- Employee spends 6-8 hours daily on video calls with manager, causing distress
- Manager uses calls for non-work chat and outsources decisions to employee
- Employee fears setting boundaries due to manager's insecurity and emotions
An employee said they were questioning whether they should report their manager to HR or not after they were being forced to spend almost six to eight hours on video calls. In a social media post, the employee said they were working remotely with their manager and two other workers in the department. Although they loved the job, the amount of time they were spending on calls with the manager was starting to make the work miserable.
While some of the calls were work-related and necessary, the employee revealed that the majority of the time they shared the screen while the manager just chatted in the background.
"Over the last two days, I have spent almost 15 hours talking to her: Yesterday: 7 hours 21 minutes on Teams. Today: 5 hours 43 minutes on Teams plus 1 hour 53 minutes on the phone," the employee said.
"She'll talk about random personal stuff, send me pictures of things she wants to buy, etc. It feels less like a meeting and more like I have someone sitting next to me talking all day."
The manager would also run everything she did by the employee, which meant a lot of managerial decisions were being outsourced to them.
"She's my manager, but somehow I've become the person she needs feedback from on everything too. The problem is that she's pretty insecure and emotional, so I'm worried that trying to set boundaries is going to turn into a whole thing," they said.
The employee said they did not want to leave the company, as it was a dream setup apart from the manager. However, they wondered if approaching HR was the right course of action.
"I just cannot keep spending 6-8 hours a day on the phone with one person. By the end of the day I'm completely fried and it's obviously taking a toll on my productivity. Is this something I can reasonably bring to HR? If so, how should I approach this?"
Check The Viral Post Here:
Manager keeps me on video calls 6-8 hours per day. Can I bring this to HR? [LA]
by u/Prudent_Pear9260 in AskHR
'Toxic Environment'
Social media users empathised with the employee, stating that they were working in a toxic environment and needed to take the matter to the upper management.
"This is very unprofessional and a cause for concern. You are not simply being exploited but also forced to work in a very toxic environment," said one user, while another added: "Is your boss my boss? Mine was my equal up until a month and a half ago. I had multi-hour calls with her on an almost daily basis. There was a time that we were on a Teams call starting early in the morning and past midnight."
A third commented: "She sounds unstable and toxic. I doubt it is possible to regulate her. Unfortunately, the only sure way is out. There is another way - talking to her boss. There is some likelihood that they will see that she is useless and remove her altogether. But it is a risky road."
A fourth said: "Set up other meetings. For the first week or so, I'd legitimately set other meetings with other colleagues/clients for four-plus hours a day. Get her used to the cadence, then back off with the other meetings."
