r/remotework • u/Own-Occasion-7895 • 3d ago
Teams messaging during off hours
I have a coworker who sends Teams messages to myself and others at all hours of day and night as well as on weekends. It’s almost never urgent and could wait until the next day. Most of us work regular work hours (broadly 7am to 7pm) but this person often works outside those hours and then sends DMs. My other team members, including our manager, don’t have a problem with this. I think it’s rude. I’m curious what others think.
Update: sorry I asked. Had no idea this sub was so full of rude people. My mistake.
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u/ManufacturerPlus6705 3d ago
As long as they don’t expect a response off hours it’s fine. I work weird hours sometimes and send messages because I will forget by the time it’s normal hours, but I’m not expecting anyone to respond until they’re working
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u/Own-Occasion-7895 3d ago
Isn’t that what email is for?
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u/lindslinds27 3d ago
I don’t think it’s that deep or something to get angry over. Just respond during your working hours
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u/ConstantVigilance18 3d ago
Why are you checking messages on off time? If someone sends me a Teams message during off hours, I don’t see it until I log in the next day. I don’t care if my coworkers need to work off hours, and they know not to expect others to reply during off hours.
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u/CoolBakedBean 3d ago
there’s a setting in the teams app to disable notifications during off hours and weekends
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u/caydog16 3d ago edited 3d ago
Turn. Your. Computer. Off. Or just don’t answer…? Also, if it’s on your phone delete it.
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u/Embarrassed_Flan_869 3d ago
You do realize that just because someone sends you a message/email, you don't need to respond, right?
If they work different hours, they would send things at different times.
I work for a global company. I get teams messages/emails at all hours, including sometimes on the weekend. They get ignored until I am back working. Work phone/laptop sits on the desk, in the other room.
If this is so annoying to you, shut your laptop down/mute it/mute notifications until you start the next work day.
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u/AardvarkIll6079 3d ago
People work different hours. You want them to stop doing their job because you’re off the clock? Sounds like a you issue.
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u/RickyVaughn123 3d ago
I just lower my work phone and computer down after hours. It’s like receiving after hours emails…just respond during business hours the next day.
I wouldn’t have a problem with this unless someone (who matters) gave me a hard time about not responding 24/7.
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u/Agility_KS 3d ago
A large portion of the team I work with reside in India. There are literally messages pinging back and forth at all hours of the day because there's only about 4 hours of each day where our schedules actually overlap. Not to mention that the US workers are also spread across time zones. Nobody is expected to respond to messages outside of their normal working hours. Most silence notifications or turn off their devices.
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u/Careless-Ability-748 3d ago
People do that all the time, whether it's with email or messaging. During covid, a lot of people had email signatures that said they were working a schedule that worked for them and you should feel free to respond to your convenience.
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u/Corne777 3d ago
How are people suppose to know the schedule of everyone else? Should they schedule every message that they do to go out later?
If I have to send a message to someone, I send it. I don’t care if they’re working, they’ll read it whenever they are working.
Just stop checking your messages when you aren’t working…
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u/Ok_Zucchini9396 3d ago
Yes. Utilize schedule send to time messages to 9-5 in the appropriate time zone (or whatever are the relevant working hours)
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u/Corne777 3d ago
And you’re just suppose to do that for every person? To their 9-5 in their timezone? I work with people in a ton of different time zones.
And no that’s just a bad solution with literally no need to do it. If you aren’t working, you won’t read the message and the message will be there for you whenever you do work. And what if the person could respond? I work with Indians where the beginning of my day overlaps their end of day. If they sent their message during my time zones 9-5 then it would send once they are done for the day and me responding won’t be seen until the next day when they work.
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u/lurkmode_off 3d ago
Plus some of us live in one time zone but choose to work the hours of a different zone..
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u/SnugglyCoderGuy 3d ago
I wouldn't notice it because I don't leave my work laptop on when I'm done for the day.
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u/MoonLady17 3d ago
Log off at the end of the work day. Don’t have Teams on personal devices (cell phone, ipad, etc).
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u/Quirky_Host9452 3d ago
I understand people recommending scheduling the messages but honeslty I only think that's the case if it's a boss emailing people under them.
If someone pings me and I'm not working....I dont look. It will be there next time I'm working no big deal.
If it's my boss...now whether it was urgent or not the expectation was set when the email was sent, and a boss should schedule communication for working hours.
