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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

On annual leave - colleagues messaging

154 replies

Bunny2021 · 22/03/2023 08:58

My first AIBU - please be gentle 😂

I’m on annual leave this week as I had holiday days I needed to use up before the end of the month. I haven’t gone away anywhere other than visiting family Monday and Tuesday.

Yesterday my boss sent me a WhatsApp on my personal phone asking about a document that had corrupted and would I be able to go back in to redact the information and resend. He finished the message with “if you can’t, not to worry I will do it tomorrow”. I did it last night.

This morning at 8:30 - so outside of normal working hours - another colleague has messaged (same level as me) asking for a call today to talk him through a contract that could probably wait until Monday. If not, my boss has my notes from when I went on mat leave that covered this contract. This message has really annoyed me. I think because it’s before our usual working day (which starts at 9:00).

YABU - it’s a quick message and they only want to chat for 5 mins.
YANBU - you’re on annual leave and it’s unacceptable to be messaging at 8:30 on your day off.

OP posts:
Sparkletastic · 22/03/2023 09:34

The only things I would consider picking up when I'm on leave would be things that I've fucked up or that absolutely couldn't wait for my return. If I was director level I might think differently but I'm not paid enough to be constantly available.

KimberleyClark · 22/03/2023 09:34

I’m old enough to remember when there were no mobile phones. If you were on annual leave or sick leave you were uncontactable and that was that. Yes there was a list of senior staff landline numbers but it was for genuine emergencies only.

We managed somehow!

Greenfairydust · 22/03/2023 09:34

@MrsPinkCock

''Maybe it’s industry specific but I find it incredibly odd when people on mumsnet refuse to talk to their colleagues outside office hours. In the real world, most of us are team players and would be happy to give our colleagues five minutes of our time (as long as they asked politely).

People wouldn’t last five minutes in my profession if they expected work to be a bog standard 9-5 and weren’t prepared to answer the odd text or call on leave or at night.

Working a full day on leave? No. A quick 5 minute phone call to make your colleagues life a bit easier and help work to run more smoothly - totally fine IMO.''

Why would you want or need to take to colleagues outside office hours?

Don't you have a life?

Most people work understand that letting work dominate your entire life and never switching off is not healthy.

PMAmostofthetime · 22/03/2023 09:36

YANBU

It's hard to shut off from work as it is, having communication about work makes it impossible and it's unfair.

pontipinemum · 22/03/2023 09:37

I'm slightly torn. Work should not expect you to answer on annual leave, but if it's a quick question to point someone in the right direction I'm happy to do it.
But no YANBU you have a 'right to disconnect'

bussteward · 22/03/2023 09:40

MrsPinkCock · 22/03/2023 09:14

Maybe it’s industry specific but I find it incredibly odd when people on mumsnet refuse to talk to their colleagues outside office hours. In the real world, most of us are team players and would be happy to give our colleagues five minutes of our time (as long as they asked politely).

People wouldn’t last five minutes in my profession if they expected work to be a bog standard 9-5 and weren’t prepared to answer the odd text or call on leave or at night.

Working a full day on leave? No. A quick 5 minute phone call to make your colleagues life a bit easier and help work to run more smoothly - totally fine IMO.

I find it odd when Mumsnet posters are treated as “not the real world” – we’re all humans posting our real world experiences.

My take is that it’s important to set work/life boundaries and protect my annual leave. I’m senior and aim to set a precedent so that junior colleagues, those in their first job, interns, etc, find it easier to say no. I’ve a colleague on the same level as me who works part time and she insists the night before her non-working days of reminding everyone in the Teams chat of her mobile number and that she can be reached any time: she gives the impression it’s possible to work with a toddler at home (it’s not) and that time outside work is fair game, but only gets paid .6 FTE. It’s madness.

If your handovers and work are sound, your colleagues shouldn’t need a quick 5-minute call anyway.

xogossipgirlxo · 22/03/2023 09:40

YANBU. My husband's work used to do it, it was pissing me off. One day they rang him at 7AM, because something cropped up. Ridiculous. He told them off and said he's not replying or picking up any calls on AL from now on.

midsomermurderess · 22/03/2023 09:41

You facilitated this infringement on your personal time. Don’t do it again.

GlitteryUnicornSparkles · 22/03/2023 09:41

Its pretty standard for my place of work to be contacted about things outside of work hours or when off, its usually just a quick question about something in my case and that doesn’t bother me. If its sent as a message and I feel its too early (I like a lie in when I’m off) then I just reply when I am ready if its something none urgent. The request for a phone call to me would be a total none issue, it didn’t require a response and didn’t give a time, you could have called anytime you had a free 10 minutes. Being expected to go in or to physically complete work to be sent over however is a pisstake especially if someone else is completely capable of doing it themselves and that would annoy the shit out of me. You should have left your boss to redact the document.

whatchaos · 22/03/2023 09:44

Why can't you say to your colleague that you're on annual leave this week but happy to talk it through on Monday?

SnarkyBag · 22/03/2023 09:50

MrsPinkCock · 22/03/2023 09:14

Maybe it’s industry specific but I find it incredibly odd when people on mumsnet refuse to talk to their colleagues outside office hours. In the real world, most of us are team players and would be happy to give our colleagues five minutes of our time (as long as they asked politely).

People wouldn’t last five minutes in my profession if they expected work to be a bog standard 9-5 and weren’t prepared to answer the odd text or call on leave or at night.

