22:30 work call - completely unacceptable?

[shortbreadconsumer]

I received a work call from someone in my organisation at 22:30 last night. I answered, thinking it was an emergency. The colleague was completely hysterical and impossible to understand. In the end I had no choice but to end the call with 'we can discuss this in the morning.'

This morning I spoke to the persons line manager about it, who said that it was 'unfortunate, but not unreasonable' for this individual to have called me as I had not answered any emails from said colleague over the weekend. They had sent me over 50 emails this weekend. I did not see the emails as seniors within the organisation take an 'if it's urgent, they have my number' approach.

I am more senior than both of of these colleagues and I was 'on call' all weekend as the most senior point of contact in the organisation. However, this was not an issue that required weekend working and, more importantly, it was not an issue that I needed to be consulted on. It was very simple and should have easily been resolved in working hours by this individual alone - her direct line manager would not have needed to input either.

AIBU to think that this was unprofessional and unacceptable from both of them?After no sleep, I've reached that 'was it really that bad' point where I am so sleep deprived that I am not sure whether I am overreacting in my annoyance or not!

commenting on an internet forum without bothering to read any of the ops several explanations that on call for her does not mean checking or expecting any emails doesn’t exactly radiate competence.

For the love of God, read all posts by the OP!

TL : DR

I am very very senior. I didn't get where I am today by reading emails at the weekend or thinking about work then.

I was on call for very serious matters over the weekend. A more junior member of staff had a MH crisis and phoned me, and rather than dealing with it sensibly. I am outraged by this. (Surely a serious MH crisis, rendering a staff member hysterical and incoherent, is JUST the sort of thing you SHOULD be notified about?)

I am resentful about having been contacted on a weekend when I was on call, and don't recognise this as a serious incident in any way.

Isn't that an accurate assessment of the situation? And what of my conclusion that your company is so poor at supporting staff that this poor woman has only now been recognised as having problems, by breaking protocol in this way?

This whole thread is weird if you ask me. I commented before reading past page 1 and now regret it 🫣

Aside from whether you acted reasonably in the situation or not (very difficult for anyone here to tell, given we don’t have the context or first hand experience of working in your organisation) your original and subsequent posts on this thread, especially as someone who is claiming to be incredibly super senior, seem pretty unreasonable imo

100%

I think more accurate TL : DR is, this entire scenario is completely fictional.

I have read all your posts, OP. You have clearly followed procedure and haven’t done anything wrong. Their manager should be able to support them, and also draw their attention to the correct procedure should it happen again.

You were correct not to go beyond the procedure, particularly since you don’t know her state of mind, and if anything had gone wrong you going off piste (for example, going round to her house or phoning her manager may have made their situation worse). The timing makes me wonder if she had been drinking or on drugs. Fifty emails and late night phone calls are not signs of someone with good boundaries or mental health, particularly since she wasn’t able to follow the standard procedure. TBH, I don’t know what else you could have done that would have led to a more positive outcome.

Op has explained very clearly that "on-call" requires answering calls escalated to them. It is not part of their duties to check their emails.

The process seemed quite clear to me.

Not really.

You’ve just completely made up a whole story in your head from one paragraph!

So she got herself in such a tizz but still managed to find op email send 50 emails plus then find her number and call her ?

You were on call. Do the job you're being paid for.

Yes, all whilst having a mental breakdown and being pissed/high according to speculation on here.

"It was very simple and should have easily been resolved in working hours by this individual alone - her direct line manager would not have needed to input either."

The thing is, anyone who's been at the bottom of the pile for a while will have experienced instances where they've been in trouble for taking even the smallest decisions without checking so she may now feel she needs to cover her back all the time.

"Sharing what is and what isn’t reasonable re contact at the weekend may be needed."

That's now always possible. You don't know what's urgent until it happens really and bosses can't make a list of all the possible things that could happen and give an instruction of what to do because these things have to be considered as they happen and then of course, it's partly subjective.

You were on call and are upset that you were called? Following FIFTY unanswered emails.
Get a grip what are they paying you for?

I think it's fine how you handled it, I think your thoughts that you shared on here about what happened make you sound cold and lacking empathy. If she was doing it all the time that would be one thing but it's one call and I can't understand why you feel anger instead of compassion.

Senior leaders shape organisational culture. The behaviours OP, a senior leader, modelled were: 1. We show lack of compassion when a junior colleague is distressed 2. We do not keep on top of emails 3. We are jobs-worths, showing no generosity with our time in our dealings with colleagues.

the audacity of people to just jump in on an 800+ post thread and not bother reading ANY of the OP's posts past the first one.

Mind boggling.

In her updates OP said she was on the phone with this person for 45 minutes so she did show compassion. She also said the on-call person isn't there for emails.

If the op did that, they'd have hung up on the employee immediately, because the OP's job was to answer the phone to the on-duty junior manager in an emergency.. not to be the MHFA for a junior member of staff who shouldn't even have been working, never mind phoning her.

Once more with feeling. Please read all the posts by OP before you comment.

Don't you think the process is nonsensical? If someone is on call over the weekend they should be able to read and reply to an email. I don't know many any senior managers who would behave like the OP.

Yet @Gwenhwyfar op said this they do

The 'junior' person on call is expected to monitor emails all weekend and reply to anything that needs actioning. They are very generously compensated for this.
The expectation is everything urgent goes to the 'junior' person who will escalate to the senior person, via phone call, if their input is needed.