“This New Age Of Texting To Call Off Literally Drives Me Insane”: Manager States That People Who Text Employers Are “Unprofessional”, Gets Blasted Online

My boss wants us to call and text. By handbook text would be enough but she's swamped with texts every day so sometimes messages are overlooked. So she asked nicely to give her a quick call so she would then immediately see the text and be able to start the neccessary steps for covering. No one ever complained because she's a great boss who'll then do everything to ensure your most important tasks are covered and it's reasonable. Also she asked nicely. That's what's making all the difference between a good boss and a bad one.

I won't text, because I refuse to let my employer have my personal cell phone number. I have a landline in my house that I use for them. Giving them your cellphone number let's some think that they can call or text you whenever.

Ask the manager. In my company we use chat. The chat app (Microsoft Teams) is also available for the phone (but I don't have it, because I don't want to have chat notifications off work! People can call me or text me if there's really an emergency). If chat doesn't work, then I would say send a text/SMS. It's just so that managers are very occupied with meetings, so they cannot answer the phone. I don't ever use the phone professionally. We don't have phones on our desk anymore. You can audio call via chat and or make a video call and/or and share the screen. Depends on the job of course, if it's manual labor and not in an office it's another situation, but for a desk job it seems to me phone calls and voice mail is old fashioned and inefficient.

As a manager in IT, calls are for emergencies only. I get called 24/7 and may have been up working on an outage until 5AM. I dont need you calling me at 6AM for something as trivial as not coming into work. If you're calling me for a sick day then you'd best be asking me to help you in some way.

Hmm, every single company I've ever worked for, German, American, British, has always insisted that you call your line manager as soon as you know your not well enough to attend. Perhaps its a cultural thing here? I always used to leave a message around 6 or 7am on their desk phone, and follow up a bit later in the day. To send a text or email would be considered quite rude, even today in my country and depending on how well you get on with your boss could lead to disiplinary action especially if a regular sick day taker. We get fully paid sick days, Doctors note required if 7 days and and over, it does not affect holliday time at all.

Guy doesn’t want his texts to end up on one of those horrible boss listicles. Much better to be horrible on a phone call that can’t be posted.

I'd do whatever the boss told me to do in that situation. If they wanted me to call, I'd call. Or text I'd text... js

One should communicate in the way that the manager/company is happy with. Our lot use WhatsApp, but I'm not on that; I can use email on my phone, so I can do that if ill in bed.

We have a 'call only' policy because most call outs occur in the wee hours of the morning. Text noises are sometimes not heard. While we follow up through text so it is written down, phone calls are more likely to be picked up. No excuse necessary, just "I'm sick today" is all we need. Bonus: Get the supervisor's voicemail! No talking with people!

Text and email leaves a paper trail always have a paper trail

Automated AbsenceManager call number sends a message to your boss, who may or may not then call to check you're ok

This has a strong air of "In my day we had landlines and why do kids these days need to do this new-fangled texting thing?"

If your sick or have a sore throat and can't really talk it's annoying to be forced to call in. Why is it deemed unprofessional to text? We aren't children. I may sound okay on the phone but it doesn't mean I am. I don't want to have to put on some pretend 'sick' voice like I've been stabbed because I had some mild food poisoning and was up all night and need a day to recuperate. Plus, isn't it actually illegal to even ask us why we're calling out? Unless it's for more than 3 days straight, you aren't allowed to ask for anything anyway so what the helI? If you don't want a text, then you also aren't allowed to text me with duties or reminders. You also aren't allowed to text me when you are asking if I can come in to cover a shift.

My boss and I have always texted if not coming in. Professionalism, or this manager's definition, went out the window with the advent of social media.

What many people don't understand is that calling off or taking off days in appropriate advance with allotted time isn't an asking for permission thing. It's a notice that you will not be coming in that day. Also, anyone who expects the employee to find their own coverage should take a pay deduction. You're the manager, so how about you manage your team.

i text and add, call me if you need to. so if my boss wants to discuss anything (like what needs to be done that day), she can. she never tries to get us to work if we aren't feeling up to it. i've even called out after a particularly bad bout of insomnia. sometimes life just gets in the way!

I’m not the one to be notified, but still get a call every once in a while. I usually tell whomever is calling in sick that I’ll let their supervisor or department manager know. However, next time they need to text or use the employee portal to make sure it’s documented. I tell them I don’t want their supervisor mistaking claiming they didn’t call in. With a text or webs message, it’s documented and they’re safe.

Idk why it's so important to work while you're sick. While you're sick your body is in emergency mode and putting in extra work already and overworking while you're sick could make it worse or get other people sick or costumers sick. It's hard to work if you're barely functioning

If I wake up in the middle of the night with a family emergency or a severe illness, do you really want me to call you and wake you up? If am handling an emergency, I am not going to want to try and guess what time is acceptable to call or have you worry about calling you later. Or if I am sick I am going to try and go back to sleep as soon as I can. So either I call you in the middle of the night or you get a text. I will say that if you have never communicated with your boss over text, then it might not be the most appropriate way to communicate your pending absence.