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!

Sorry OP. Just read your update which makes your side more reasonable. The real person who has dropped the ball here is the employee responsible for monitoring the inbox all weekend. Because they either didn’t check the inbox at all or they didn’t use their brain to email back one sentence to either resolve the issue or at least reassure the frantic worker it could be resolved when next open, they had no choice but to ring you.

Well in that case, YANBU, and the line manager you spoke to obviously needs a refresher on the policy. The employee in question probably needs handling with care given the level of anxiety she's clearly experiencing. 50 emails in one weekend suggests someone close to breakdown. Is it a very high stakes work environment?

Yanbu. It would be worth discussing with the individuals manager why they were even working on a weekend.

Exactly. I don't understand why so many people are telling the OP she should have been checking her emails.

If something is urgent, that's what the telephone is for. Emails are not for urgent matters unless accompanied by a phone call at the same time - eg if you need to send a document that requires their urgent attention and then call to say 'please look at the information I have emailed you'. The OPs organisation has an established out of hours process that is regularly communicated to everyone. It also sounds like their isn't an 'always on' culture meaning that emails need to be checked and replied to out of hours.

But as 50 emails and the incoherent phone call suggests that this employee has a mental health issue, then perhaps referral to occupational health/staff welfare is the most appropriate way to deal with this?

Being on call doesn't mean you become the default brain for people to use because they can't be arsed to take initiative.

I would get on the front foot with this and get the junior and their manager into a room and find out why this any is so hopeless that they couldn't do something you feel they should have been able to resolve on their own. Or maybe... just maybe... you should have attended to an email if you were on call, and the subject warranted that (person a new hire, massively lacking in confidence etc)?

I did not see the emails as seniors within the organisation take an 'if it's urgent, they have my number' approach.

yes. So you colleague called you, because they had your number. Can you really not see how unreasonable you’re being?

you can’t ignore your emails and be surprised that somebody calls when you are the senior on call!!

edit: being „hysterical“ and in obvious distress obviously isn’t professional. But the call (yes, even when late)? No, that was not unreasonable imo.

I’d be worried that the junior colleague wasn’t clear about the on call process and was so stressed about something minor that she couldn’t speak. There’s either a training or welfare issue that, as a very senior manager, I’d be concerned about.

I don’t think a late call to the on call manager is unreasonable, I’d have supported the junior staff member at the time and followed it up with the line management structure the next day. I’d be asking what was happening that she thought needed 50 emails, why didn’t she contact the immediate on call person and why was she so distressed. There are many possible answers to those questions that may be nothing to do with competency and everything to do with training and culture which I’d want to know about.

I'm really puzzled then about why the person's manager said them calling was 'unfortunate, but not unreasonable'. Because it definitely sounds unreasonable from the updates. Why do they think it wasn't? @shortbreadconsumer

I think you are feeling reasonably annoyed at the behaviour of the colleague who did not follow company out of hours procedures, which sound clear to me.

But I do agree that annoyance, although it's a human response, won't help you or them for the future, so try to let it go and maybe arrange for some extra training on company procedures for this person so that next time they will not panic and get it wrong again, orr of they are very prone to panic, then they will panic anyway but be able to follow the correct procedure and not annoy people so much.

Thanks for clarifying @shortbreadconsumer . Changed my vote. Following your initial post I thought you were being unfair but your second post detailed the process. The colleague was out of order for ringing you. Have you asked why the person monitoring emails had not responded? As another poster suggested a strong email needs to go out to all.
Like others have stated, posters responding later should at least do you the courtesy of reading all your posts. If they can take time to type a response they should read all your contributions.

How is the op being unreasonable when the colleague didnt follow the right process by contacting the right person in the first place?

My son has been on call over Xmas quite often (IT) and checks his emails and tickets every 2 hours and responds and he isn’t on great money either -

Which is relevant to the OP how?

Sorry it took me more than 4 minutes to type and check my post. Good thing you were there 6 minutes after OP's second post to berate people for not reading "all the posts by OP"

Obviously being literally "in utter hysterics" and "completely hysterical" is not professional, however it is not clear what OP means by "hysterics" which has many meanings, most of them not literal, and several being a go to put down when someone suggests they could and should have done better.

If the person on the phone really was in floods of tears and crying so much that they couldn't make a coherent sentence then there is something wrong with either recruitment or line management and it should not have reached so high. Now it has it can be investigated and sorted.

