start until later in the morning) or at students' break time, 15 mins at 10.30. AIBU to think that's a bit rubbish, as if there's a non urgent question, it has to wait until the next day, and hope that no-one gets in there before me then?

Why would you need to talk to your manager for more than 45 minutes a day???

If you have a non-urgent question, why would it need your manager’s urgent attention? What’s wrong with raising it with her the next day?

There's a team of around 15 of us....!

Don't fully understand your line manager's role - is she busy teaching?

How many questions are you asking your manager?!

Would you need to speak with her regularly about issues? Are you all in the same role with similar issues? Do your colleagues feel the same as you?

Also wondering what a line manager does in education? Teacher here

If all 15 of your team wanted to speak to the manager for 45 mins a day individually, the manager wouldn't get anything else done surely?

Is your manager involved in teaching students? If so , she is going to find it hard to deal with admin queries while she is teaching. The fact that you contact her during the students' break suggests this could be the issue.
I teach in a school, and am often surprised that the admin staff don't understand that I can't have a conversation, or run to the office to pick something up while I am actually teaching.

I think allocating a set amount of time for discussion is good and allows her to work uninterrupted the rest of the day. If the issue is you only get 15 minutes window due to your working hours and you have specific examples of times when you need to raise something with her but couldn't because of this policy then discuss it with her. She can make a decision on whether to change it or not.

Your title sounds like you want to have a daily 45 minute chat with your manager - do you actually mean she is only available to the team for a 45 minute window each day and is therefore not always accessible to you?

Sorry ftw, yes that's exactly it. She doesn't teach, she manages our team of support workers and is in her office all day

Could you possibly send an email? I find that more effective than trying to chase them down if I want to clarify issues with SLT.

Do you need 45 minutes every day though?

I send emails. I give them time (in my opinion) to read the email. Then I go and see the manager and tell them how I would like the problem resolved, as per the email I sent .

I managed a whole TEAM of managers above me for a good couple of years by doing this.

had a manager last year who generously said she would make herself available from 8 to 8.30 - most of us officially worked from 9am, one from 11am.
I don't think anyone troubled her.

Email her
It sounds like you need a lot of support

Like others have asked, just how much do you need to refer to your manager on a daily basis ?
Surely you have your role, and, on a day to day basis, you fulfil your role ?

If there is something you want to clarify, then e-mail her.
I presume she is working for all the other hours and not sitting with her feet on the desk reading Women's Weekly ?

This is perfectly reasonable and perfectly normal. I would wonder why you need to ask questions every day or need access for a response so quickly. Just because she doesn’t teach and is ‘in her office all day’ doesn’t mean she is freely available at all. Managing 15 is managing a large team. I have a team of 8, I have one meeting a week with each individually, unless it’s urgent the question , update etc is kept for the weekly meeting. Urgent then an email and I phone as soon as I am free. I think you maybe need to grow up a bit.

Email her and if you really need to talk to her email her to 'book' some time to talk to her. Why do you need to talk to her so much? Are you training?

OP has expressed this in a confusing way. She means that the manager is only available to her team for 45 minutes a day. Not that OP wants to use all that time and more!

AIBU to think that's a bit rubbish, as if there's a non urgent question, it has to wait until the next day, and hope that no-one gets in there before me then?

If it’s non urgent what’s the problem with it waiting until the next day or the day after? Just email her if you’re that bothered. How often do you actually need to speak to her?

OP, the information you give is limited, but considering you work in a support role in education therefore you work with young people and issues can present at any time throughout the day this seems unreasonable. I am not sure of your experience and what is termed 'an emergency' but working with young people it is not uncommon to have safeguarding concerns and your manager should be available.

If you don’t think the times are working then feed that back. But there is nothing wrong with controlling time slots. Otherwise she’d never get anything done.

Op i think it's perfectly obvious what you mean, the manager only offers a 45 minute window of opportunity to discuss any queries or issues that arise, and because you have a later start it's only a 15 minute window for you. I think that's a bit rubbish to be honest, especially when she used to have an open door policy. I agree with pps that email is the way to go.