People demanding quick reply to emails and Teams calls

[Tennyy]

Where I work there seems to be an expectation set by some people that you just reply to emails straight away or answer an unexpected Microsoft Teams calls straight away. Not all people put the pressure on but some do. these enquiries are not even urgent but some people can be quite aggressive in their emails to say it it

I find it very stressful as I plan my day out to complete set tasks. I am having to stop and drop what I am doing and get stuck in an email conversation back and forward. I feel the time I have booked in my calendar is not reflective as I have these unexpected queries to deal with which have not been accounts for. Do you deal with these things at a later time? Trying to multitask is stressful and does not work for me.

If an issue requires a conversation (ie. several back and forths) I completely refuse to do that by email. I say call me, or I'll call you.

You found rather inflexible. It’s normal in many office jobs to answer urgent emails or answer phone / video calls.

Yeah this, it’s a normal part of most jobs I’d say. If this is part of usual business where you are, you need to find a way to make it work for you.

My advice would be if an email exchange is multiple emails in quick succession just pick up the phone, have the convo, then send a brief email outlining what was agreed. You still have an email audit trial but save yourself the back and forth.

I don't think expecting instant responses to e-mails is reasonable.

But, if I call someone on teams, providing they are showing as available, I would expect them to answer. I'm calling because I need a quick response. Different tools are there for different reasons.

I would be frustrated if people were e-mailing and expecting an immediate response. If an urgent response is required, that is what teams or phones are for.

Are you remote and everyone else not? I think that has a bearing sometimes.

If someone calls me on Teams, I answer unless I'm in a meeting or in the loo. It is inconvenient but I don't get loads, maybe 5 calls a day? But I'm remote and most of my colleagues aren't so i think it's part of my job really to be available when they need me.

If it's more then yeah i can see how it disturbs the flow of work. Can you put dnd on for crucial bits? I do that sometimes.

Emails I think it's a bit rude to want an instant response tbh. That's what Teams is for I think.

In general if I get a teams call unexpectedly I do answer it. That’s just part of work. Although I understand that it can be a pain when you’re stuck into something.

Can you set yourself as do not disturb during focused task time? And re-work your schedule to have set blocks for email time so you’re at least getting back to people semi-quickly?

The etiquette where I work is to send a teams message asking if it is ok to call now, or to agree a later time. I don’t think anyone calls without first checking it’s ok.

What is your job and how do you plan your time. Surely you would factor these urgent requests in. I do accounts so it is quite easy for me to do a task, stop and answer something urgent easily. If I'm doing something bigger like payroll or month end accounts, the person has to wait till I'm done. I review my inbox sporadically throughout my day. How can you encompass this into your day.

When you're planning your day, do you have a few slots available in the calendar to focus on respond to emails, make yourself available for ad hoc calls etc? Responding to stuff like this is part of most jobs so you need to plan it in.

When you need to focus, set Teams to Do Not Disturb and switch off your email notifications. I don't suppose anyone will object as long as you have clear points throughout the day when you are available and contactable.

Same where I work

In my office, you would be expected to juggle workload and deal with Teams calls and messages pretty much immediately. Email responses are less urgent, but priorities are often changing so you would be expected to keep an eye on incoming emails in case something more urgent came up during the day.

Those people who expect to start and finish one task before starting the next wouldn’t get very far.

A lot is going to depend on what your job is.

Having said that many people goninto the office early/work late to get time when they are not interrupted.

If part of your job is explicitly answering queries then obviously you need to do so.

I work in a job dealing with the public so there is lots of admin and we have internal inquiries too. It is not the public who are demanding. Our team is not adequately staffed and the organisation have ignored our concerns. I will just have to save a slot in my calendar to deal with these enquiries each day and if other work gets delayed they need to be realistic. Not everything single thing can be done straight away.

I am old school and find it very annoying when the juniors message me on Teams along the lines of:

Hello X
(next message)
Hope you're ok
(next message)
I've got a question about ....
(next message)
Can I phone you?
(next message)
some sort of emoji

I keep saying for them just to call. If I'm too busy I'll either not answer (it's not like the old days when you had no idea who was phoning) or will answer and tell them I'll phone back.

Slightly off point from the OP though, sorry.

Before teams if your phone rang and you weren't busy you'd answer it so i don't know why answering a teams call is an issue really.
Emails shouldn't be urgent but that depends on your job. Teams messages should be a one liner to make you aware of something and shouldn't replace email for anything longer or anything actually important.

@GU24Mum you made me laugh. It's exactly like that isn't it

Watching the dots, willing them to get to the point

I know what you mean OP

Sometimes my manager will be saying 'can you reply to X' and the email just came in! It's all thus working in a fast paced environment while you work yourself into the ground crap.

I now assert boundaries and priorities and have had no complaints yet

I am glad someone understands how tough it is being expected to burn yourself out. I always go above and beyond my job role but boundaries need putting in place.

This sounds reasonable.

@Tennyy can you send a general email out explaining you are finding some non-urgent teams calls are interfering with time you've blocked out to focus on completing a demanding or time-sensitive task, and would it be possible to book a set check in time each day (e.g. just before or after lunch break) to cover minor queries as they crop up, or to send an availability request first?

Multi-tasking is known to be a very inefficient way for lots of people to work. Better to focus, in flow, on one task at a time. Quick catchup meetings at the start, middle and/or end of each day to cover incidental stuff is more productive use of time.

I don't know how Teams works, but it sounds from here as if you can mark yourself available or not; if so then mark yourself not available when you need to not be disturbed.
And just shut down your email when you're not actively using it, so you don't get notifications or reflexively check it.

Ignore those saying you're not flexible enough or it's just part of a job to drop everything to reply to people; you know best how you work and what is urgent and what needs proper, focused attention.

I work on public transport but my employer has a huge Corporate side and they work very differently to me. I have my mobile phone and radio, and work outside a lot away from my iPad (too heavy to carry around) or desktop. So it annoys me when an office bod sends me an email, then when not getting an immediate response, sends a Teams message. I work anywhere on site, I have better things to do than answer your query when dealing with a safety matter or assisting someone with extra needs. If it's that urgent, (and it usually isn't) then ring the station mobile phone.

I always answer emails straight away (if I'm able, which is 99% of the time) but Teams calls I do not answer unless it's been agreed in advance. To be fair, everyone at my work knows this is the case and everyone always asks each other if they can call before they actually do it. It's just polite.

People who

Use send

As punctuation

Drive me fucking

Spare.

Honestly, I'd just check in with what your bosses expectations are on this aligning with how you are expected to deal with things as a unit/company.

When I'm busy I log out of my emails so my concentration isn't disturbed, and when I've finished I log back on again. Very restful.