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.

How do you know he isn't already on a teams meeting? OP says he has back to back meetings throughout the day?

If he's already in a meeting and it is running on, there's no point him leaving that one to sit waiting for OP who isn't ready yet.. he obviously realised after 5 minutes that she didn't know to start it.

His time is obviously in demand, so it makes sense to get people who have no such time constraint (of meetings) to let him know when they are ready so he can go seamlessly between the two.

Dear God

Did you read the reasons you were given?

What was the point of this thread?

Sorry OP, but I think YABU. You always join the Teams meeting at the start time, and wait for others to join.
You're assuming he's sat there waiting for you to start it (he's probably busy doing other things at the same time)
You're assuming it's a power play (it's most unlikely)
You've asked for opinions and because you don't like them you're twisting the narrative.

But it's another workplace's culture, so you just do whatever they ask and see if they prove annoyingly hierarchical in other ways, and if they are you look for a better job

It's basically this, isn't it.

Such a small issue to be worked up about and, if it proves to be symptomatic of a wider one then off you trot. In the meantime, it's also an easy thing to do so I'd so it whilst I was figuring out the lay of the land, at least.

Goodness. How dramatic. Its 'icky' and 'gross'? The guys her manager not a first date who picked his nose over dinner.

Posts on AIBU.
gets told YABU
argues with everyone saying YABU.

🤦‍♀️

Middle-millennial here, before anyone starts with the ridiculous generational tripe.

Your manager has said nothing unreasonable. You’ve just started a new job and need to make it a priority to be on the call and available at the scheduled start of meetings, especially meetings with someone more senior. You’ve also completely invented this idea that he was sitting there staring at his screen doing nothing instead of trying to wrap up a previous meeting (formal or informal) or squeezing in another task.

The word boss hasn’t gone away, neither has the word junior when discussing organizational/management structure. And nor has the expectation that the higher up in you get in an organization the more valuable your time is… that’s why the org pays you more for that time. This wasn’t a power play or meanness or whatever, it was a straightforward communication of expectations in this workplace to a new employee from the primary person in charge of communicating those expectations. Be in teams meetings on time and if the other party isn’t ready you can mute and keep working or checking email while you wait.

Pretty much every job anyone does when they have someone report to is required to do things that they deem to be nonsensical. If it's the status quo, it'll be effecting everyone, not just you. Consider it from that perspective and go along with it, why should it be one rule for you and another for your peers?

I don’t think it is right that it should be the most junior person starting meetings or be one persons job to start it.

But you took the approach or waiting for him to always start it and I think he noticed that, didn’t like it and is now pushing it back to you in response. Once you start showing that you know how to join meetings on time, then he will probably relax.

yes everyone is late to meetings sometimes, but that is normally due to previous meetings overrunning. If you don’t have other meetings prior to it, then there isn’t an excuse for being late.

What happened to @OneMoreCornettoPls posts? I was trying to reply to the one where they started arguing that "always in back to back meetings" apparently meant "the op made it clear that the manager was not in a meeting" which ironically insulted my reading comprehension - were they equally rude to everyone else so MN did a mass deletion?

OP I’ve a feeling you won’t need to be worrying about all the training you have to do for very much longer.

And during the working day 😆

@surrpundedby I don’t understand this bit - “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”.

How do you know when he’s ready for your meeting? Surely if you log on at 3 (or whenever) and carry on reading your training stuff while he’s not there yet, then when he joins you at 5 past, that’s when you know he’s ready?

Wow OP why don't you just take over the company....you clearly have a much better idea of how everything should be run than the actual managerial staff who have worked there for years...their training is irrelevant, you don't agree with their practices and your manager is arrogant enough to expect you to join a meeting on time unless you have a good excuse....is it really the best fit for you?

This thread is hilarious. You've been asked to start the meetings so start them. It doesn't matter if you think it's wrong/odd. Your boss has asked you to do it and it's easy to do.

Also ‘from experience’? This is a new job? And they only have two meetings a month?

I don't understand the big deal - you're only reading training materials, so start the meeting on time like any normal person.

Imagine it an old fashioned face to face meeting in an actual room with actual people.

If the meeting starts at 2pm, then you arrive at 2pm or a couple of minutes beforehand.

Same applies to virtual meetings.

Are you jealous of your manager? You sound resentful.

You are the junior, you do as your manager asks.
Thats how employment is.

Do you question everything you are asked to do by your manager?

We don't have a 'convention' in our office. Somebody just starts the meeting and people join, no particular order expected.

For preference, I'd rather join a minute afterwards so that I don't have to join in the waffle/chat which always starts any meeting we have.

In old-school parlance, it sounds like you expect to sit at your desk waiting for a summons to your manager's office when it suits them; whereas they expect you to enter a designated meeting room on time and wait for them to arrive.

However, now you know what their expectation is, I don't understand what the ongoing problem is. You have joined their company and team, so you adapt and follow their customs. Preferably without starting a MN thread criticising your boss and showing yourself in an unfavourable light!

Are you unsure how to start the call, so feel anxious and wrong-footed? I've never used Teams, but I'd ask a colleague or look it up online.

Probably so he’s not joining before you are there so as not to waste his time. It’s also easier to join when you get that prompt to say x has started the meeting. I also wouldn’t rely on teams to know when someone is free, you can set it to whatever you want that may have no bearing on your actual status.

its like teams chicken is being played!

Its not weird at all.

You acknowledge that your boss is in back to back meetings. They are probably swamped and need an excuse to move onto the next thing- 'My next meeting has started, sorry I have to go' or even they are just too busy to keep an eye on the time every time, and are waiting to be prompted. They will probably only expect to only go into a meeting that is ready for them.

I feel a bit sorry for them as they have made clear you are expected to be there ready, especially if you don't have a previous meeting and you seem to have the hump at this minor courtesy. Hope you don't mean to go on like this. Teams work because everyone pulls their weight and lets minor peccadillos, ie things that don't matter, slide.

I’ve been using teams pretty much all day every day since Covid. I manage a senior team with multiple layers. I don’t expect people to wait for me to join the meeting, I expect them to join at the allocated time. If it’s a group meeting they can get started, if not I’ll join when I can. I’m rarely more than 2mins late.

conversely I have a manger. There is no way I would ever be late to a meeting with him (especially not because I was undertaking self guided training) without letting him know in advance. Not would I ever create a situation where he had to do any part of my job, which includes starting the meeting on time.

No, it’s saying ‘start the meeting, so I can hop on immediately, as soon as I’m ready.’ It’s your manager telling you how they want meetings to be run. It’s interesting that you take being given instructions - by the person whose job it is to instruct you - as a ‘power move’ or demeaning in some way.

Additionally, starting the meeting wouldn’t stop you from continuing to read whatever you were reading, so I’m not sure what the issue is. You start the meeting, then crack on with what you’re doing until your manager turns up. Why is this such an issue for you?