How often do you check your work email inbox?

[Ugley_Matt]

That’s the great advantage of email over im and the like in that you can claim quite reasonably that you haven’t seen or read the mail yet. With something like whatsapp it flags that you have seen

 

[chroniclard]

When working Outlook is always open and I will notice the mail flag. Outside of work hours I dont really bother, its important to switch off from work, especially in the current climate. If its critical my boss will call.

 

[pepp77]

That’s the great advantage of email over im and the like in that you can claim quite reasonably that you haven’t seen or read the mail yet. With something like whatsapp it flags that you have seen

Get an apple watch, then when whatsapp messages come through view them on the watch and it doesnt update the status on whatsapp itself

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I check my email at 09:00 and at 16:30 just before I clock off. At all other times Outlook is closed as it's a distraction.

If it's an urgent task, I expect a call (MS Teams or some other synchronous form of communication).

 

[Slam62]

If you're getting emails that infrequently that you check every time you get a notification, I'd suggest you've been on the "useless list" for quite some time.

Hopefully it's an image I use to lower people's expectations

 

[Begbie]

Sadly ours is web based, so I check it when someone tells me I have an email. I should check them more often, but on a single laptop screen it's hard work having so much on the screen. We have outlook too, but IT doesn't want to get it working on there. :/

 

[OspreyO]

If you want an ambulance, you call for one, you don't email for one.

This. Everything other than a phone call is not reliable for time sensitive communications.

 

[OspreyO]

That’s the great advantage of email over im and the like in that you can claim quite reasonably that you haven’t seen or read the mail yet. With something like whatsapp it flags that you have seen

You can turn that off. So its not a reliable indicator that something hasn't been read.

 

[OspreyO]

For urgency; MSTeams (ne Skype for Business).

I assume you mean a phone call via team. The chat isn't wonderful, often gets delayed and out of Sync for me.
Teams chat is most responsive for me on my mobile. Can be slow to update on my other devices, laptops and desktops.

 

[OspreyO]

Ha i like that anaology!

Thanks for your replies everyone, i always tend to panick in these situations as i have only been in this job since December. It's only after a while i tend to think a bit more rationally.

i do use 2 screens although both are my own. Maybe i should ask for a 3rd just for outlook

One of my early jobs, I worked in Microsoft and we had a dedicated monitor just for email. Not that strange.

 

[firstborn]

You sound like you struggle, tbh, if you get an email outlook shows a little picture of an envelope so it's not difficult is it?
No wonder he was annoyed. He's put you on the useless list.

This. I fail to understand those claiming otherwise. I bet few would miss a social media post notification about some irrelevant nonsense.

 

[OspreyO]

I was already doing an important task. I get a-lot of emails that aren’t urgent. Just an phone call or sms would have alerted me enough to the emails importance.

I used to get a lot of emails. I had to triage them. Filter them into various folders. Then I'd set up notifications for the critical folders.

I do the same now. Critical emails come through to my phone. I don't have a work phone, but I've set up outlook and teams on my own, so I don't miss anything and I get notifications there.
All the non critical stuff, and I get health reports from various servers, spam from HR and such, etc are filtered to folders so I don't get notifications. Outlook on the mobile is set to do not disturb outside of work hours.

I'm WFH and if there WiFi goes down, or the VPN goes down I'll still get notifications on mobile data.

But as others have said. If its not a phone call, I don't treat it as critical.

 

[OspreyO]

This. I fail to understand those claiming otherwise. I bet few would miss a social media post notification about some irrelevant nonsense.

There is nothing subjective about this. Email is not reliable as a timely communication.

 

[darkgen]

I assume you mean a phone call via team. The chat isn't wonderful, often gets delayed and out of Sync for me.
Teams chat is most responsive for me on my mobile. Can be slow to update on my other devices, laptops and desktops.

I cannot disagree. We've been running both Skype for business and Teams in tandem for quite a while and I've missed quite a few notifications through Teams. Although to be fair; I turned off most of the notifications because of the constant noise they were generating

To your point; no, calls are only initiated once the message has been acknowledged. The expectation from colleagues and management is that individuals respond promptly to messages, say within 10 minutes. If there is a critical issue; we all have mobiles. I'm rarely called on it.

 

[pepp77]

We use phone calls, Teams and email for communication and urgency would follow the same order, however the majority of my work is with outside clients and so the majority of that is done via email, so have outlook open all day, screen pops when an email comes in (as well as to watch and phone). I can easily look to see if I need to actually open the email properly or just delete or ignore it. Colleagues who need things quickly will generally teams me as we have found it is better than calls as you are not basically demanding to be dealt with then and there.

I have ensured emails dont come through to my watch or phone after 6pm (finish at 5) and before 8am (start at 8.30) so as to give me that work/home balance even whilst WFH.

 

[OspreyO]

We've moved our phone system to Teams. All calls are via teams. Which is very handy.

So for us its not something that required a message to be acknowledged. Its just a phone call. But with out in the delays you get with a chat.

 

[pepp77]

We've moved our phone system to Teams. All calls are via teams. Which is very handy.

So for us its not something that required a message to be acknowledged. Its just a phone call. But with out in the delays you get with a chat.

Did you go Direct Routing with a supplier like Gamma, or did you get calling bundles from Microsoft directly?

 

[OspreyO]

We use phone calls, Teams and email for communication and urgency would follow the same order, however the majority of my work is with outside clients and so the majority of that is done via email, so have outlook open all day, screen pops when an email comes in (as well as to watch and phone). I can easily look to see if I need to actually open the email properly or just delete or ignore it. Colleagues who need things quickly will generally teams me as we have found it is better than calls as you are not basically demanding to be dealt with then and there.

I have ensured emails dont come through to my watch or phone after 6pm (finish at 5) and before 8am (start at 8.30) so as to give me that work/home balance even whilst WFH.

Where possible I slowly train people to mainly contact my via email instead the phone. For non time critical stuff its a better form for technical communications, people are less vague and there a record of whats been discussed. Its not relying on memory.

 

[OspreyO]

Did you go Direct Routing with a supplier like Gamma, or did you get calling bundles from Microsoft directly?

AFAIK its routed though one of the phone companies. (I'm not in the UK). I'm not entirely sure as I'm not directly involved in that.
We were must replacing all our desk phones with headsets when the lock down hit.
So there a few teething issues as people where short staffed everywhere. All working fine now though.

 

[Smokey Deza]

I live by emails, then I've always got a record and there's no "He said she said".