If you wfh/hybrid, how often do you hear from your manager/get 'checked up on' when wfh? Feeling suffocated

[lastforever]

I used to speak to them maybe every other day but always for a specific reason, now I feel like they're phoning me at least twice a day and mostly feels like i'm just being checked up on, no work issue just 'how are things? What are you working on? Anything you need?' It sounds supportive but it's starting to get annoying.

I don't think i've given them any reason to need to check up on me, my work is getting done like normal, I'm always at my desk working when i'm supposed to be, I copy them in on emails and stuff like normal, they can see i'm working.

The only thing I can think of is that we are quieter and have lost a few staff so there are less of us to manage but is this normal? Are they just being supportive and i'm being grumpy or is this a bit much?

Also starting to feel like I have to run to the toilet and to make a drink so I don't get 'caught' away from my desk which feels ridiculous

Hmm. I am a manager and we all work from home. I speak to one team member at least once a day, the other, less so. But we will all say “.good morning” on messenger.

if I call and they aren’t there, they just drop a message when back at their desk saying “just getting a cuppa, shall I call you back” or whatever. You don’t need to rush!

If you were in the office, the odd “how are you getting on?” Wouldn’t be unreasonable.

When I work from home I only hear from my manager if there is something specific she wants to speak to me about. Otherwise nothing.

My manager would never ask me how I'm getting on if I was working in the office, unless there was some reason to!

Depending on the type of work you are doing I think a daily phonecall check in to see if there are any issues and/or to update on progress would seem reasonable to me.

My manager checks in once a week or so if we haven't crossed paths in the office as I go in once or twice a week

Maybe your manager's manager wants to know what she is doing on a daily basis to manage her team, so she is making sure she has stuff to report in.

Hybrid here.

Will physically see my manager / team members 1 or 2 days a week. On days when we are not in the office together I frequently have zero contact from them - i.e. manager doesn’t call / email/ Teams message me directly and I don’t contact my team either.

Other days it might be several times in one day, just depends on what we are working on. I don’t say hi / did you have good weekend etc unless I see someone in person or have contacted them about a work issue.

To be fair though, that's because our job roles are fairly separate and she checks in to make sure we're ok generally.

In previous jobs, I'd have spoken to managers 3 or 4 times a say.

We are all in one room so it would be weird to sit in silence all day 😀

We all sit in one room, but my manager never asks me "how I'm getting on" 😂

We speak most days about specific things and have fortnightly 1-to-1s but mine never messages me like that. Are they quite a new manager? Or do they not tend to be involved in stuff you’re working on?

I don't get checked up on really. We chat if we need to chat, otherwise we don't.

I wonder if they are worried about retention and feel they need to make sure you feel involved and 'part of the team'? Maybe some leavers have cited that as a reason to leave.

It’s constant. To the extent that it’s affecting my mental health and I have been signed off work. Still won’t leave me alone. I just want to get on with my work in peace.

I’ve just started a new post wfh. I’m going to have a 1:1 every two months.

I've had two fully WFH jobs since the start of COVID. The first one, my manager micro-managed to the point I actually quit. Messaging me multiple times a day, scrutinising every bit of work I did. My current one, we have a (brief) one to one once a week but he otherwise leaves me alone unless I have an issue or need support. I know which I prefer!

Other than my onboarding week, I’ve never been checked up on. My boss is ridiculously easy going, arguably to the extreme. Never once asked to see my work, doesn’t care when I turn up and he regularly turns up to the office at gone midday….

I'm a manager. We have a check in every Monday where we plan together for the week. Other than that on WFH days I only contact them if I need to. Same with my manager. She contacts me only if she needs to.

A phone call seems really over the top. Usually there are check in via messaging to ask the group - anyone need anything, how is it going - but usually specific to a task .

I would also find that way too much. I would probably ask her what her concern is that is driving the need to so closely monitor you. You are an adult who can reach out if you have a need and if progress is hampered, eother side can address the specific issue.

Ha, my boss is similar. He's a new manager and trying to do things properly so we do have scheduled one to ones but they generally last for more like 5 mins than the scheduled hour, with him mostly just chatting about his kid. And he's blocked out the first 3 hours of every day on Outlook to look after aforementioned kid so he's offline if anyone wants to get in touch. Suits me, I don't feel too guilty if I'm a bit late in or take a long lunch or whatever haha

We have daily update. But it's with the whole team and everyone has to talk about what they have done, what they are planning to do today and what problems they have encountered.

Have a one to one once a week. Sometimes we crossover on certain meetings. Otherwise we teams chat as and when needed. We probably speak most days tbh, but I don't feel checked up on as it's always a question or asking me to do something.

We have a weekly check in but otherwise I only speak to my manager on project calls. We're an experienced, national team pretty much working from home exclusively and this is the norm for us.

I'd be really put out of rhythm if I started getting frequent calls from my manager.

I work 4 days. WFH two out of those four although I don't always stay in the office the whole day. I have never had a phone call from anyone in the 12 years I've worked there (although only been hybrid since Covid)
My manager 'checks in ' when I'm at home but only in the form of an email and its very casual. We are on a chat system (that is everyone in the company - but we have chat groups for different work groups) and are expected to be available for response if someone posts something. However my manager isn't really a fan of those.

He works full time but does 3h of childcare a day?