Apparently I Work Too Quickly!

[LuckysDadsHat]

So I have been in my job for 6 years, in all my appraisals and 1-1s I have had great performance feedback, said I am the best admin manager they have had etc.....

Until 2 weeks ago when a more senior colleague (not my line manager but a higher grade than me in the team) has complained that I work too quickly and this causes them stress. I don't even know what to do with this feedback. The way I work is to prioritise team tasks over other longer ongoing work I have to do as and when they come in. So someone may email me for something while I am doing longer term work and I will prioritise the new work, get it done and send it back.

Apparently this makes them feel stressed that I am replying so quickly, or answering emails quickly etc..... It makes them feel like they shouldn't email me.

I honestly don't know where to go with it, and I am now thinking of looking elsewhere for a job even though I love my current role. I just can't change my way of working. I am diligent, get the job done quickly and efficiently and the team is in a lot better position from when I started.

Any advice?

Honestly unlike others on the thread I do slightly understand what your senior colleague means - my boss is an instant email replier and it does stress me out a little bit - I can know he's working on something much more important that requires concentration and he'll still stop what he's doing to reply instantly to my or someone else's non urgent/non important email. He does it even if I say at the start that it isn't urgent and doesn't need a quick reply. Sometimes he replies so quickly I don't understand how he's had the time to read my message properly and understand/think about the issue and formulate a response, so desperate is he to 'clear off' his emails.

It makes me feel (a) as though I also have to reply instantly to every email from him, even where that isn't my preferred way of working and (b) as though I have to avoid sending him emails at times when I know he's working on something else, so managing his priorities and workload as well as mine, even though the whole point of email in my mind vs phoning or walking over to him is that he can read and respond to the email later on when he's finished what he's doing right now. I know he would say that this is somewhat a me problem but we do have a definite team problem where a lot of the longer term/more complex work never gets done, or gets done really slowly, and I think a lot of the problem is the fact the team culture now is to constant stopping and starting and 'just quickly' deal with not urgent stuff like replying to emails rather than dedicating protected time to more important things. I think Boss (and by extension, others) sometimes use emails as a bit of an avoidance tactic to delay doing the harder work. Are you absolutely sure you are getting through your other work as well as you could if you didn't do this thing of replying to everything else

I do also sometimes tactically ask our PAs/admin staff to take a bit of time with things like setting up follow up meetings or circulating minutes or actions from meetings - I do this because if we've had a bit of a difficult situation or contentious conversation, setting off loads of email chains and back and forths even if it's just agreeing the minutes or the venue of the next meeting means the whole problem just keeps doing and never dies, whereas if we leave it a few days everyone has cooled down and moved on - I don't think this stresses our PAs out and I'm always really clear with them that it's my instruction and not them being slow but maybe I should check in with them!

I manage people and at times when they say they are overwhelmed or I suspect they are on the verge of burnout (some higher functioning autistic members can do a LOT but then burn out fast) I have told them to do less, be slower etc. Because people are giving you this because you will do it quickly so stop doing it quickly and you will get less stuff. For others it can be a mechanism to kick the ball to someone else’s park to buy time and your efficiency is not allowing them to do this process. Which is fine. Shouldn’t be your problem.

If there’s no back story like that then just ignore them or use schedule send to delay send by a few hours/ half day or whatever is appropriate.

Thanks everyone. Some good options been suggested and I will update after my 1-1.

I think I am going to go with the delayed send option until my meeting, that way it's out of my hair and I can carry on at the speed I normally work at.

This has just been something that I never thought anyone could complain about. It's just the way I have always worked. My brain is very good at organisation and prioritising.

Ignore ignore ignore.

Let them deal with their own issue, it's not your problem.

They could be dragging you down to their level of laziness or incompetence, or maybe .... other people getting their work done in a timely fashion when they're struggling is really a thing.

It's definitely not something I would give headspace to.

Maybe they need to find a less stressful working environment.

I am very sure that all my work short and long term are getting done. I work in a compliance type department so it has no choice but to be done. So that is why I am very sure! It's just some things can take longer rather than a lot of the day to day things do need sorting quickly.

I hear your point of view, but you can't expect everyone to work like you. I have team members who take forever to reply to stuff but I never chase or ask them to change. This can be a bit stressful when it is holding stuff up but I would never verbalise that to them. So why should quick workers change?

Just to add, when I sometimes worked hours at the weekend to keep on top of my workload and certain people would remark on receiving my emails sent over the weekend, I'd store my outgoing messages as drafts then ping them out on Monday morning.

OP you are like me. I like to get my work done and put asap unless good reason.
I was dealing with my work lawyer negotiating things with the local health board. I would reply to emails very quickly as would she but the health board lawyer took 2 months to reply to things. Nearly cost us a lot of money!