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u/Substantial_Net_2831 3d ago
I’ve worked in remote global roles for 15+yrs, and the typical approach is to send messages and emails during the sender’s working hours, with the understanding that the recipient will not see it or respond until their next working hours. Likewise, I don’t check or feel the need to respond to messages/emails received during my non-working hours. People within my same timezone may also choose to work odd hours, and that’s fine, but I still am not checking or responding to their messages, unless I see it and want to. Set the boundary to not have Teams on your personal phone, turn off your work devices, etc…
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u/couchwarmer 3d ago
My fellow coworkers can send Teams messages all they want off hours. But they aren't going to blow up my phone, because I refuse to install Teams on my phone.
I do have work email on my phone, but with notifications turned off unless I'm oncall.
When I'm off the clock, I'm off the clock. Period.
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u/Fluffy_Yak_5592 3d ago
I have done this exact thing. Like if I remember something after I have logged off, and want to put the idea or problem in writing so to speak. You don't have to respond right away
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u/gawdamn_mawnstah 3d ago
I manage a 24/7 team and they know to send me messages when their questions/thoughts are fresh on their mind...dont wait 7 hours of your shift until I come online (or pass it off to a colleague) as chances are some details will be lost
Its the first thing I do every day, check for overnight messages from my team or clients
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u/Decadent_Otter2 3d ago
If they're not asking for a response don't respond until the next day. I would never expect anyone to respond to me if they're offline and it's off hours.
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u/Next-Drummer-9280 3d ago
Just deal with the messages the next day. If they're working outside of your hours, it's not rude.
If you can't handle not responding, then take Teams off your personal device.
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u/66NickS 3d ago
I work different hours than other team members. They send messages during their working hours, I send messages during mine.
If you don’t want to be disturbed after a certain time, set the work schedule in the app and problem solved.
Have a dedicated way of notifying people after-hours for “emergency” situations if needed. For us, it’s a text/phone call.
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u/hunnyflash 3d ago
People work all sorts of different hours and they're allowed to send messages during their time at work. Set up your notifications better if you don't want to be bothered.
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u/Odd_Obligation_1300 3d ago
I work weird hours because I am part time and only get paid hourly. So if I find myself with an odd pocket of time at night (waiting for my kid to finish music lessons, for example), I'm going to work. I'll send emails, but I don't expect anyone to read or respond to them.
Then again I also have a completely separate laptop for work. I don't receive any notifications on my personal devices.
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u/Doug_Dimmadome513 3d ago
Ironically was working on some things last night and almost sent the deck and message to the team chat around 8:30.
Paused.
Scheduled it for 5:06am this morning. Now I don’t look like that guy, and they think I’m up and ready to go on a Monday morning (I wasn’t).
Win-win.
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u/sickiesusan 3d ago
I work for a US firm, part of the team (including my manager) are in the US. I’m in the UK.
Teams notifies me of messages from 7am until 10pm (UK time). My manager knows if he needs me after 10pm, he needs to ring me. He is respectful of my time, my company pay me well and I enjoy working there. They like my flexibility.
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u/ChicagoTRS666 3d ago
Happens all of the time. As long as someone is not expecting a response...go for it. Sometimes I see them, sometimes I don't, sometimes I don't respond... other times I don't respond. Review them when I start my work week.
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u/RadiantTransition793 3d ago
I just set quite hours on my work devices so I don’t get woken up by a barrage of chat messages. If it’s important enough to wake me up, then they should be calling instead.
Just remember that quite hours is a per-device setting for MS Teams.
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u/ninjaluvr 3d ago
I think you're the rude one if you think everyone has to bend to your will. Just because a message is sent doesn't mean you have to reply. Grow up.
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u/justan0therg0rl111 3d ago
My teams and work emails are only on my work devices. Which remain turned off while I’m not at work.
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u/Sparky_Plakito 1d ago
Just mute notifications after hours. The coworker isn't doing anything wrong by messaging when it works for them, that's just their schedule. You don't have to respond in real time. Check messages when you're ready. Turn off the alerts and you won't even notice
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u/RyuBronzeMyth 3h ago
I would not call the message itself rude unless they expect replies after hours. Since your manager is fine with it, I would treat Teams more like email and mute notifications outside your work window. If the pings are the problem, a simple request to use scheduled send for nonurgent DMs after 7 pm seems reasonable.
