Boss expecting me to answer her messages while driving!

[Drummend01]

This week I’ve been all over the country representing our company at an event. Approved by my boss, out of office is on, I’ve told everyone I won’t be easily contactable etc (I’m usually very efficient).

Yesterday I was driving home from Manchester (3 hours), boss messaged me about 4:30pm on Microsoft teams on my work phone “can you call me please”, I didn’t see it as I was driving, then another at 5ish “important”. I saw the messages when I pulled into services about 6pm and replied to her on teams (we finish working at 5) saying “sorry I was driving, is it something to discuss now or shall I call you in the morning?”. I didn’t get a reply.

This morning she video called me saying how I need to be contactable in work hours, how she’d waited until I was finished at the event to message me. I explained that had she called me then I would have heard the ring and picked up on hands free, but I wasn’t checking my phone for messages while I was driving (with it being illegal and everything!). She said “I didn’t call you because i knew you were driving, as a manager that wouldn’t be very professional”.

I’m so confused, I’ve built a good reputation with her and this company, I got promoted in November and have been working really hard. I was up at 5:30, spent 6 hours in the car yesterday, worked way more hours than I am paid for so far this week and she’s annoyed because it took me 1.5 hours to answer her messages while I was driving. If it was that important and she knew I was driving then shouldn’t she have called me?! AIBU?

Going back 15 years, when the law changed around 2007 my then employer (a grown up business) introduced a mobile phone and car policy that all staff had to read and sign. It become part of the employee handbook.

TL;DR was don't do it, and if you do, you're on your own as the company is not asking you to.

(This was needed in part because we had an operations department that used hand held radios (which are exempt) and some less bright employees thought they'd point and them and say "they do it")

That wouldn't distract anyone from their driving would it? FFS.

It's no more distracting than having a conversation in the car.

Have you any objective evidence for such poppycock ?

I was going to suggest checking your Employee Handbook or any policies in place. Our Employee Handbook has a section in it about it being illegal to use a mobile phone without a hands-free set whilst driving and that you shouldn't therefore use any mobile device whilst driving without a hands free set.

TBH, next time we review our handbook I might update that so that it is also recommended to not even answer/make calls even using a hands free set as it is massively distracting.

My phone identifies when I'm in a moving vehicle and automatically puts it in to "driving" mode, which silences all notifications, even calls. I know you can change it, but I never do. I went years and years without being able to make or receive a call on the move and I never do long enough journeys that this is likely to cause any issues.

Check your work's own policies so you can reference them, but point out that you cannot be checking messages while you are driving and if she doesn't give in, take it above her or to HR. They can't discipline you for it. Contracts don't override laws!

My car is not ancient. It's a 2017 BMW. It does not have CarPlay. I use Waze on my phone to navigate, and it's attached using a MagCase to a magnetic holder in my vent and plugged in to the USB port. I connect the phone via Bluetooth but the only time I use it is to call somewhere if I am stuck in traffic and need someone to know.

Cars with touchscreens only should, in my opinion, not be allowed. I get that it's not illegal to use a touchscreen in a car, but really, is it any different from touching my phone mounted on the dashboard, in exactly the same position as a screen might be? Of course it's not. If it's considered dangerous enough to ban you from touching your phone screen while driving, you shouldn't be allowed to touch a screen of any sort in the car. It's why I like BMW's - the iDrive system is great.

OPs manager also said she didn't call because it was unprofessional to do so while she was driving, yet somehow expected her to see, read and respond to a message while she was driving. That's clearly very, very unreasonable.

Please tell me you don't manage staff on the road @KrisAkabusi !

The only message I would ever send to my staff while they were driving would be "Can you give me a call when you've reached work/site/home please, or if after Xpm, give me a call in the morning."

my car is 2015 & it doesn't do this.

i don't consider an 8 year old car ancient. No. But I don't suppose there's a rule in place an employee has to drive something with this option!

