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!

The moment you said you were so sleep deprived you’re unable to regulate your emotions because of a phone call at 10.30pm over what you say is a non issue is the moment I realised you are very dramatic, OTT and YABU.

seemingly

The call ended with no resolution and with OP saying the issue would be dealt with the following day. There is no mention of helping the colleague calm down or asking her if she has someone with her. Lack if compassion. The on-call person may not be there for emails but OP could have agreed to read them and call the OP back first thing the following morning. Jobs-worth.

Its a perfectly normal, basic, and very simple to understand on call system.

yes, its the junior duty on-call persons responsibility to monitor emails/deal with phonecalls/do everything.. and then also to escalate anything urgent to the OP via phone.

it is NOT the OP's job to monitor emails, its to answer any calls from the Junior manager who is the duty on-call person.

There wasn't going to be resolution. The only person who can resolve the issue is the hysterical woman's direct manager. And HR.

"no mention of helping" what do you think the OP was doing for 45 minutes?

What point are you disagreeing with?
OP is not supposed to be checking emails, that's what I meant by 'the on-call person'. She's supposed to take a call from the email person who will call her in an emergency. The one who called her was not the email person, but another colleague who should not have been working on the weekend.
It's clear with all the updates, although it wasn't from the OP alone.

Nope, for a few reasons.

1. We don't know the organisation or it's context, so can't make assumptions about the robustness of their processes. However;

1. They have already explained that a junior member of staff monitors and deals with emails, and escalates as necessary. Sounds like the other member of staff didn't follow the process and emailed the wrong person.

This approach seems efficient, people's time is only affected if needed.

1. I worked for an organisation who used this approach. Area teams dealt with issues. If something serious happened, the country head would be called, and the country head would know it was serious immediately. Being called about something non-serious would devalue and undermine the process, potentially leading to calls not being answered.

1. The organisation I work for uses a similar process in the media team. The on call person has the on call phone, but doesn't check emails. If something noteworthy happens out of hours, journalists pick up the phone.

Don’t have a problem with how she handled it in the moment. At all.

DO have a big problem with the title and OP of this thread. It shows a complete lack of humanity, empathy and kindness. Slagging this poor colleague off, who was clearly in a terrible state. Totally unnecessary and mean.

Wow, I think different people/companies have very different ideas about what being on call means…

Some people get paid extra for being on call and need to be first point of contact for valid support for those still working. Others are expected as part of their job role (and not compensated extra) to be at the other end of the phone for extreme emergencies where a senior/executive person needs to make a decision/be involved. As the OP says, when someone has died or there’s some freak disaster way beyond the remit of the 1st line support to deal with.

it sounds like there wasn’t even a valid reason for any 1st line support so OP is NBU at all!

The resolution I was talking about was the issue covered by the 50 emails. I agree that the line manager an HR need to be involved to find a resolution to the junior member of staff's behaviour.

At first I thought that 10:30pm is just at the limit of the time when it's too late to call people, but then I read that it took 45 minutes so they were still on the phone past 11 and possibly past both their bed times. I can see that causing problems if OP has to get up early the next day and of course it's just anti-social if it's not an emergency.

You're making a lot of assumptions. I'm guessing if op said "I was compassionate" you would be questioning that. It was a 45 minute call, there could have been 40 minutes of calming the situation for all you know.

It's truly astonishing how many people on this thread think they know better than the OP and her HR department about what exactly her duties should entail when she is on call.

I can't tell whether this is down to poor reading comprehension (or people just not bothering to read the thread at all); people making incorrect assumptions about the OP's on call duties because of other completely different on call duties for other companies with which they are more familiar; or simply dismissing the OP's actual duties because they personally feel that, regardless of official on call protocols, all senior managers should make themselves available at all times of day and night in case an employee happens to have a mental health crisis outside of their normal working hours!

Please read the procedures that this organization follows. The OP isn't supposed to monitor her emails, she is the senior officer to be contacted, by phone, if the more junior contact decides that the situation warrants it. This would be a very unusual situation. The employee having the hysteria should not have contacted her,at all. And should not have been working either.

Are you new here?

True enough about the assumptions. The OP was put in a position she shouldn't have been put in, but her seniority is what is making me think her approach could have been different with a junior colleague who was behaving irrationally.

You’re on call and a senior member of staff. Of course you’re being unreasonable. What you might take as minor incident may have caused that person great anxiety. 45 minutes on the phone is excessive but at the same time I would have probably gone to her manager in a more pastoral capacity to see if they are coping etc. not adding pressure by complaining

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

CJ, Sunshine Desserts?

Agree. think this shows the OP’s real feelings about it and is making people skeptical about whether she really was compassionate towards the junior person during the call.

I think this highlights that you are not an approachable manager. I have contacted colleagues out of hours in the past and always met with politeness and support. I have telephoned consultants in the middle of the night when I have failed to get in contact with the 'next in line' and been met with thanks, ensuring the issue is managed before it gets out of control.
Your work environment sounds toxic.
I would expect for you to receive a resignation notice or a sick note from their GP for stress from the staff member you should have been supporting shortly.

You are the manager in call … you are there to support, not decide it’s not worth your time and ignore them!! How unprofessional and poor managerial behaviour. Maybe you should be reported for not doing your job! And sleep deprived, by a call at 22.50?!? Seriously???

But she emailed 50 times. How the hell is she to know that you don’t read them when the specific instructions on contacts provide the email address. Are you sure it wasn’t you not following protocol. If you had then maybe I suggest you ask the person sending this email to not include email addresses. Confusing as hell and getting radio silence from an email may have escalated that employers state of mind.

I work out of hours nights/weekends and if I were trying to get hold of my manager who was standby by at home for that period I would expect them to answer the phone and be professional and reassuring. Especially at 22.30. When I work standby (which I do on occasions as I have 20+ years experience) I have had colleague call me at 3 am to ask me a question. I’m being paid to stand by. I don’t care if that question is “where do we keep…..” if they feel impacted by something that they cannot resolve, and it’s my job to support them at that time, then that’s my responsibility and I take it seriously.