Expected to start teams meetings?

[surrpundedby]

I’ve started a new job and my diary for now is very empty with few meetings and there’s quite a lot of training material that I have to go through.

My manager is always in back to back meetings and he’s put two 30 minute catchups in with me for the first month. From experience meetings tend to overrun so I’ve waited for him to be ready for our call and then I’ll hop on as I’m just reading - or he might need a loo break or get a drink.

Today it got to 5 past our meeting and he messaged me to say “are you joining”. So I started the call and he said that I am expected to always start the meetings.

Obviously once I’m more busy I won’t even give it a second thought as to who starts a meeting, but this seems such a weird rule to me.

We don't have any kind of status about who is the starter of meetings - however my direct manager is a right blooming scatterbrain (she'll admit it and she's fab) so the huge "X HAS STARTED THE MEETING" popup often jolts her back into action!

Great attitude to start a new job with OP 😂
This thread has given me a good giggle.

If so many people are missing your point, perhaps it was poorly made?

Yes, but she didn’t like the main thrust of your post. 🤣

I used the term boss OP. I'm probably not much older than you but I work in an environment where the person above me isn't a manager and would never be referred to as such. I was just using boss informally as a general catch-all term. There wasn't much more too it than that.

"He's busier than you and more important than you."

"And you’re arguing back against your senior instead of just doing what you’ve been told."

God people really like to lick their bosses' arseholes don't they. Hope I never become that cowed and sycophantic.

A manager at a company is obviously going to be busier than a new starter who at this point is only doing self led training..

No one here is giving their opinion on generic manager positions, they are referring to OPs specific situation in which she is doing absolutely zero work yet. so it's not really about arse licking at this point.. it's about learning the ropes at a new job and following what is expected of you when you have been given specific instructions to follow going forward.

Why she would think that he is sat there doing naff all waiting on her and assume it's a weird power play instead of assuming that he is busy or in another meeting? It says a lot about OPs logical thinking skills if you ask me, it is obviously skewed by some sort of inferiority complex.

We are expected to be there on time - everyone joining, whoever happens to be first starts the meeting. If the person chairing the call isn't there, there's usually some chat first, which may or may not be work-related. If someone will be late, regardless of ran, they will message to say so.

However, in my previous place, we used different meeting software, and by default, the person arranging the meeting had to open it, unless they'd had the foresight to clicking the "any attendant can open meeting" button, which many meeting arrangers forgot to do.

So I think it can depend on company culture and software configuration.

If a meeting starts at 10, you join at that time and then wait on mute. Teams notifications don’t always pop up when someone starts the call so it’s safer that way. I say this as someone who always waits for their manager to join!

This thread is reminding me of a radio phone-in show about employers finding it difficult to hire new young employees who are grounded, capable, and have any semblance of work ethic. They are all feelings, and imagined slights, and 'I have better things to do today, you don't mind do you'. 🤣

It would freak me out too, OP, first week in a new job and all, but you didn't do anything wrong. It was just a misunderstanding and you'll know next time.

By the sound of it your manager doesn’t want the stress and responsibility for starting the meetings so as to prevent people from be kept waiting. He / she was probably taken aback that you were late to the meeting, which would indicate poor time keeping, rudeness etc.

This!

@surrpundedby are you in the NHS (corporate)?

No point arguing with the manager OP. Or just leave and find a different job if this one is too much hassle for you.

I guess it's a bit like back in the day if you were meeting him in his office at a certain time, you might sit in the nice waiting area outside and let his secretary know you were there.

OP. As starting a Teams meeting takes a nanosecond, is probably a daily action for hundreds of thousands of workers and is not some sort of punishment, what exactly is the problem?

I can see why you did this, but no harm in joining first and waiting.
I think manager was a bit rude to say are you joining when they hadn't joined meeting themselves.
I think it's just a communication thing/differing expectations.
It's not a big issue. Just explain why you hadn't started it but say next time you'll start meeting and wait for then to join.
In our organisation anyone can be the first to join, there's no expectation that it has to be either a junior or senior member of staff to join first/start meeting

🤣🤪

HI Op - this is fairly standard for someone junior to start, its not a hard and fast rule, its more of an 'unwritten rule' where i am - personally (i am a manager) i dont quite care who starts the call first, people are busy, meetings over run etc, but i am in the minority - im my own company, its the juniors who are always assumed to have to start the meeting. If your diary is empty-ish - then i dont see the issue, you might be thoughtful in the reasons behind your process of starting late - but meetings should start on time, he will turn up when he does, but it needs to be started. Sound like he is a bit more traditional in the manager-junior stance.

😂oh dear oh dear oh dear.

LOL. Just calling it out because if you make a comment about boomers on here the oldies all cry. Why can’t I call it out back?

He isn’t demanding let’s be clear. He’s your boss, you didn’t show up to a meeting on time (and yeah that means more when you are new), he should know you aren’t in meetings so no reason to be late and you are complaining.

Join the meeting on time and understand corporate culture,

He really isn’t. Perhaps he can’t understand why a new employee trying to make a good impression wouldn’t attend the meeting in time and start the meeting at the prescribed time.

Regardless of who set the meeting up, I would join it and start it on time. I'd split my screen and work on something else until he joined.

Also OP if you’re new to the job and in your probation maybe just stop acting like a dick?