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.

I generally find work life runs better when you look to help your boss rather than be put out at every little thing.....

Well obviously because you are turning up late to all meetings and he wants you to be on time. He wants you there on time to start the meeting so he isn't wasting more time waiting for you. He's senior and busier so just do what he asks. It's hardly unreasonable

Got to love a ageist dig.

How do you know he was waiting for you to start the meeting? Could have on a comfort break, chatting in office, writing up notes. He has set the etiquette clearly. Just follow it.

And sometimes you can’t help turning up late to a teams meeting. You’re seriously telling me you’ve never once been in a meeting that’s overrun by 2 or 3 minutes?

^

You're new?

Do you have a probation period. it will be extended

He's probably just confused you weren't there. Especially in a new job.

Turning up to a meeting late (which you not going into the room is) is really abd form.

I think you've got hung up on "starting" a meeting when it's not really a thing.

Just turn up to meetings on time (which shouldn't be spelt out to someone), "join" and then carry on doing whatever.

By telling you to "join" on time he's not making a dance about "starting" just literally telling you to turn up to work on time!!!

Noones sat there "waiting" other than once they're in the room. Before the meetings started people tend to be caught up in work. I 100% am sure he wasn't sat doing nothing waiting for you to join first heich is what you seem to think?

Are you new to teams? Honestly just turn up to meetings on time, join on time and it will soon become second nature I promise.

If I’m first in the meeting I will start it, I wouldn’t wait for someone else to start and make myself deliberately late, that’s just weird.

OP I am going to assume you are frustrated because you are really coming across as very aggressive, maybe take 5.

The majority of posters on this board are over 60, so don’t be surprised by the outdated responses on this post.

^

Yeah.

We can barely work a cell phone, it's all ink and quills to us

Your manager probably doesn't see it the way you do, they probably see it as them joining maybe 5 mins late but you joining even later. Your reasoning makes sense to you but from his perspective it might come across as you just being late and not prioritising his meetings despite not having other demands on your time like he does. It's probably just got on his nerves a bit as you are new and he thinks you should be making an effort to impress. I'd just make sure you join at the meeting start time (which is standard practice where I work regardless of seniority).

Blimey. If the meeting is in the diary at 3, join it at 2.59. That's it.

YANBU! Why is he messaging you asking if you're joining when he hasn't even joined yet? Unless he has actually been sat in there it's not rude at all. Never heard of this convention of the more junior person starting the meeting, sounds like bonkers hierarchical nonsense. If that is the rule, you should've been told.

Apparently you were trying to be accommodating of manager by not starting. He would rather you start the meeting and he will jump on asap so juat do it. Literally a non issue.

Well that’s a shit attitude. I’m going to be late purely because I’m more senior than the person I’m talking to? No other reason than that.

Well thankfully I’m not as immature to literally start name calling other adults 🙈😂. No one called me out on anything. You literally were not involved in the conversation.

Ignore him asking to start all meetings for a minute.

Is there an actual physical reason why starting the meeting (cam off/muted) and having the training resources up to carry on reading is an issue. Do you have enough screens? I have my teams chat/calls on my laptop and the actual work I'm doing on my two monitors so perhaps there is something there you can work at rectifying. Will your workplace pay for additional equipment so you have enough monitors to easily work?

I don't understand the 'start' bit. I just click on the link and go into the 'room'. Do my work etc if others are late.

You've had some truly nutty replies, OP.

I'm with you, it is a bit of a dickish thing for your manager to say, or at least, the way he expressed it is dickish. It could just have easily gone like this, which would have communicated the same point but in a polite non-dickish way:

Him (via message): Hi surrpundedby, are you ready for our call?
You: Yes, ready when you are
Him <starts call>
Him: Hey surrpundedby, good to see you, how are you doing? Don't feel you have to wait for me to start a meeting by the way, just go ahead and start it on time and I'll join as soon as I can.
You: Sure, no problem.

He’s not sitting there waiting for you - he wants you to start it so he knows you’re ready and he can stop what he’s doing and join. He’s more senior, so makes no sense for him to start the meeting and sit there waiting for you - you, as the junior, should be the one doing this. It’s not power play, it’s the hierarchy of things. He’s more senior so therefore his role is more critical, simple as that. Just start the meeting and get on with your work until he joins 🤷🏼‍♀️

We use Teams and I'm not sure I get this. Surely you just click the link and join? Not sure I can tell if anyone else is there or not before I join - I'm confused.

Seems like a power play by the manager, but not sure I'd have sat on my hands waiting. Both could do with an attitude adjustment.

Having read your responses, I'd guess he's feeling that you need some management, and being clear about expectations re meetings is a first step in that.

Why make life so difficult for yourself and everyone around you?. It's what the boss wants, it's no skin off your nose, just do it. Or if the culture is that awful to you, go somewhere else.

This x 100.

It’s a bit weird but he’s now communicated what he wants so I’d just go with it. No big deal.

Just turn up to meetings on time. Don't turn it into a drama it isn't.

Yes just to make it clear, he hadn’t started the meeting and was waiting for me. He was just there staring at his screen waiting for me to start the meeting.

And yes I’ve never come across a rule of the more junior person should be the one to start the meetings. Someone earlier gave the example of a physical meeting - does this apply to that too? That a senior person will not enter a room first?

I have no issue with him saying I don’t need to wait for him (I was doing so because our meetings are just informal and obviously just internal people involved). But I do genuinely find it bizarre that someone would refuse to start a meeting based solely on the fact that they are more senior and deem it beneath them.

Seems like making a mountain out of a molehill. Why would you wait for your boss to join the meeting, as others have said you join at the agreed time. If it was a physical meeting in a meeting room you wouldn't wait in your office until the boss rang to say I'm here now. You might be bitching about them being late, but you would be there on time.

They probably went to join and were surprised the meeting hadn't started, particularly if they were late.

Not sure this job is going to work out if you want the boss to be waiting for you rather than you being proactive.

You really do sound snippy. If you're going to die on this hill and project this attitude in a new job I suspect you won't have to concern yourself with this issue for very long.

Don't be ridiculous. You don't "just sit there", you get on with work with Teams in the background until the other person joins. There's no convention in my workplace about the hierarchy of when people join a meeting but if you're not very busy yet because you're new, you should definitely be joining at the start time and assuming your manager will join as soon as he is able. If he does have a packed schedule with back-to-back meetings, it's rude to make him wait around.