My manager won't leave me alone on annual leave

Gillian_4

Can anyone advise?

I finished up Monday night on annual leave, I decide that due to my job I would mute all notification on social media, as this is how customers can contact us, I also muted our teamchat and my manager, he has messaged several times with nothing of importance and that due to me not responding, We will be having "chat" on return then provided to deleted me from out group chat.. 

I've responded late saying I have muted everything and will not be receiving notifications from messages sent to my personal phone, then tried to call me at 07.30... 

Is this normal, does anyone else have to put up with this? 

I know he will hold it against me for a long time coming but surely annual leave is annual leave??

Bradden

100% agree with you... holidays should be a break from work. If it was something urgent I can undersand having to contact you but not for anything which can wait until you return. How long have you worked there? If it's over 2 years I'd suggest standing firm and if the manager tries to take any action put in a grievance. 
My only other thought is whether you are using a personal or company phone? As you've said you use it for communicating with customers it should be a company phone (GDPR) which may make a difference e.g. if you company handbook stipulates that you must be contactable 24/7 if issued a work phone.

74jax

Why do you use your personal phone for work? Is it a work and a personal one? 
Are you on call over annual leave? Does your contract ask you to be available? 
Why did you reply if on annual leave - that's giving mixed messages I would have thought. 

How long have you been there and is this your first annual leave? 

Delete all work comms off your personal phone (unless contracted) and don't add them back on. 

Gillian_4

As its social media, we use desktops at work but have to sign in via our personal accounts to access the page..  this is why I have muted it so it doesn't come to me When off...all other staff members can Access it the same way..

I agree if urgent he could have called but it was WhatsApp messages.. 

I replied to him letting him know that everything was muted so didn't see any of the messages..

I have been working for 6 years in the shop..

Bradden

6 years employment put you in a strong position. Hopefully your manager will realise they are in the wrong and back down before you return - if not I'd suggest raising a grievance.

 You said you muted social media earlier.. is that on your phone? It's not really relevant.. it just may be something to bear in mind if the manager wants to prusue formal action you could use it in your defence. I understand that using a personal mobile phone to communicate with customers could breach your employer's obligations under GDPR.

Gillian_4

I muted the notification from the page, I don't respond to customer via my personal phone, only on the computer in store whilst working...

Bradden

Gillian_4 said:

I muted the notification from the page, I don't respond to customer via my personal phone, only on the computer in store whilst working...

Was this on your computer or mobile? Assuming it's your work PC I don't think it's relevant. 

Rading again it looks like your manager messaged you on holiday and you did not reply. He then kicked you from the group and said he'd have a chat. You then confirmed you would not respond to messages whilst on holiday which seems reasonable and they then tried to call you.


I'd suspect that if this went to a disciplinary, they wouldn't look great.

TELLIT01

There should be no need to contact staff who are on leave, even for 'urgent' matters.  It's the responsibility of management to ensure that there is adequate cover.  It is not acceptable to expect staff to provide that cover outside their contracted hours.

When the OP returns to work and has their 'chat', suggest to the manager that the provide them with a company mobile which they can leave at work unless specifically on-call.

DE_612183

you should really have a work social media account - are we talking facebook, twitter, insta, tiktok ?

Marcon

If you work in a shop, why would anyone need to contact you while you are on leave (save for a genuine emergency, which given your place of work, should be extremely rare)?

Sounds like your manager needs a reality check, probably best delivered by ensuring you have a mutual understanding of what happens when you, or other members of staff, are on annual leave. Just make sure you don't give mixed messages - have you, for instance, effectively 'made yourself available' by responding to messages or calls when you've been on annual leave before? If so, how would your manager know you've changed your approach?

B0bbyEwing

Gillian_4 said:

As its social media, we use desktops at work but have to sign in via our personal accounts to access the page..  this is why I have muted it so it doesn't come to me When off...all other staff members can Access it the same way..

I agree if urgent he could have called but it was WhatsApp messages.. 

I replied to him letting him know that everything was muted so didn't see any of the messages..

I have been working for 6 years in the shop..

I needed to provide an email to my employer when we shifted to email payslips. 

I give them nothing personal - so I created an email address that is purely used for receiving payslips and if I have to contact them or they contact me. If I'm on annual leave then this account doesn't even get looked at.

They have, at times, asked for my mobile phone number. I've told them they don't need it. They can have my landline, which I've given them, but again if they call while I'm on annual leave then it doesn't get answered. 

I know some like to have their employees on a leash & control what they do every second of every day but it's down to the employee to stand firm (unless their have some contractual agreement where they'll be on call in such a situation for whatever reason they would've signed to agree to something like that).