Who is being unreasonable, me or my manager?

[Kowaii]

My line manager absolutely loves our job. Which is fair enough.
She made a weird comment on Saturday about the person who worked there before me didn’t “care” about the job, just came in at 9 and left at 5 and that was that. I thought this was odd as it’s literally a 9-5 job.
On Monday morning I got to work and had a load of emails from her that has been sent the previous night. I thought maybe the time was just wrong in the emails.
Today she’s called a meeting with me asking why I didn’t respond to the emails sooner. I said I didn’t see them until I got to work.
She questioned why I want signed in to my work stuff on my personal phone as I then would’ve seen the email was urgent and responded.
Turns out she expects me to basically be “at work” pretty much 24/7. I’ve said I absolutely will not be looking at emails on my time off and directing my work number to my personal number (wtf!).

She seemed genuinely shocked by this. I said I’m paid 9-5 so I will be working 9-5 and no, I don’t think about work when I leave the office. She seems to have made her life about this job.

Aibu to think this is crazy and I’m not being a twat by not having any of my work on my personal phone? I don’t see what I could do from home anyway without my work computer in front of me!

Yanbu

It's fine to send emails any time that suits you, but you shouldn't generally expect a response until normal working hours. If the person is in a management role then yes, they may need to field some calls outside hours, but would probably need a whatsapp message to say 'sorry, have sent you an urgent msg, please can you check?'.

I used to work in a management role and was happy to take calls at any time - provided it wasn't inconvenient. But you can't be expected to see emails 24/7. I now work part time and irregular hours (low paid), so colleagues don't know which of my 9 hours a week I'm online. So I try and check in regularly, but always ask people to call or whatsapp if it's anything urgent.

For £35K you probably need to be slightly more accommodating than clockwatching 9-5, but your boss absolutely can't expect you to look at emails late at night, just on the offchance!

This is probably why the previous person left. Set your boundaries out now. Some people have no existence outside of work.

maybe ask if there is an overtime form to complete for hours worked over contracted hours.

does your manager have a manager? If so speak to them.

also follow up in an email your understanding of the meeting you had. Ask for them to write down their expectations in writing and they won’t as they know it’s naughty.

This is useful additional detail.

YANBU but your OP did suggest a work-to-rule mentality, which I would struggle with.

Start looking for something else, stat - perhaps in a less desk based job? You're not going to be there for as long as 2 years, in which case can be dismissed with no good reason (under English law).

@Aprilx true but doesn’t look like that is the case here. OP is a midwife who has moved on into a new profession. It’s the way this has been done in terms of the behaviour and what’s been said that is the issue here I think.

Sounds like you are in a new job, she's either trying to impress you or scared you'll do a better job than her so she's making you feel inadequate.
I think you have to take a different approach, or find a new employer, or put up with her on your back, not quite sure what the answer is but think outside the box a bit. But don't give in lol.

Still can’t really tell if a little bit of extra hours is reasonable or not. As I said, people starting out in a profession generally do have to show some willing to go the extra mile. If OP is embarking on a career, rather than taking a job, I am not sure the 9-5 and not a second more attitude will help.

There is a huge difference between an employee showing a bit of willingness to work beyond contracted hours when business needs dictate and the scenario OP describes here: she was emailed on a Sunday (presumably not having been pre-warned that something important was going on that weekend that might require her attention) and then her manager berated her on Monday for not having replied on Sunday. That’s out of order even in the high pressure, high expectation world of City law that I inhabit. Nobody is expected to check emails at weekends on the off chance- if there is a chance of something coming up then they will be warned specifically on Friday, and any request over the weekend will include a clear deadline for response and a cursory “apologies for disturbing your weekend but it’s really important we do blah blah blah straight away”, probably a phone call too.

This woman sounds batshit. Probably taking out her own stress on OP.

That said, my response might have been more along the lines of being clear that (a) expecting a response on Sunday was unreasonable (b) criticising me for not doing this unreasonable thing was ridiculous when no such expectations had never been communicated, but I might have said “if you do need my help out of hours, let’s come up with a set of guidelines and a process by which I might be able to accommodate that in an exceptional case eg prior warning of possible need for out of hours work in circs beyond manager’s control , contact by phone not email and a recognition that I may not be available.

We have really good schedule send set up on our work emails so emails are not received when someone is emailing after core office hours and also to alert a sender if emailing on a NWD so they know a response unlikely.

I agree with advice to confirm the conversation in writing with your line manager.

You could, before doing so, seek advice rather than action from HR ( to try to take the conflict out but at the same time raise a flag). Then you would be sure of your ground when sending the email.

It is unreasonable to expect responses outside contractual hours especially on Sundays.

I am in a very senior position and there is a huge difference between showing willing and what the OP describes. The behaviour is indicative of a low level manager who has no idea how to lead. If they did, they would have awareness of how to create the right culture and work/life balance for their team.

@Iwant2stayanon totally agree.

I'm also senior and run a team, I actively encourage a work life balance for my team.

I never send work emails out at the weekend, I don't expect response out of hours if I am working late. They often do go above and beyond but this is their choice, not an expectation.

Your manager sounds like she has never ran a team before to me.

Are you being paid to work outside of your contractual hours? Is there anything in your contract that says there would be an expectation to be available beyond 9-5 for which suitable remuneration or time off on lieu would be paid? If the answer is no then she’s a chancer and she herself is heading for burnout. If she continues with this sort of insinuation she could be looking at harassment.

Sounds like she doesn’t have much of a life outside of work herself.