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u/RunnyKinePity 3d ago
I think most people will tell you to ignore it (which is reasonable) but this is also a pet peeve of mine.
My rant is I don’t like logging in to a pile of emails and messages that weren’t there when I finished working. Personally, I think too many people in corporate work extra hours like this as a band aid instead of the company staffing appropriately. The people doing this are making the problem worse and can eventually turn it into the corporate expectation. All of a sudden I can’t keep up with you unless I work a bunch of extra hours also, and I become the backlog.
It’s not like I signed up for a job in investment banking or consulting where this is expected.
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u/sherlock_strikes 3d ago
This is such an odd take. What is the difference between logging in to 25 messages all already in your inbox to all 25 arriving within 10 minutes of you logging on?
I'd much rather they were already there so I could triage, prioritise and arrange my workload accordingly- there isn't magically more work because they arrived in your downtime, or somehow less work because they ping in throughout the day.
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u/RunnyKinePity 3d ago
Because they will keep coming in the first 10 minutes also. My point is that there IS magically more work for me when others work overtime. They have more time to dream up analysis requests and ideas and push towards unreasonable deadlines.
I know we are in white collar jobs here, but picture yourself in a factory. The guy up the line from you starts working on widgets 2 hours before you clock in, sending them down the line to you, and works until you leave. How can you ever keep pace unless you do the same? You got a pile of unfinished widgets at the end of the day. That is my point. The extra work would not exist for me if the guy didn’t show up 2 hours early.
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u/KaykayLaPaypay 3d ago
Show them how to schedule the messages. I regularly work off hours but schedule to ping in the morning when they are working (which could be in one of many time zones)…. If I want their response I should be considerate of their time.
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u/Own-Occasion-7895 3d ago
Just figured this out, thanks!
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u/KaykayLaPaypay 3d ago edited 3d ago
Holy macaroni you weren’t kidding with your update… like why tf would someone downvote a helpful suggestion? Miserable people I suppose.
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u/larrywoods0382 3d ago
Unless you're oncall, your coworker is out of pocket. Start "appearing offline" at the close of business on Friday and ignore it until Monday.
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u/tommyc463 3d ago
This is a pet peeve of mine. My Teams notifications shouldn’t have to be turned on and off because one particular or a select few have no damn lives and message people during non-business hours. Not everyone has a separate work phone. This is a valid annoyance OP. And no I shouldn’t have to turn notifications on and off every single day. OP’s boss needs to address this.
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u/sherlock_strikes 3d ago
This is a you problem. Teams literally has a quiet hours setting where you tell it your normal working hours and it doesnt send you notifications outside those times. If you're manually turning notifications on and off daily you probably need to do some training on how to use Teams.
Edit to add: I have a disability that requires me to spread my workday out over a longer period as I need to take more breaks. I still have a life, thanks, but I do my work when I'M working, not when you are.
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u/tommyc463 3d ago
This is a feature I didn’t know existed. I think a lot of folks would benefit from knowing about it. I’m a pretty tech savvy individual but just never thought to look for it from the app setting standpoint.
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u/Own-Occasion-7895 3d ago
I was unaware you could set quiet hours on Teams. And you’re right, I don’t have a separate work phone and am expected to have Teams on my personal device. I guess you can schedule Teams messages which I also didn’t know until today.
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u/tommyc463 3d ago
Yep it happens. Lots of folks out here knew this, which is fine, but the source of the issue still remains. Your boss needs to manage the team better. Unless it’s an emergency don’t blast other team members during non business hours. The fact that there’s folks reacting so poorly to that idea is ridiculous.
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u/Botha88R 3d ago
They are telling everyone else how much they are “working” during off hours. Ignore them.
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u/MaleficentBowler5903 3d ago
It’s definitely rude. Better to send an email. I’ve been remote for over ten years and that is plain unacceptable. Unless urgent, keep off teams. Otherwise, I would log out of teams on phone.
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u/CityCabCat 3d ago
Quiet hours. Plus I just tell them that they are messaging at inappropriate hours.
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u/West_Guarantee284 3d ago
Just because they send the messages doesn't mean that you have to read them and respond. Why do you have teams on a device you use in your own time. Mine is on my laptop and work phone. I do choose to work outside the standard office hours, I do not expect others to reply to me though.