Lack of communication, rude or unprofessional?

[Creativebee]

We have a WhatsApp group set up for staff (very small amount of staff, 5), main purpose is to be able to get messages to everyone at the same time and quickly as many don’t read their emails.
Two of the staff don’t respond at all, I have said several times that they don’t have to respond with a huge reply but a thumbs up would suffice so that I know they have got the message.
On Friday, after everyone had gone home, there was a major incident that could have had serious consequences, when brought to staff attention in the WhatsApp group chat not one replied (the incident was due to someone’s lack of care). I am so annoyed as the incident could have been catastrophic (think major safety issue). How do I deal with their lack of communication and am I wrong in asking to have some form of
communication? I asked everyone what would be best and they all agreed on WhatsApp and I said it would be used for letting everyone know if we need to close due to isolation, if anything in the calendar changes after they have left so they know, if an assessor will be visiting last minute or if there’s a major incident.
Do I just accept that they don’t read or respond to messages and there is nothing I can do about it? I find it quite unprofessional (and rude) and I’m worried that I am going to be thinking about their lack of responses when completing reviews.

I think if it’s work related then tell me in work time
I don’t need to know about work when I’m at home
It’s really important to have a good work- life balance and expecting people to read and respond to work messages outside work is rude and unprofessional
I actually think it’s you who has the problem

I agree with PP. Work issues should be sorted out in work time and it's on you as the person in the position with more responsibility (from the sounds of your post) to sort out.

I personally probably would have responded but equally I have a young child and the expectation of me having to reply or being punished for it doesn't sit well.

Thank you, I appreciate your replies. The staff are all under 20, no children or other commitments but that doesn’t mean they should answer (I was just saying not meaning “well they have no other commitments so they should be working!” I really don’t mean that at all). Also when they have messaged me, I have always been quick to reply, even late on weekends although I do have a young family but I’m old school and also find it hard to switch off from work.
The job is such that I could get an email at 5pm (staff finish at 4-4.30) saying we are due a visit (officials/ government bodies) staff would have already left, so do I just let them know when they see them in the morning?
I want to change this and my expectations and would appreciate how to deal with the above scenario

Was it something one then did / didn’t do? Or did the message sound that way? Would explain why nobody knows how to respond..

Definitely agreed with others. I would be very annoyed if I was expected to respond to work communications outside of work hours. Deal with it next time people come into work.

Why are you contacting them outside of work hours?

You need to change the way that you are working with them

Everything should be dealt with during work hours, unless something critical happens and there needs to be communication outside of these hours. And by critical I mean life and death

Everything else can wait

I hate staff WhatsApp groups... bad enough that I can check my emails on my phone but to be pinged on WhatsApp all the time..

Also should you be discussing sensitive work info over WhatsApp?

We are not allowed to discuss details on WhatsApp only over work emails.

Thank you for all the replies, I realise that it’s actually me that’s being unprofessional!
The WhatsApp group will not be used and we will go back to emails (emails which will only be sent during the working day), staff can reply to their emails when they can.
I need to apologise to them tomorrow for messaging after they had gone home on Friday.
This is all new to me so I appreciate the advice.

It was after work hours so I dont think you can have any expectation that they eother read or respond to the message.
If they message you out of hours then ignore it.
I came out of my work whatsapp group, if my employer wants me to use social media as a rputine form of communication then they can provide me with a phone.

If it was that big an incident ( or potential incident) I really don’t think what’s app would be the appropriate forum. Do you supply phones or are they using their personal phones. What’s app groups can be great for informal communication but shouldn’t be used for anything else. I wouldn’t necessarily check a work what’s app out of working hours. If you want acknowledgement of messages use a more formal forum

I think if there is something in the company that requires out of hours monitoring and fixing, then the company needs an explicit plan for how this will be achieved, reporting and response routes that are appropriately staffed and written into contracts.

If it’s a 9-5normal job, you can’t expect people to respond to work emails and messages out of hours.

What did you want from them?

If they needed to take action - outside working hours - was it clear what action who needed to take?
If it was for information, did you need to reply outside working hours?

I think you may be mixing up urgent - act now - with important - must be known and acknowledged.

If you need action out of working hours, I wouldn't recommend a passive contact like group chat / email. You need to phone individuals. And you need agreement on what kind of emergency justifies you phoning out of hours - maybe that's not justifiable at all.
Also unless major incident was no-ones fault or everyone's fault equally, start any important discussion with individual concerned. They may be sitting there wondering what you want them to do. Acknowledging isn't action. They shouldn't have to watch you honing in on whoever is to blame.

Do they need to take action, urgently? If so, contact them differently outside work time and tell them so.

