A reader writes:
I handle a workforce of 5 people who find themselves the consulting arm of a broader analytics workforce. We’ve the phrase “accomplice” in our position intentionally since we’re the customer-facing portion of the workforce and chargeable for being on the frontlines, understanding our buyer wants, responding to questions and new requests, and being thought companions.
Because the pandemic, our firm has switched to utilizing Slack as our major mode of communication. One other workforce member and I are on the west coast, whereas the opposite three are on the east coast. We’re a primarily west coast firm. Most of our companions are on the west coast and sometimes use Slack to ask questions and make new requests of the workforce.
Certainly one of my latest workforce members, who joined about six months in the past, places her Slack standing as perpetually “away” to be able to by no means inform if she’s on-line or not. I waited a number of weeks to see if this was short-term, and when it appeared clear it was not, I requested her if this was intentional. She stated it was — that she didn’t need individuals to know if she was on-line as a result of she didn’t wish to really feel “arbitrary” stress to reply straight away or to have individuals Slack her constantly for pressing issues. I advised her that this being a client-facing position, it is very important sign when you’re out there / when you’re not, and that maybe she might try this by utilizing standing messages as an alternative. She advised me that was an excessive amount of effort for her, and she’s going to take into consideration what she will do as an alternative “that works greatest for her.” She additionally accused me of not respecting particular person work kinds/preferences/autonomy and never assuming good intent.
I used to be tremendous bowled over by all of that and fairly upset since I’m truly fairly a hands-off supervisor by nature and need to pressure myself to be extra prescriptive at instances (have been engaged on that with a coach!). I not often message her throughout the day or ship her time-sensitive requests, partially as a result of I assume she’s not out there or I received’t get a well timed response. I’ve additionally obtained suggestions that a few of our prospects don’t attain out to her as a result of she by no means seems to be on-line. Because of this, she is dealing with a smaller quantity of labor and requests than my different workforce members.After I talked about that wasn’t honest to the remainder of the workforce, she accused me of creating “pointless comparisons” between her and different workforce members.
My HR rep has confirmed it’s inside my purview to make signaling on-line availability a requirement of the position and has instructed I schedule a time to set team-wide norms and expectations, which I plan to do subsequent week. However generally, her response to me made me really feel like a complete jerk and a horrible supervisor. I’m additionally frightened that if I let her holding doing this, than there’s no motive I couldn’t let the remainder of my workforce accomplish that — and a client-facing workforce that seems perpetually offline can be an excellent unhealthy look.
Your workforce member is messing together with your head, and also you’re letting her.
It’s utterly affordable and solidly inside your purview to require that individuals not set themselves to perpetually unavailable on Slack — in any position, actually, however significantly in ones the place (a) prospects use Slack to contact them and/or (b) the workforce makes use of Slack as a major communication software. You’ve got each components in play. There’s nothing remotely heavy-handed about your request.
What is ridiculous is your worker’s announcement that being out there to colleagues and purchasers is “an excessive amount of effort” for her, and her try to border this as a you downside moderately than a her downside. To be clear: it’s a her downside. (And imagine me once I inform you that she’s going to be an issue in different methods too. For those who haven’t seen these but, brace your self for them to emerge — in actual fact, assume they’re already occurring and also you simply haven’t seen them but. For those who go digging into her dealings with coworkers and purchasers, you’re nearly definitely going to search out extra issues. Take this as an indication to dig.)
There are after all instances when it’s completely affordable for somebody to set their standing to “away” or “unavailable,” like after they want deep-focus time and wish to keep away from interruptions. But it surely’s not affordable to set it that approach 24/7 in a job that depends on Slack to speak.
Let her know what the necessities are for availability standing in your workforce, after which maintain her to that. If she needs to consider an alternate that works higher for her, she’s welcome to suggest one and you may think about whether or not it’s going to work or not, however till then she wants to point her availability and meet no matter responsiveness requirements your workforce requires. If that doesn’t work for her, then the job doesn’t work for her. Which might be completely nice for her to conclude! However she will’t count on to remain within the job and switch it into one thing it’s not.