People at new company just…don’t respond

[Anonymous]

Are they basically all quiet quitting? I'm in a role like that surrounded by people who have done that so all of their work falls on me. It's exhausting. I'm not sure what to do because it's moving from inconvenient to actually impacting my performance.

[Anonymous]

A lot of people this summer went on vacation and send me emails checking on the status of work they dumped on me before leaving. I dont feel the need to respond back immediately. How long are you waiting for a response? Half a day or 2 days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people so weird?

I started at a new, small company several months ago. There’s a habit I notice among my colleagues where you’ll send an email and they just do not respond (we do client work but this is strictly an internal problem).

If you talk to the person they may or may not address what you wrote in the email, but I just find it so bizarre and unprofessional. Does this happen anywhere else?

Are emails the primary wat people communicate? We use messaging, so I will reply to those right away, but emails, no.

[Anonymous]

If they do what you tell them to do, that is your response. An acknowledgement is great but a lot of people don’t like email and don’t want to clog up someone’s inbox with a “got it, thanks!” IME, the younger generation typically does not respond with a “thanks,” they just do the work, and they won’t even tell you that they completed the assignment, but it’s done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they do what you tell them to do, that is your response. An acknowledgement is great but a lot of people don’t like email and don’t want to clog up someone’s inbox with a “got it, thanks!” IME, the younger generation typically does not respond with a “thanks,” they just do the work, and they won’t even tell you that they completed the assignment, but it’s done.

… which is very unprofessional. I don’t expect a response from people included on emails for information only, or to emails that are just informational updates. But I definitely expect a response from people when the email described a task they have to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they do what you tell them to do, that is your response. An acknowledgement is great but a lot of people don’t like email and don’t want to clog up someone’s inbox with a “got it, thanks!” IME, the younger generation typically does not respond with a “thanks,” they just do the work, and they won’t even tell you that they completed the assignment, but it’s done.

… which is very unprofessional. I don’t expect a response from people included on emails for information only, or to emails that are just informational updates. But I definitely expect a response from people when the email described a task they have to do.

People keep telling you it’s not abnormal yet you keep calling it unprofessional.

You said yourself they do the work. I think your need for attention and fanfare is unprofessional. Agree with the poster who said you’re bored.

[Anonymous]

I agree, if they did what you wanted in a shared doc, what’s the issue? They know you can see it. You know they can see it. Why add an email? That’s make work. Especially for an internal program.

It sounds like you’re not busy enough, to me. Client work is more important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they do what you tell them to do, that is your response. An acknowledgement is great but a lot of people don’t like email and don’t want to clog up someone’s inbox with a “got it, thanks!” IME, the younger generation typically does not respond with a “thanks,” they just do the work, and they won’t even tell you that they completed the assignment, but it’s done.

… which is very unprofessional. I don’t expect a response from people included on emails for information only, or to emails that are just informational updates. But I definitely expect a response from people when the email described a task they have to do.

I think it's just a different way of working, especially for younger or offshore cohorts. It can be annoying for sure but the pace of work means people don't always stop to acknowledge or confirm that they did what you asked them to do.

And per the bolded, if you're not my boss and you pull that, you're going to the bottom of the list if you are looking for info or a favor.

[Anonymous]

Op, when I transitioned to a smaller company I had the same problem. After some digging I found out that each department essentially had their own mode of communication and if you weren't speaking via that method, you weren't getting a response. The dev team used slack, sales used google chat, product used email, marketing had some chat feature in their marketing software.

I was really the first hire to come in and have to strategically manage teams cross functionally so this was a sh-tshow for me. I ended up taking the reigns on an overall culture role without being asked and the first thing I streamlined was communications, including getting a formal policy approved and added to the employee handbook. Many people from different teams have thanked me. It was basically a carry over from when the company was a true start up and everyone was just building a department and running it their own way with no cohesiveness.

Possible that's going on at your new job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they do what you tell them to do, that is your response. An acknowledgement is great but a lot of people don’t like email and don’t want to clog up someone’s inbox with a “got it, thanks!” IME, the younger generation typically does not respond with a “thanks,” they just do the work, and they won’t even tell you that they completed the assignment, but it’s done.

OP I am late thirties and dont send a thanks email unless its something someone resolved or posted for me, etc. I do send an email when I have completed a task that literally just says: Completed. I dont Hi or sign off. I know a lot of organizations use program management software so maybe you need to implement that to track whats being done. If thats already in place you dont need a completion email.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is what I tell people I work with. Not responding is sometimes the response. So figure out what they are telling you.

Is this professional? No. But here you are. Ask someone you trust what is going on.

this is really great advice - i'm borrowing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they do what you tell them to do, that is your response. An acknowledgement is great but a lot of people don’t like email and don’t want to clog up someone’s inbox with a “got it, thanks!” IME, the younger generation typically does not respond with a “thanks,” they just do the work, and they won’t even tell you that they completed the assignment, but it’s done.

46 and i do not use thanks emails unless with a very junior subordinate

[Anonymous]

I have noticed that when I put multiple people on an email, no one responds. When I direct it to one or two people, they respond.

I've also noticed that it's more polite now to "thumbs up" an email, than to respond with "thank you!" Every once in a while my org sends out an email requesting us to not use reply all and to keep courtesy emails (like thank you) to a minimum to spare inboxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they do what you tell them to do, that is your response. An acknowledgement is great but a lot of people don’t like email and don’t want to clog up someone’s inbox with a “got it, thanks!” IME, the younger generation typically does not respond with a “thanks,” they just do the work, and they won’t even tell you that they completed the assignment, but it’s done.

… which is very unprofessional. I don’t expect a response from people included on emails for information only, or to emails that are just informational updates. But I definitely expect a response from people when the email described a task they have to do.

Disagree. I'm in a very formal environment and we are not supposed to be clogging up people's inboxes with "thanks" or "on it". We have an official policy on it. It is considered rude to keep typing inane responses. You should send an email back though if you don't understand the task or something needs clarified.

You're supposed to send an email with a due date and it gets done. If the work isn't being done by the due date, that's what needs addressed.

[Anonymous]

If you’re working in a shared doc, it’s like working in the same room. They don’t need to email you that they did a task, because you can see it. That would be such a waste of everyone’s time.