Colleague keeps putting in calls at 4pm with me

[MichelleTalks]

I’m on a 35 hour a week contract and our employer very much champions a flexible working and ‘as long as you do your hours we don’t mind when’ sort of approach.

I typically work between 7-4, which allows flexibility with school runs etc. Other colleagues do similar - some will take a longer lunch to go to the gym, some will get admin done in the evenings. No issue - we are all adults.

Recently, a colleague keeps trying to book meetings in with me at 4pm. She tends to work 9-5 every day. I point out various free slots in both our calendars earlier in the day (4-5 is always blocked out in mine) and she does eventually re-schedule for one of them. But it has happened 4/5 times in the past month now.

She is as entitled to flexible working as the rest of us, but it feels like she resents my approach. Would you say something or just ignore?

Start initiating the meetings and book them in for 7am.

I used to have my part time hours in my autosignature along the lines of “my working days are Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday”. I blocked out the other days, if people were too stupid not to check my free spots on Outlook when scheduling a meeting I just declined them. I didn’t bother offering alternatives.

Just keep declining.

Unless she has dementia I'd find it very hard to believe she has forgotten several times in a month.

I would really enjoy silently declining her requests and doing no more about it.

nope 7am!

I think this is passive aggressive behaviour. She isn't forgetting, she's one of those people who thinks you can't be working properly if you aren't glued to a desk between 9:00 and 5:30. It's her way of having a little dig every week that she thinks you should be working.

Quite frankly, you've reminded her enough times. I'd speak to her line manager and say that you think she needs to go on a basic microsoft course as she repeatedly books meetings during the same time that you have marked as unavailable. Frame it as it looks unprofessional and you'd hate if she was doing it to anyone else. Let them give her a little tug

On Outlook go to File > Options (usually near the bottom left) > Calendar --> then click the 'Work Hours and Location...' button (usually at the top)

From here you can set your working days, hours and what location you're working from (office A, office B, home, etc)

This. Problem and awkwardness solved.

I'd be wary she's trying to cause an issue with your hours.

Someone did that to me by repeatedly trying to organise meetings on my non-work day. She kept a note of every declined meeting (and one that she sent an email about at 6pm the night before when I finished at 3.30pm) and then complained to our boss that I was "repeatedly unavailable".

For a short while my boss had concerns the non-working day wasn't working for the team until he took charge of the meeting scheduling and realised it was an absolute non-issue, as was her picking at others who had part time of flexible hours. She just didn't think it should be allowed.

Ideally, set your calendar so no-one can even request a meeting at that time. Failing that, set an auto decline for everything after, say, 3pm. Failing that, if you think she's trying to make a point, and given you start earlier than she does, counter propose a 7am meeting. Every single time. Change the dynamic so she is having to say she's 'not in yet', instead of it being you who has 'already left' (in her mind).

Decline and propose a new time. And to prove your point, propose 7am. Job done.

How many people are in the team? If everyone is working different hours it would be hard to keep track of everyone's usual hours unless it's a very small team.

She might be doing it knowing you are unavailable BUT keeping it in her calendar as ‘tentative’. By doing this, she looks unavailable to other people (ie her manager, who assumes she has a meeting 4-5).

She can then finish work at 4, but give every appearance of working until 5. At the very least she can have an easy last hour because people assume she’s got a meeting.

I know A LOT of loopholes 😁

The mistrustful part of me is thinking she’s doing this to call attention to your hours so she can say you weren’t available but it’s that time of the month and I’m more than a little irrational so 😉

I think 4pm even if you do finish work at 5 is too late for a meeting to start tbh - especially if there are other slots clearly available. I use my last 30 mins or so of work wrapping things up and getting things in place for the next day, I wouldn't want this time taken up with a meeting that could be held earlier.

It seems your colleague is being passive aggressive as she has some kind of problem with your working hours. Just chalk her up as being a weirdo, and as PP have suggested try booking in a couple of 8am meetings with her to see how she reacts!

The temptation to put a meeting in at 7am is too great 🤣 I'd make a point of saying I'm free any time from 7am until X time. Please schedule a meeting within my working hours.

It may be a genuine error on her part but she may also be making a point, so I think you should add the following too:

Happy to help if you are struggling to see my calendar availability. It's really easy once you get the hang of it - just let me know.

Looking forward to meeting soon .

Obviously you don't work in the same department as the CS people I work with then, they seem to think nothing of booking calls until 6pm.

This! plus lots of emails to her at 7:15!

You've said it yourself: She is as entitled to flexible working as the rest of us,

But you don't seem able to follow your own reasoning. Clearly, 4-5pm suits her. She may have other things she prefers to do in the morning when she's fresh. Or she's stacking meetings: I much prefer to stack meetings in the afternoon, and have the mornings for more focused work.

So you could both compromise a bit, but basically you're not prepared to.

Love this!

Every time she schedules a meeting for 4 reject it, ask her to reschedule and tell her what your working pattern is.
Make sure your calendar is up to date so it's clear when you are free.
Hopefully she will get the message. If not she is just making more work for herself because she will constantly have to reschedule the meetings

The compromise would be a time when both of them actually work, surely? OP might well prefer to get these meetings sorted well before 9am (or 915 really) but clearly that's not one of her options.

I’d decline immediately, but don’t bother suggesting a new time. She knows your hours, let her contact you for a suitable time.

We had a colleague like this. After months of frustration it transpired that she didn't bother using the schedule view so just picked a time to suit her 😮So anything you had in your calendar no matter how important she would just ignore.

She already does that and the person is still scheduling meetings at that time