I think you need to have a bit of gentle sympathy here. Yes, she was unreasonable. Didn’t follow process, and should not have contacted you certainly not by phone late for a non urgent issue. But for whatever reason she was clearly panicking and not thinking clearly. It wasn’t that late, and shouldn’t really have resulted in you getting no sleep all night, that was you stewing over it. I think some intervention over the employees mental health or stress level is more appropriate than disciplinary action, and the line manager probably recognised that and was just trying to protect their staff member.

if you are more senior than both of them, I think it’s more about how you handle this now than the incident.

get them both in. Explain the process and what you have put here.

surely the managers response is just as crazy.

which suggests a misunderstanding somewhere.

Anyone sending 50 emails about the same minor thing needs spoken to anyway

So as the senior person to both of the two you mentioned in the first post you presumably pointed all this out to both the junior and the line manager and gave coaching on appropriate escalation? And presumably the junior on call person should have said “it can wait until Tuesday” on seeing 50 emails on the same subject?

I have been called by the equivalent of the trainee ringing the managing partner, more than once. If the junior was hysterical I would have much wider concerns about the team and its working than my weekend being interrupted. I would also have been keeping an eye on email at the weekend, but I’m not in the public sector.

I wondered that - and think OP needs to point to procedures in place with both this manager and this employee and ask why they weren't followed.

As a senior manager, you should be more concerned about what's going on in your organisation than you are annoyed.
50 emails over the weekend and then a call from a colleague in a hysterical state is massively concerning for the colleagues wellbeing.
What's even more concerning is her line managers reaction, it sounds like he has put a lot of pressure on her and has little regard for her wellbeing if his first thought is you should have responded to the email, rather than wondering why the employee is sending so many emails or why she was hysterical.
Were the calls and emails within the employees normal working hours?

After yoir update I want to change my vote to you are not being unreasonable!

I really should have read OP‘s update…

This person‘s line manager said that it was „unfortunate, but not unreasonable“, which made me believe that whoever called OP probably misjudged the importance / urgency of their issue. BUT that the general organisational structure (OP even said that she expects to be called and isn’t reading her emails) was generally observed…

It is however still strange that the line manager called that person’s behaviours reasonable when it definitely wasn’t judging by OP’s update…

I think you need to learn a bit of compassion and empathy. When you had a word with the junior persons line manager did you even ask how they were feeling today?

It sounds like you have your head up your arse tbh.

Because my own view is ‘on call’ means you react, even if to say ‘this can wait till Tuesday ‘ it doesn’t mean you ignore 50 emails - even if it’s something that can wait .

This whole scenario is bizarre.

Why was this colleague working on this issue over the weekend herself if it was something that should have been done in working hours? Why didn't she finish it on Friday when there would have been staff around to ask? If it came in after 5pm on Friday how did she even come to know about it - unless there is an expectation all staff do keep an eye on their emails over the weekend, in which case its even more unreasonable you didn't!

On the face of it, the colleague seems in need of huge support, to the point of seeming mentally unhinged. It is so far from normal to send 50 emails to a senior member of staff over the course of 2 days and then ring them in hysterics late at night.

However the discrepancy between what you and her line manager thinks doesn't make sense. I also don't understand why you "didn't sleep all night" - surely after getting her phone call you read the emails, it sounds like it would be apparent there is nothing urgent, you've already told her to leave it until Monday- Why not take your own advice?

Someone, somewhere has failed this employee if she is unable to a) understand what jobs are time critical and which aren't and b) how to appropriately escalate things. Even if you aren't her direct manager, as a senior staff member you hold some responsibility for the people you hire and how they are trained, and also what your "on call" procedure is and whether staff are fully aware of it.

As a very basic guideline, I would probably expect a senior member of staff on call to briefly check their emails at least once or twice a day but it depends what your organisation's version is. I've worked with facilities managers who are pretty much "on call" 24/7 for issues with the building as in the first point of contact, but wouldn't expect to actually do anything 99% of the time, for example.

Again this should be clear in your on call/escalation policy.

You have very clear processes for "on call", the person did not follow them.

I don't understand what you mean by "hysterical", surely as someone senior, you just said to them to calm down, tell me the problem, informed them that they are not following process/speak to the oncall junior who can deal with this and you will speak to them on Monday about what the correct process is.

Then have a word with them on Monday about the processes. Speak to the line manager about a refresher comms to all staff about the call out process.

As a one off it is no big deal, if it happens repeatedly that is different.