Don't expect them to reciprocate your weekend availability - that's unfortunately often useful for managers but I think you may be spreading the misery at bit.

That's all I can think of with the info you've given us. You sound like a kind manager. I'd move to urgent action only comms at weekends and remember that if it's not obvious what they need to do, it's not urgent.

If you're messaging outside of their working hours then you absolutely cannot expect any kind of reply.

If you start pushing about it, or drag them in to "discuss" their lack of reply, you could find yourself being sued. You cant harass your workers outside of their working hours and you cannot take any action against them for not replying.

Also, whatever the incident was, you handled that totally wrong.

You don't send out a group message about something one person has done, especially if there is a chance the others could identify them and you've made it a group chat and are expecting them all to reply in the group chat where everyone can see. What you did was bullying.

The correct way to handle that is a one to one meeting with the person responsible during their working hours. You give them a warning etc.

You then send out a group memo confirming the correct process and ask that everyone follows this. If anyone wants to reply then they can so do and it is private.

You're bullying your staff.

Of course, notifying them on whatsapp if you wont be opening the following day due to isolation then that's different. But that's really the only thing that acceptable.

You need to set up a proper out of ours system if out of hours work is required. An on-call rota or something, with pay being changed to reflect that.

Or set up a new policy that first thing at 9am, they must check and reply to emails from you regarding any last minute changes to the day. Or you have a meeting at 9am each morning to say what last minute things are happening that day.

Yeah I’m with the others it’s really not ok to be messaging staff when they are at home and getting pissed off expecting an answer. You don’t own these people and they are likely not very highly paid, you deal with your issues in working hours. Stop bothering them out of hours it is unacceptable,

Also your comment that you will be thinking of their lack of response when you do their reviews is horrendous, it’s spiteful and bordering on bullying, like you want to give them a bad work review if they aren’t available to you at all hours.

Does your manager know what you’re doing to them and how you’re treating people?

Agree it would be absolutely reasonable to require staff to check email x times per day - you'll know best but e.g. once before 10, again after 3 and before leaving for the day. Not checking company email regularly isn't professional, so sounds like you inherited a tough set-up. Do they not hear from clients / service users by email

Don't feel too bad about this - just say you've realised you need a new Comms structure, give them clear instructions and observe clear boundaries. Make it work for you - it's okay to make reasonable demands.

@Bluntness100

Also your comment that you will be thinking of their lack of response when you do their reviews is horrendous, it’s spiteful and bordering on bullying, like you want to give them a bad work review if they aren’t available to you at all hours.

Does your manager know what you’re doing to them and how you’re treating people?

I'd skimmed over that. That is awful. And another example of your bullying them.

@Creativebee
There are some very good management courses. I strongly suggest you put yourself onto one. In just a couple of posts, you've shown 2 examples of workplace bullying but you think they're the rude and unprofessional ones.
I know you've said that you've realised it is actually you who is the problem but I doubt that a few replies on mumsnet is going to transform your management style from bullying and unprofessional into sleek, controlled management. You obviously dont have the ability to identify where you're going wrong without someone telling you so you need help. Go on a management course.

Sounds like you need to be paying someone to be "on call" to deal with out of hours issues.

You have to pay them for this. And have a suitable contract.

We have a works what's app, if any messages come through before 9/after 5, I delete the notification and don't read it until it's work time.

I don't have children but still highly value a work life balance.

@Creativebee - well done on seeing this isn't the best way to communicate with staff.

I am ashamed of the way I have behaved, there is no excuse for it. I have been under an immense amount of stress and my judgment on this situation was way off the scale.
I am new to this role and I need to definitely look at a management course because the last thing I would want is to create an environment full of hate for the job.
I need to learn how to switch off myself too and how to really be a good manager, I’ve made a mistake but a big one and it needs addressing.
I really appreciate everyone’s advice, I believe strongly that no matter where we are in the ranks we should always self reflect and everyone has helped me do that and I’ve definitely avoided another big mistake.
Thank you

@Creativebee

Thank you for all the replies, I realise that it’s actually me that’s being unprofessional! The WhatsApp group will not be used and we will go back to emails (emails which will only be sent during the working day), staff can reply to their emails when they can. I need to apologise to them tomorrow for messaging after they had gone home on Friday. This is all new to me so I appreciate the advice.

that's such a lovely response and great to see -

WhatsApp can be used, but to be used properly. You can't expect a reply from people outside of working hours.

Also did your message actually need a response- was it a bit of a telling off and being told to be careful/not do it again. I see little point in responding with "ok" - would you do this in an email format because i wouldn't?

You would have read and taken in the message and that's it done.

Also on WhatsApp in group messages you can view who has read the message - even if their notifications for this are turned off for 1-1 chats.