5 ms·

I'm not working today but what this brings to mind is a recently hired coworker who apparently is. My small team has had a nice culture of keeping our work cha

I'm not working today but what this brings to mind is a recently hired coworker who apparently is. My small team has had a nice culture of keeping our work chat mostly confined to our normal working hours, except when some issue comes up that needs attention. This new coworker has lately been shattering that. This person not only posts in the evenings, weekends, and sometimes into the graveyard shift, but does so in a cloying, overeager, performative kind of way. "while that job was running I took the opportunity to go learn this new skill!" "I finished this step of the process. Now I'm gonna go do the next one!" ...and updates on what they're doing and their reachability, at all hours. "I'm going to have dinner because I haven't eaten anything today, but I will have my work computer and work phone with me so feel free to ping me". Even today, on Christmas morning, there was more from this person in slack, posted after midnight on Christmas Eve. I do my best to push it out of my mind, but I can't deny this adds a layer of stress for me. I don't want work conversations to stretch into nonworking hours. I don't want this to become part of the culture in my team or company. I don't want to see this kind of behavior become the expectation. I hope nobody ever asks anyone else to be more like this.

mongrelion 5y ago
What is stopping you from having a level headed, heart to heart conversation with your new colleague about your growing concern? Part of any job is to pass on the culture to new comers. I'm sure they'll understand.
- nwiswell 5y ago
  > I'm sure they'll understand. Frankly, I'm not. I think this conversation is actually the responsibility of the GP's boss, not the GP. If the GP is really confident in the existing culture, then in my opinion they should approach their boss with their concerns.
  - Too 5y ago
    No. It’s a recent hire with a small different mindset. It’s a simple problem, with a simple solution. I wouldn’t even call it a problem or a conflict, just difference in expectation Be an adult and just talk to people. Explain why his behavior disrupts a nice culture you had and why this causes stress to you. If there is risk of heat and you are new to giving such feedback, the standard template is something like “I’ve noticed that you ..., which causes ... to me. Because …. Would you mind … instead.” Be sure to emphasis on your own feelings of the situation, don’t make it hostile or negative in any way. This guy probably just comes from other team culture where people turn off notifications off hours. Don’t bring your boss into this unless the pattern repeats. The message will be lost in translation and you will come of as a whiny wimp, both to your boss and your colleges.
- grappler 5y ago
  I don't think I'm in a position to. I'm not management, and I'm not one of the rock star engineers. Those are the people who would have the sway to either encourage or discourage this sort of thing.
  - nwiswell 5y ago
    I'd bring it up with your boss, but don't push the issue. Management sets culture. If your boss takes no action, that's that; maybe brush up your resume.
- voidfunc 5y ago
  Some us _like_ working. If mu team doesn’t want to check-in thats fine but I dont mind getting shit done at 4am or on weekends. Heck I am on a three week vacation right now and I have been working on a prototype I plan to show off when I get back in the New Year. My team is under no obligation to keep up with me, but Im not going to lower my performance for them.
  - grappler 5y ago
    I like working too! I do work related things on evenings and weekends more often than not. But that time is precious to me as focus time, free of checking in, free of needing to post updates. It's time for reading something long and technical, learning new stuff, or working on code. I'd much rather do that stuff on my own and then have things to share during the next workday.
  - thn-gap 5y ago
    Do you shift your work hours, or do you just do overtime? Are you compensated for it? I just feel usual shifts are already long enough for someone to give away their free time on top of it into the same thing.
    - voidfunc 5y ago
      Im salaried, I dont think in terms of hours. I think in terms of goals and progress.
  - nwiswell 5y ago
    > My team is under no obligation to keep up with me I'm not going to pass judgement here, as it's a complicated issue and I have zero context, but I hope you understand why this is not an entirely truthful thing to say. Working over your vacation sets a tone whether or not you intend it to.
    - pksebben 5y ago
      Being fairly new to software as a job and not a hobby, I don't have a ton of experience when it comes to office politics. Does it necessarily follow that because employee A is busting ass, expectations get raised for employee B? Is the set standard really that fragile? I'm asking because I tend to dive into work headfirst. I love doing this stuff and I can't believe I'm getting paid for it; but if this is a thing perhaps I should be a little quiet about that - I'm not interested in making enemies of people by being 'too peppy'.
- astura 5y ago
  Because that's the job of management.
- noisy_boy 5y ago
  My experience is that these type of people are basically incorrigible. If/when colleagues hint as such, it results in response to the tune of "I am ambitious and want to demonstrate my work; if you don't, feel free to manage your time the way you like" (it may be packaged in softer wrapping but the point is still the same). Unfortunately that is a shitty but hard to combat argument without increasing acrimony. Management usually doesn't want to discourage such behaviour because it fits perfectly into their all-too-common willingness to exploit such tendencies by throwing morsels of acknowledgement/praise to extract more work by feeding this hunger for visibility. It is rare that the work-life balance culture is widely consistent and respected by everyone including management and even if that were the case, any advise from management to tone it down generally results in such people sulking and continuing with their behaviour in more covert ways that gives rise to underhanded politics. All this is amplified if this kind of person doesn't want to leave - basically a fish polluting a pond personified.
dakial1 5y ago
In my experience usually the people who do that are loners. They crave the interaction and use work related channels ro do that, with the plus of getting positive feedback from being a hard worker. Hard thing to defuse.
- jimmygrapes 5y ago
  I would suggest simply letting them know that you appreciate their effort but it's not necessary during non-work hours or non-emergency periods. Even the most gung-ho socially awkward person should be able to get it.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lljk_kennedy 5y ago
I think the first step is to stop checking Slack when you’re out of hours!

