Aibu not to want to be in work WhatsApp chat

[Spaghettihair]

Our workplace uses Teams, Trello, Outlook, Viva Engage and Yammer. I’m on all these. I often know I’ve been asked to do something and go through my emails/notes, think I’m going mad and later find it in a teams chat etc.

I do not want to be on the work WhatsApp which is ostensibly social but occasionally people send work requests to move a meeting/running late etc. It got started when we all went to an off site and someone said it would help us meet up (why not just use Teams on our phones?)

Ive avoided it for the past year claiming not to use WhatsApp. Gave a colleague my number without thinking to meet for drinks and horrified to now be added. I left and my manager has over the last fortnight asked 3x for me to rejoin so he can share product images/get in touch if we’re off site/it’s easier.

Ive said WhatsApp crashes my phone but I just do not want another fucking comms channel tbh. Teams & 4G covers all he needs, (including endless gif chains) surely? AIBU, what sm I missing with WhatsApp work chat, is this career suicide

I don't understand why you have to lie? Just say you don't use your personal phone for work related things, there's nothing wrong with saying that.

It does have Teams on and MS Authenticator

I don’t think they can hold you over the coals for it. There is a policy for contacting staff in emergency situations, and in 20 years of nursing thank god they’ve never used it.

We give so much extra time for free, the nhs isn’t getting a seat in my living room too!

Archive it, it’s liberating!

Do you have a work laptop? I'd remove all work related apps and just use the laptop during work time. They'll tell you that you need MS Authenticator but there are ways around that, it's just easier for them if you use your own device.

Sorry I’m not even a nurse- we market ergonomic office furniture ffs

I think this I need to do as feel like you can never fully switch off! Someone asking if you’ve seen something on your shift, asking for staff to come in, photos of gifts sent by relatives, new updates 🙈 friendly reminders 🙃

Yep I do- I was under the impression Authenticator was required?!

I find it a complete overload to have messages coming through all different channels, I can never find something because Im not sure what format it was sent on, also teams for some reason deletes stuff after a certain amount of time unlike my emails so things get deleted. I find teams unbearable due to the different sections in it.

Yep exactly this nonsense. Thankyou from clients, photos of finished workspaces, I’ve brought in cake, who left this cycling gear drying in the kitchen, does anyone think [rival department] are [useless/hiring/downsizing/up themsrlves]

The NHS will continue to behave like this for as long as employees put up with it.

Just Say No

Remove yourself from the group and block everyone who has your number. Your colleagues may contact you through Teams etc in working time. Don’t put up with this mission creep. It’s just a job - not life and death. Boundaries are your friend.

Just mute it? We have a work WhatsApp group chat (and email), no other comms though so appreciate that’s different to your situation. At least half of us have the chat permanently muted and just dip in occasionally !

No not required, there are people that still use the old style Nokia phones, or don't even have a phone at all, so they need to have a workaround.

Say no. This is completely unreasonable. I have a work phone which I use in my contracted hours and am contactable on various channels including Teams. It’s currently switched off as I’m on holiday.
When I’m not being paid, my personal phone is my business and I’m not being interrupted by work issues. If it’s an actual emergency, like a building on fire, then trusted people in my team have my personal number.
I’ve point blank refused to join the work WhatsApp as it’s utter crap and I don’t want to see potential HR issues.

Apologies, I was referring to the nurse that posted further up thread.

I hated the class group when I worked in a class in school. Backstabbing bitches. Get chatting about general shit and then we all called into a meeting about discussing work! No names or identities mentioned.

its all to dramatic

I was asked to join mine, I was honest and said would they mind if I said no, I needed to be able to keep work and home life separate for my well being. They totally understood.

I wish I’d been more honest now but I’ll stick with bad storage means it crashes my phone- at least then if I’m sporadically spotted online I have a cover

You can change your settings to choose who sees when you were “last seen” and online. So you can hide your coworkers from it, or have it that nobody can see it then no-one would know.

You will always get a work issue come up on the personal one though, people will not care what time it is or if it’s encroaching into family time

So many times WhatsApp has been career ending because someone posts something inappropriate, and even if you don’t participate, the fact you’re even in the group implicates you.

I was added to a FB messenger group and someone was critical of a colleague. I didn’t even comment but was dragged into the drama and accused of being involved in bullying as I didn’t report the comment. Never again

I would absolutely refuse to join this.

Apart from anything else, essentially forcing people to share their personal numbers with all colleagues is exposing your work to issues around sexual harassment and other types of inappropriate workplace behaviour. Perhaps you could frame it this way to your bosses, highlighting that they are opening up your organisation to unnecessary risks

Oh this is helpful. I do line manage some of the staff in the group, I might say I think it’s inappropriate

Your work can’t force you to join a whatsapp group with your personal phone number. That surely breaches data protection/ privacy - you might not want your work colleagues to have your personal number and you did not consent to be added to the group in the first place nor have your personal number shared by joining.
your manager should be using official work channels for work related messages, and if that is not possible phoning you all individually.
sounds like your team need to agree ways of working regarding comms and how certain messages will be shared rather than just implementing yet another channel with info overload.

I take it this is yoirnpersonal
phone? If so, YDNBU