Dear Colleagues: Social Etiquette During Downtime
By: Lindsay Bell
There’s been a lot of talk and very smart posts this month about social media etiquette, but much of it has revolved around B2B, B2C or personal online etiquette, like when trying to make new friends on the various social media platforms. But what about when you are engaging with your colleagues? Those of us who work directly in the social media realm understand the idea of an almost 24/7 world. Raise your hands, community managers and the like, if you’re checking your smartphone for possible community issues, even while out having drinks with friends, or sitting on the back deck with your kids on a sunny Saturday. Yup. Just as I thought. A sea of raised arms. But what about those colleagues of ours who don’t work on your community or social strategy team? Ever wonder what that email or DM sent at 11:36 p.m. says to them?
While researching this topic, I came across a blog by Radian6’s Online Marketing Manager Greg Poirier. He had written on this very subject, from his own personal perspective, and he graciously allowed us to share some of what he wrote here, on the Social Strategy Blog.
As he says, none of us are perfect, there will be times when we send out that late night email or Saturday morning DM and wonder later “Couldn’t that have waited until Monday?” His point is to start thinking about it. How that buzzing smartphone will undoubtedly make a colleague feel obligated to check in, even during down time. And if you become more conscious of your actions, step back and think “Do I really need to send this now?”, you will be showing your colleagues and coworkers some seriously karmic social media etiquette, as well as respect.
Here are a few rules to try and live by:
If you read emails late at night or during the weekend (most of us check in periodically), don’t automatically respond, unless it is an emergency or something you promised you would get out before the beginning of the next work day.
CELLPHONE CALLS
Don’t call someone’s cell during down time unless it’s an urgent matter, or they are on the road and you know this is their preferred way of being contacted. Don’t call the cell if it’s something that can wait until the next day – leave a voice mail on your colleague’s office phone instead.
RETURNING VOICE MAIL AND EMAIL
Try and return (work related) phone messages and email within 24 hours (except on weekends). But if you have sent an urgent email or voice mail during off hours, remember that the person on the other end might not check them as often, and/or might be doing something (wedding, funeral, beach?) where computers or cell phones are out of reach. Don’t bombard with continuous, more panicked calls and emails. Wait patiently for them to get back to you.
URGENT REQUESTS
Try and be considerate of your colleagues’ valuable down time, and don’t drop last minute things on them that a) can really, if you’re honest, wait another day and b) are only urgent and last minute because you yourself have been a bit lax and contributed to the ‘lateness’ of a project. Maybe that’s the time to go to your boss and say “hey, I messed up and now the project is going to be a day late. I can’t ask Stan to work all weekend because I dropped the ball.” Bets are that your boss will respect your honesty (though you might get a dressing down!) and your colleague will appreciate you stepping up and not dropping your ball in his lap for the weekend.
We’re all human beings. And sometimes we mess up. But non-urgent emails, DMs or cell phone calls during your co-workers’ down time helps create a culture, as Greg noted, where it’s assumed that people should work every night and on the weekend. And that is not a fair expectation.
What do you think? Can you share some “Social Etiquette Among Colleagues” tips that we’ve missed? Have you experienced any of the above? Please leave your thoughts and comments below.
Tags: Social Etiquette, Social Media
I have a difficult time with this, as I'm sure many of my counterparts do. I work with clients who often send emails outside of my hours. I'm usually caught between wanting to respond to them right there and then so they know I'm paying attention and wanting to ignore it until the next day. Sometimes I respond, sometimes I don't – it really depends on the situation. What I struggle with is this: Where is the line? Do I want my clients to know I'm "always ready to help", or do I want to send a loud-and-clear message that my hours are my hours? I have a husband and two sons, so sometimes responding to an email, though it only takes a few minutes, is a complete interruption. Other times it might just be returning an email, and not a big deal. Again, it depends on the situation.
I don't want to appear to be lagging behind their needs, but I also don't want to be "on call". It's a slippery slope, no question.
From my end, I don't send out emails outside of hours. I don't want to position myself as a nuisance, and I do feel it's a little rude to assume that everyone's keeping odd hours. Funny, isn't it, how I won't do it but will accept it from others?
Excellent blog that needs to be shared. I have often felt obligated to reply right away when I get a work related email outside of hours. I used to have a colleague that would "jump" on me with a DM as soon as she saw that I was online. My colleagues and I had to create a similar boundary for digital communication as for F2F colleague interactions. My colleagues and I do not answer business related questions in the washroom, the hallway or the lunchroom. We made a deal that our work related discussions would be in our office, boardroom or otherwise discussed location. We also have clearly stated hours when we will be "open" and "closed." If anything falls outside those hours, barring a real emergency, it simply has to wait. I used to answer those work emails or just peek into my inbox "just to see" and I'm always sorry I did because there is always "something." My down time is my down time and if I do not take those breaks from all work related stuff, I do not give it my complete attention, I feel harried and do not take the time needed to properly address it. When we answer work email/dm/texts on off hours we are more likely to throw money at a problem or apply a band-aid fix than we are if we do it during real work time. Is this good business? Really, do we need to know what is going on at work when we are at the water park or soccer game with our kids, no, we do not. Work can wait, family life cannot. We need to recharge creatively and digitally refresh.
I do a lot of work at home, and at night. It's great getting things done when there's no meetings, no kids, etc. BUT, the timestamp on the email definitely sends another message along with whatever you actually write: I AM AVAILABLE ALL THE TIME.
My solution is to write all I like at night, but schedule my sends within working hours, or right around them. And I"m working on curbing my addiction to the mini-screen by putting it on recharge and leaving it face down once I get home. Wish me luck.
Good luck! It's funny, because we are all a little addicted, aren't we? I like your idea of doing the *work* at times appropriate to you, but having the consideration to save it until it's an appropriate time for your colleagues to receive it. Great tip, thanks for sharing! Cheers, LB