Regularly contacted by employer on holiday...best course of action to take?

wuckfit

If the company is not capable of recruiting staff with the basic office skills required to follow instructions such as 'insert graph here' and with the common sense to know to remove the placeholder text then either they're not paying enough to attract staff with these skills or they have a very poor recruitment veting. This is pretty basic stuff to be honest.
Perhaps a practical assessment of the prospective employees with just that very example you gave as it's basis might be the answer? If they can't insert a graph, or fail to check the document fully, then it's "thanks, but no thanks" surely? (Even when I went for a job in a record shop there was a test to make sure that we were capable of alphabetical filing. )

AnthonyMiller

It doesn't matter how much you're paid.

Everyone needs a holiday for their own mental health.

I think you could legitimately take a (carefully selected) week off without it all falling apart.
If you can't then there's something wrong with your business.
And you should ask yourself questions like
"Am I carrying people?"

No one is indispensable and if you never take your hands off the steering wheel they wont ever learn to cope without you.
The more available you make yourself the more people will demand of you.
Really by answering the phone on holiday you're not just doing your job ...
...you're doing their job.

The art of leadership is delegation.
If you can never delegate your business can never grow.

So you might lose a client ... it's better than losing your sanity.
What are you working for if you can't have a proper holiday?

One simple trick is to have a work phone and a personal phone and keep them separate
and switch over when you're on working hours and when you're not.
If you have no boundaries you will lose your sanity.

Ultimately it doesn't matter how much money the company give you
- you cannot have a sex life with a company...

Zazen999

I have typed out a long response but just deleted it; I think you need to start from scratch - redefine boundaries - state what you will and won't accept - build a team that looks out for you, checks out each other's work - and can manage without you - time management so that you can go on leave without the constant urgencies...it's your responsibility to find the right people, or train and manage the ones that you have inherited.

In all honesty - it's the manager's job to build the team up from whatever they have....to whatever they need. It's not the team that let a report go out like that, it's your pre-work that let it happen.....whether it is you not expressing what was required [standard wise] or you not making clear what happens when they muck about and don't take work seriously.

I suspect you need management skills - if you are letting the basics like this go on in your team.

It's not your company's fault that you have failed to build a team that covers your back, whether you are there or on holiday.

xycom1

Deleted_User wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback and thoughts. It's an interesting one isn't it: what is reasonable?

What I would say is that I'm a manager, so I get that this comes with responsibilities, but I'm also an employee, so that comes with more rights. And to be honest, I'm more of an employee than a manager - my division is very small and all work channels through me.

I really don't want to sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet, but the issue is that I am an authority in the field in which I work, which is why my company hired me. They wanted to build a team around me in the field in which I work, using my knowledge and experience to deliver really good work for clients, but the problem is that my expertise is the product of years of experience that you can't just train someone up in. We've been recruiting since January, but really it has been fruitless. Many many applicants, but no-one that ticks all the boxes or comes even close.

In practice I would suggest that I'm lower down the food chain than you think in terms of the company though, which is where the problem lies. My division is small and so because all works goes through me, I'm often the only one that can do the work; those below me can't do it on their own.

I get that I may be contacted out of office hours, but 5 days out of 9 while on holiday?

And finally...I should add that actually I don't have a huge problem with it MYSELF, but it's more my other half who is concerned. I do think it's having an effect on our relationship as every time we go on holiday, I get contacted and asked to work. She's asked me whether I'll be working on our honeymoon...

I would expect to be double paid to be honest if you are taking paid holidays at the same time as essentially being on-call.

With the greatest of respect to your other half, I'd tell her to !!!!!! unless she wanted to be the breadwinner?

pimento

xycom1 wrote: »

With the greatest of respect to your other half, I'd tell her to !!!!!! unless she wanted to be the breadwinner?

I'd sue them if I were you.

DCFC79

Id buy a cheapy pay as you go phone and give the new number to the employer and turn the dam phone off when on holiday, its not your fault the team isnt up to speed, there should be someone who is experienced to cover whilst your away

Zazen999

DCFC79 wrote: »

its not your fault the team isnt up to speed, there should be someone who is experienced to cover whilst your away

Sorry - but it kinda is as he is the 'manager'...

Savvy_Sue

Deleted_User wrote: »

I can't. It's my personal phone which a) I may want friends and family to reach me on, but b) I have been told quite specifically by work that I need to be available in case of 'work emergency' and that I should take my phone with me...

In fact, it's insisted on. The problem is that it's insisted on from a 'we'll only contact you in an emergency' tone which ends up as a 'this is an emergency....' contact...

If the company is insisting that you be contactable in an emergency, then the company should be supplying a work mobile. When you choose to switch it on, and when you choose to check emails, and what you state your preference for 'emergency' contact is, is up to you!

wuckfit wrote: »

If the company is not capable of recruiting staff with the basic office skills required to follow instructions such as 'insert graph here' and with the common sense to know to remove the placeholder text then either they're not paying enough to attract staff with these skills or they have a very poor recruitment veting. This is pretty basic stuff to be honest.
Perhaps a practical assessment of the prospective employees with just that very example you gave as it's basis might be the answer? If they can't insert a graph, or fail to check the document fully, then it's "thanks, but no thanks" surely? (Even when I went for a job in a record shop there was a test to make sure that we were capable of alphabetical filing. )

Indeed, a few minutes of final proof reading would surely have dealt with that lot, wouldn't it?

I wonder if you're advertising in the right places? Doesn't sound like it to me. And tbh, your analysis of what you need doesn't sound as if it would be beyond the competence of a bright business graduate who's also spent way too long online in their short life. Or is that just me being cynical and jaded? Sure, you'd need to train them, but it doesn't sound like rocket science!

Kajimba

Deleted_User wrote: »

Yes - it's complicated.

Part of what I do is provide analysis for companies who want to understand what users online are saying about their product, brand, competitors etc, but specifically from a PR/crisis comms perspective. So the candidate needs to be fully familiar with online PR, social media, online marketing etc.

But at the same time they need to be excellent researchers capable of in-depth thinking about trends, consumer behaviours, demographics and ethnographics etc, so we're looking for someone who has experience within the market research industry too.

But at the same time (third time), the best people are those who have worked in an online environment, either in eCommerce, or running an online site/community, which adds a third dimensions to the role.

It's really quite niche. As the saying goes (paraphrased): good research skills, strong online knowledge, experience with PR - pick any two! People tend to have quite siloed careers in these areas.

Are you recruiting these as full or part-time positions?
I know a lot of PhD students that would fit these specifications, but they would n't be allowed to take up a full-time position.

Almo

wuckfit wrote: »

If the company is not capable of recruiting staff with the basic office skills required to follow instructions such as 'insert graph here' and with the common sense to know to remove the placeholder text then either they're not paying enough to attract staff with these skills or they have a very poor recruitment veting. This is pretty basic stuff to be honest.
Perhaps a practical assessment of the prospective employees with just that very example you gave as it's basis might be the answer? If they can't insert a graph, or fail to check the document fully, then it's "thanks, but no thanks" surely? (Even when I went for a job in a record shop there was a test to make sure that we were capable of alphabetical filing. )

I agree. Failure to remove your instructions is not a result of being trained in other areas as you suggest, but pure idiocy on the part of those staff.