mongrelion 5y ago

What is stopping you from having a level headed, heart to heart conversation with your new colleague about your growing concern? Part of any job is to pass on the culture to new comers. I'm sure they'll understand.

nwiswell 5y ago
> I'm sure they'll understand. Frankly, I'm not. I think this conversation is actually the responsibility of the GP's boss, not the GP. If the GP is really confident in the existing culture, then in my opinion they should approach their boss with their concerns.
- Too 5y ago
  No. It’s a recent hire with a small different mindset. It’s a simple problem, with a simple solution. I wouldn’t even call it a problem or a conflict, just difference in expectation Be an adult and just talk to people. Explain why his behavior disrupts a nice culture you had and why this causes stress to you. If there is risk of heat and you are new to giving such feedback, the standard template is something like “I’ve noticed that you ..., which causes ... to me. Because …. Would you mind … instead.” Be sure to emphasis on your own feelings of the situation, don’t make it hostile or negative in any way. This guy probably just comes from other team culture where people turn off notifications off hours. Don’t bring your boss into this unless the pattern repeats. The message will be lost in translation and you will come of as a whiny wimp, both to your boss and your colleges.
grappler 5y ago
I don't think I'm in a position to. I'm not management, and I'm not one of the rock star engineers. Those are the people who would have the sway to either encourage or discourage this sort of thing.
- nwiswell 5y ago
  I'd bring it up with your boss, but don't push the issue. Management sets culture. If your boss takes no action, that's that; maybe brush up your resume.
voidfunc 5y ago
Some us _like_ working. If mu team doesn’t want to check-in thats fine but I dont mind getting shit done at 4am or on weekends. Heck I am on a three week vacation right now and I have been working on a prototype I plan to show off when I get back in the New Year. My team is under no obligation to keep up with me, but Im not going to lower my performance for them.
- grappler 5y ago
  I like working too! I do work related things on evenings and weekends more often than not. But that time is precious to me as focus time, free of checking in, free of needing to post updates. It's time for reading something long and technical, learning new stuff, or working on code. I'd much rather do that stuff on my own and then have things to share during the next workday.
- thn-gap 5y ago
  Do you shift your work hours, or do you just do overtime? Are you compensated for it? I just feel usual shifts are already long enough for someone to give away their free time on top of it into the same thing.
  - voidfunc 5y ago
    Im salaried, I dont think in terms of hours. I think in terms of goals and progress.
- nwiswell 5y ago
  > My team is under no obligation to keep up with me I'm not going to pass judgement here, as it's a complicated issue and I have zero context, but I hope you understand why this is not an entirely truthful thing to say. Working over your vacation sets a tone whether or not you intend it to.
  - pksebben 5y ago
    Being fairly new to software as a job and not a hobby, I don't have a ton of experience when it comes to office politics. Does it necessarily follow that because employee A is busting ass, expectations get raised for employee B? Is the set standard really that fragile? I'm asking because I tend to dive into work headfirst. I love doing this stuff and I can't believe I'm getting paid for it; but if this is a thing perhaps I should be a little quiet about that - I'm not interested in making enemies of people by being 'too peppy'.
astura 5y ago
Because that's the job of management.
noisy_boy 5y ago
My experience is that these type of people are basically incorrigible. If/when colleagues hint as such, it results in response to the tune of "I am ambitious and want to demonstrate my work; if you don't, feel free to manage your time the way you like" (it may be packaged in softer wrapping but the point is still the same). Unfortunately that is a shitty but hard to combat argument without increasing acrimony. Management usually doesn't want to discourage such behaviour because it fits perfectly into their all-too-common willingness to exploit such tendencies by throwing morsels of acknowledgement/praise to extract more work by feeding this hunger for visibility. It is rare that the work-life balance culture is widely consistent and respected by everyone including management and even if that were the case, any advise from management to tone it down generally results in such people sulking and continuing with their behaviour in more covert ways that gives rise to underhanded politics. All this is amplified if this kind of person doesn't want to leave - basically a fish polluting a pond personified.

dakial1 5y ago

In my experience usually the people who do that are loners. They crave the interaction and use work related channels ro do that, with the plus of getting positive feedback from being a hard worker. Hard thing to defuse.

jimmygrapes 5y ago
I would suggest simply letting them know that you appreciate their effort but it's not necessary during non-work hours or non-emergency periods. Even the most gung-ho socially awkward person should be able to get it.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

lljk_kennedy 5y ago

I think the first step is to stop checking Slack when you’re out of hours!