@Drummend01 the woman is NUTS. Nuts & unappreciative. Consider looking for a better position else where.

She should have emailed/text during event to ask you to call when it finished. Suggest this as the solution going forward

Your boss is being a dick.
I'd make a note of all this and keep it in case you ever need it with HR/appraisals etc.

Is she unable to text/ email/ send some kind of written message, to which you respond when you are able? It obviously wasn't that urgent or she would have picked up when you did call. It's pretty crap to ask someone to call asap and not say what for, AND not be available when they call back.
Assume she is being leaned on from above, but even so...

In my car I get calls, texts are read out and I can speak one to send back. So contactable 24/7... sigh.

Tell her you need the company to upgrade your car.

a car only has to be 7 or 8 years old to not have that sort of functionality, hardly 'ancient.'
and can they access teams? Mine can only read text messages, not even whatsapp ones, I doubt it would be able to read teams messages.

OP I think you need to go back to your manager (via email so it's recorded) and say (very politely) something like. 'I've been thinking about what you've said last week and I obviously don't want this to be an issue again in the future, however I honestly can't think of what I should have done. You've clarified you knew I was driving which was why you didn't phone me, so I assume you didn't expect me to read teams messages, as this would obviously be far more dangerous than answering a call, which can be done hands free. What do you suggest to avoid the same thing happening in the future? Would it be better if the company paid for taxis for me rather than driving so I can always be available?' (or other reasonable-sounding suggestion that you know they won't go for!)

Put it completely back in her corner, unless she's stupid enough to actually say 'I want you to check your messages while driving,' there's not much she can do.

It's been proved that it's not safe to do this though, why risk your life and others?

My car has all the gadgets for hahdsfree etc. It definitely can't pull a TEAMS call through, only calls and text messages.
Your boss realised she had asked you to do something illegal in accessing your phone to answer a teams call. It's probably the closest to an apology you're going to get.
I also think if she's only just back from mat leave she's trying to prove herself (if only to herself!) that she can do the job etc so she was trying to get the figures in ahead of deadline. I think she forgot you were out and about when she sent you the messages in the first place!

How is having a voice playing through the speakers (answer & hang up via button on steering wheel) any different than talking to someone sat next to you in the car?

@KrisAkabusi My 2023 Kia Sportage doesn't have this feature!?

This. You want to know the policy for business use and expectations whilst traveling between work locations.

It's not legal and maybe she needs to reflect on what she is asking you to do

I think that she wasn't thinking when she messaged you, and she doesn't want to admit it. She just back from mat leave - cut her some slack.

If only research had been done into that question, eh ?

According to Kia it does!

The Kia Sportage is compatible with Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™. Android Auto™ is designed to work with Android phones running 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher. Apple CarPlay™ is available for iPhone 5 or newer models. Both systems feature voice control and allow the driver to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road ahead at all times. Apple CarPlay™ is a trademark of Apple Inc. Android Auto™ and other marks are trademarks of Google Inc.

Why on earth didn't she send a message while you were at the event, asking you to call when you were finished before you started driving?
She made a conscious decision to wait until you were least likely to see it, I can't make it make sense!

She sounds like an idiot.

Absolutely not unreasonable and your boss is a complete idiot! Has she not heard of corporate manslaughter? That may be taking it to extremes but if her calls and messages caused distraction to someone driving, it could very well go that way. Our mobile phone and travel policies at work are very clear on the matter and there are responsibilities in there with the usual, sensible requests not to answer calls whilst driving, wait until you stop, don't make calls etc etc but also responsibilities on office staff to not call people whilst they know they may be driving etc. It's common sense and the AA have produced really useful advice on mobiles/driving which is what we used in our policies. She's also clearly never heard of the working time directive, if she is getting someone to do 3 hours driving in a day plus a full days work.....

The AA thinks it is and still advises you not to. https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/legal/mobile-phones#:~:text=If%20you%20need%20to%20make,to%20stop%20and%20phone%20back.