To message my boss when he’s on leave?

[EngIand]

Hey,

I am feeling pretty rotten with tonsillitis and an ear infection. I want to take tomorrow off to recover and hopefully finally get some rest without it being so hot.

I have never called in sick before so I’m not sure what the protocol is. I’d assume a call or message to my line manager. My line manager is on annual leave however, and the next person on the rung of seniority is the director of the whole organisation. No HR.

Is it okay for me to contact my boss who is on holiday?

Sorry if this sounds silly! I may be over thinking it as I have social anxiety disorder…

Thank you

I would not contact your boss while they're on holiday. That would be really inconsiderate. Contact the person in charge whilst he's away.

Most places I’ve worked have asked for a phone call, not an email or a text.

If you have the contact number for the director I would call them first thing, and leave a message if they don’t answer. I would then follow that up with an email to the director and cc your line manager in.

Don’t call your boss if they’re on holiday.

Do you have colleagues on the same level as you? Other people on the same team? Presumably there must be people that you work with would need to know (or who would, at least, notice) if you weren’t at work. If so, I would call one of them first thing on Monday morning and explain that you’re not feeling well so won’t in, but you’re not sure if you need to tell anyone else. They’ll probably say if they think you need to tell the director.

There’s no point in calling your manager other than to interrupt their holiday. Email the director and cc them. Then provide your phone number if the director wants to call you.

You contact your line manager's manager.

How can they have not told you this?

Places I've worked have always required to call in the morning first thing to notify of absence etc.
I would do that ring them first thing and explain reason you won't be in.
If you've never been off sick before I would not worry over it too much your health should always come before work.
Get well soon Op

Thanks everyone. Will leave my line manager out of it. No one will be in the office tomorrow as it’s a WFH day but I do have zoom meetings scheduled. It’s a matter of deciding who is the best port of contact by either message or a call.

I will ask someone on my team to pass on the message.

@TeapotTitties My line managers line manager is the director of the whole company. The director basically never deals with me directly. It’s definitely not the kind of thing he’s responsible for - he’s “too important” to be bothered by trivial things like this I guess.

God no, it’s absolutely not ok to contact your manager on their annual leave. Contact the person higher up.

He's not too important to be bothered by it if the alternative is you not following procedure.

Call him and leave a message if he doesn't answer. Explain you're calling because your boss is off and you're not sure who else to contact - unless there are other managers on the same level as your manager.

@TeapotTitties My line managers line manager is the director of the whole company. The director basically never deals with me directly. It’s definitely not the kind of thing he’s responsible for - he’s “too important” to be bothered by trivial things like this I guess.

None of that matters.

Your manager is on holiday so you report to their manager if you're not going to be in.

If for any reason that isn't correct, you should've been informed by your line manager of who the correct contact is.

Cancel your attendance at meetings or arrange cover if you can by emailing your team. Then call the director to confirm you're off sick but they don't need to take any action as you've sorted cover/cancellation.

If he is too important to be contacted, then he should have put a delegate in place whilst your manager is on holiday. As he hasn’t, he is obviously happy to deal with issues in your managers absence.

Contact a manager on the same level as your own manager. Explain why you're contacting him or her. I wouldn't contact your manager, but you do need to tell a manager.

I would absolutely contact my manager and did last week as I’ve been signed off work for 2 weeks unexpectedly. She’s not away though, don’t know if that makes a difference.

Well of course it makes a difference, it's the actual subject of the thread 😂

I would follow the policy where you work. We don’t have to call in (though we do have to be available for the line manager to call us). But if your line manager is on leave, then the director of the org it is. If it’s your first sick leave, you’ll be fine.

I worked with a similar set up. The situation would have been a text to the manager as an fyi.
email to the team to let them know and ask them to take on any tasks that are urgent.
if you are integral to the zoom meetings cancel these or appoint someone else to attend, otherwise just send a decline with apologies.

if we had contacted the director in this situation he would have lost the plot, but he was a prick anyway.

Just email the person standing in, don’t be so intimidated. They are standing in so yes you need to let them know.

on a seperate note I thought it read “to massage my boss when he’s on leave “ so am mildly disappointed 🤣

I would email the director rather than phoning: that way he's informed, but not in a disruptive way, if it's true he thinks he's too important to be bothered (cc in your line manager so they will see you tried).

If you don't contact someone at management level you might get in the shit, it's not your colleagues' job to tell them for you, or sort out cover for you.

Also let your colleagues know and cancel your meetings.

Who are your zoom meetings with and who would be responsible for cancelling/taking over? Message them.

I have a similar situation to you OP in that the boss above my boss is the Chairman of the company and not involved in day to day running of the office. Very small company of circa 18 people.

In your situation if my boss was on leave I'd probably call or text another member of the management team (equivalent to my role but for another department), call or text the most senior member of my team to let her know I wouldn't be in and make sure they had everything they needed, and email my actual boss to let him know and record who I'd told. In practice he'd probably read it on the same day anyway, leave or not.

^ This
We have both been messaged and called whilst on holiday -asleep!!!!! Not cool.

Even your line manager’s manager is a people manager, so believe me he isn’t above dealing with issues such as staff sickness.

I’d do what a PP suggested and email him in the morning explaining that you’re only contacting him because your own line manager is away. Then provide your contact number incase he wants to call you. He probably won’t, but at least you’ll have asked.

I’d also reach out separately to any colleagues you’re due to be in meetings with to make them aware you won’t be there.

There should be a policy in place explaining the procedure for calling in sick. You'll need to contact the next one up but do not contact your line manager on annual leave - it will not go down well.

Does the director have a PA? Perhaps email them, and call another manager who's the same level as your manager of there's one who would be suitable. Then drop a message to someone in your team who can organise who can pick up your meetings in case the message does get through to them. Cover all bases 😆