Working a full day on leave? No. A quick 5 minute phone call to make your colleagues life a bit easier and help work to run more smoothly - totally fine IMO.

I find it incredibly odd when someone views their experience as the one being “in the real world” and can’t comprehend that not everyone think or does things the same way and therefore any other way is “not in the real world”.

you must have a very narrow experience of the actual real world.

FartSock5000 · 22/03/2023 09:51

@Bunny2021 change your whatsapp message to say "I am on annual leave until my return on X date. I am not available and won't see any messages until my return to work. Please contact Y if the issue is urgent" or similar and then mute all notifications for 7 days and ignore.

You give an inch and they'll take a mile.

BMW6 · 22/03/2023 09:53

Quitelikeit · 22/03/2023 09:02

Personally I wouldn’t mind

You clearly do or you wouldn’t be posting

You definitely had the time as you are on here…….

What an absolutely ridiculous response " we'll you're on here so you have time"

Of course OP has time - SHE'S ON LEAVE. NOT AT WORK.

FFS

AlltheFs · 22/03/2023 09:54

I’m a senior manager and I don’t do anything on annual leave for work. If anyone contacts me (rare), I ignore it.

You need boundaries.

I’m also slightly part time and I don’t do additional hours either.

AlisonDonut · 22/03/2023 09:56

By law they have to allow you annual leave.

Stop responding to anything they send you and stop working whilst off.

xogossipgirlxo · 22/03/2023 09:58

"People wouldn’t last five minutes in my profession if they expected work to be a bog standard 9-5 and weren’t prepared to answer the odd text or call on leave or at night."

I'm not paid that much to go this far for work. Maybe you make 20x as much as me, so I'd say it's fine if you're happy with it.

JeannieAlogy · 22/03/2023 09:59

It's not annual leave if you're working. If they want you to work, then you should be paid for your time.
If you are meant to be on holiday, that time has been approved, etc. then don't respond (unless as others have said, it is an absolute genuine emergency)

LookItsMeAgain · 22/03/2023 10:06

You are on leave.
Whether that is Annual Leave, Flexi-Time leave or any other sort of leave, you're not at work.

Please send a reply to anyone who contacts you while you are on leave (keep it very generic and basic) like
"Hi, thanks for contacting me. Unfortunately I'm currently on leave until X date. If your query is work related, I'll be able to review it and get back to you on my return. Looking forward to catching up with you then. @Bunny2021 "

It's leave that you have been directed to take. You were not being allowed to carry it into the next annual leave year so take that time to do as much or as little of what you want to do, not what the company is making you do during your time off. What they are asking you to do is take your leave but still be available to answer any queries they may have. That's not leave.

ChristmasRoses · 22/03/2023 10:08

Set your out of office to say you are on annual leave with no access to wifi.

Allblackeverythingalways · 22/03/2023 10:12

I make it very clear when I start a new job that I am unavailable on my days off and holidays apart from colleague emergency. (Not childcare, I mean hospital admissions, death in the family etc.)
When I'm paid on be on call, that's when I'll respond during downtime. Give an inch etc.

Wotnowconfused · 22/03/2023 10:15

I don't use my personal phone for work calls. If an employer wants to contact me they can do this through work email or they can supply a work phone at their expense.
When I'm on annual leave these would both be off and an out of office message posted. If you want my advice on days off then you would have to pay me or give me an additional day's leave in lieu.
It's important for mental health to switch off from work responsibilities, the mobile phone has alot to answer for with the present rise in MH, there is no escape to peace and quiet.

Zebedee999 · 22/03/2023 10:20

These things where I can help a colleague out have never bothered me. If I can spend a few minutes to save someone else a few hours then no problem, it's being a part of a team in my mind. However if your time off is important to you to have no work interruptions at all then I suggest you tell everyone that before taking your holiday.

Coffeeandchocs · 22/03/2023 10:21

Bunny2021 · 22/03/2023 08:58

My first AIBU - please be gentle 😂

I’m on annual leave this week as I had holiday days I needed to use up before the end of the month. I haven’t gone away anywhere other than visiting family Monday and Tuesday.

Yesterday my boss sent me a WhatsApp on my personal phone asking about a document that had corrupted and would I be able to go back in to redact the information and resend. He finished the message with “if you can’t, not to worry I will do it tomorrow”. I did it last night.

This morning at 8:30 - so outside of normal working hours - another colleague has messaged (same level as me) asking for a call today to talk him through a contract that could probably wait until Monday. If not, my boss has my notes from when I went on mat leave that covered this contract. This message has really annoyed me. I think because it’s before our usual working day (which starts at 9:00).

YABU - it’s a quick message and they only want to chat for 5 mins.
YANBU - you’re on annual leave and it’s unacceptable to be messaging at 8:30 on your day off.

Ignore all communications while on annual leave, even if urgent. It’s down to management to sort out any issues whilst you’re on leave.

Frabbits · 22/03/2023 10:21

You just need to set firm boundaries re: annual leave.

Set an out of office message that tells people emailing you to get in touch with someone else in your absence. Turn off your company phone if you have one and turn off notifications re: any teams/whatsapps groups etc you are in.

And ignore any messages etc until you get back.

If you do end up having to work, you insist on getting a day's leave back even if you only worked 10 minutes.

Pseudonamed · 22/03/2023 10:23

Slippery slope. My advice is walk away from anything to do with work while off. I made the mistake of being available before and now they expect it while not paying me any extra.