My son in law has taken a temporary job with Tesco's and in training being told to slow down as he's finishing his work too soon.
Drives me mad!

Yes, this is what I think is happening.

Instead of you doing the delayed send, why doesn't she delay the opening of the message!

Yes, that is annoying. BUT, I'd argue that in a support role, it's quite normal to deliver in slightly different formats for different people. I work in comms. I'm in the process of writing a press release for a client. I am writing it slightly differently to how I would usually do it because this client has quite specific preferences.

So this person doesn't like work delivered as soon as it's done, but perhaps on a deadline or whatever. Part of your work output now is to adapt to that. It is ridiculous, but it's a relatively easy fix I think?

Speak with your line manager. Something you need to consider is the impact changing your working method for one person might have on your overall working schedule ?

Effectively what this person is saying is that I want to send you an e mail then I can ignore that piece of work for 24 hours - it doesn't suit her to get an immediate response. She is trying to use you to manage her workflow - she can just as easily park your e mails for the 24 hours if she receives a reply and not open it immediately.

I work the same way as you OP. I'd be pushing back on the suggestion that I change my way of working for one person. I wouldn't be opening myself up to any suggestions that I didn't do something on time, because of having to put a delayed send on it, for zero good reason.

Plus it would drive me nuts remembering to do the delayed send. I want the work done and completely out of my hands.

This is definitely a 'them' problem.
I'd request that they give a deadline date for each item of work that they request.

Then, I'd set up a TEAMS or shared folder where you put all the work for this person, and then just put a 'completed' folder in there and direct them to that each time they ask for something. Then it tracks when it was done and it is up to them to go find it when they are ready.

Same. They’d be dropped right to the bottom of my list. But I can be petty as well.

Their comment about wanting to send you work after they think you have finished for the day exposes them. They just want to point the finger at you for delays. A few colleagues have a bit of a tendency to send quick queries through late, but if I am working from home I often work fairly late so can ping my reply back almost straight away. Most people are appreciative but I suspect one or two are not so keen. One very senior colleague has occasionally commented on the time of an email but they are an early riser, so I just delay an evening email until 7.30am.

Do the work. Draft the email. Schedule it to go out whenever you think the other party will want it, eg 72 hours, a week or wait for an email prompt from them, which can instantly reply with the draft you did ages ago.

Or change how you prioritise the work as suggested, making sure you don't get distracted from the longer term work and only doing the short term work in set periods in the week.

If they don't want a reply for x period of time THEY can use delay send...

Except they won't, because they won't be able to blame you for the delay.

I'd make my line manager aware - and change nothing.

I got told that the level of work I complete is demotivating to my team members 😂
people can be ridiculous

I would reply to this individual and say ‘to support your work preferences (or whatever); when you send tasks over to me please can you include in the email when you would like it completing for’.
Then, do the work whenever you want but schedule send it for when she wants it. It’s always there in your drafts should it ever be needed sooner.
If she doesn’t put a date on; you send it when you want.
And you’ve got an email chain saying you are treating her differently because she wants you to and you’ve asked her to let you know how to support her best.

Sounds like the line manager needs to review Eisenhowers Matrix to see how prioritising take works!

Take no notice, work at the speed of your own priorities

I have to wonder how this "more senior colleague" got to be more senior when their modus operandi is to apparently sit on their dozy arse and whine about others who are more organised and productive than they are.
It's plain envy about your efficiency.

Blimey! The company only needs a few more like this lazy so-and-so and it would be filing for administration in a fortnight!

I do get what they mean. Sometimes I send an email asking for something or other thinking to myself they’ll probably reply in a day or two which suits me but reply comes back immediately! So annoying 😂
And sometimes it means you have to action it quickly too… grrrr! You can’t just say you are awaiting a response as your excuse 😂

I would just carry on as you are but delay send or put in your draft folder and send next day or whatever.

If someone instantly replies to me I often wonder if they have any work to do so maybe be mindful of that 😁 I’m very efficient and organised (if I do say so myself) and I block time out to reply to emails and messages etc. It is very rare that something is so urgent everything needs to be dropped for it and research shows that the amount of time it takes your brain to focus after being distracted by an email/ message is disproportionate compared to how long you spent dealing with the thing that came in.

Absolutely crazy! I had this in my last job, and I was told by colleagues that I was too speedy and professional. I suggested that maybe they should up their game!

This is because it makes them look inefficient. If management ask what is taking so long on x task then it’s a good idea to have a firm grasp of timelines. I’m just waiting on y to reply to z or y took two days to complete z so we are running a day behind schedule.

It is good to have a bouncy email in my organisation. I reply quickly either with completed work, a timeline for completion or a prioritisation request if I think it will take too long and delay other work.

In my last job there was an unwritten rule that things were replied to the next day unless prioritised. This is because our time was minuted and charged to clients. We had a general admin time block first thing that could be used for responding to emails.