I'm an administrator for an estate. A large part of my role is checking up on the paperwork and standards of the work of other colleagues. The concierge team are supposed to hand in paperwork to the office on a daily and weekly basis but they are really bad at it. My manager asks me to ask them to hand it in and complete it if incorrect. I feel uncomfortable about that anyway because I'm not a supervisor or manager, then my colleagues ignore my requests and now I'm working from home due to COVID lockdown they're ignoring all my emails requesting paperwork or calendar invitations for essential jobs. I feel really stuck here because I don't think I should be in this responsible position, my manager is annoyed that my emails are not getting responses but I'm a colleague not their superior. It's a bit confusing.
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6Sometimes, adding next-in-food-chain boss in CC in reminder E-Mails can really do miracles. However, honestly, I do not know whether this is a good advice.– omalyutinCommented Apr 15, 2020 at 9:30
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I've not had a chance to have a proper sit down but she says just report it to her which I try and do but it's so often. She's on bereavement leave at the moment but I contacted her deputy yesterday - he's not my line manager but he's the line manager for everyone else and he doesn't follow through and chase these colleagues up. He says he finds it difficult to get them to do things but he's their manager.– Elizabeth de BritoCommented Apr 16, 2020 at 12:06
2 Answers
I would suggest bringing your boss the problem (lack of follow through by co-workers) and a solution. As a solution I'd suggest a weekly report of your tracking of this paperwork along with notes on reminders sent out, emailed to your boss a specific day each week with anyone who has an outstanding request CCed. Bringing your boss on board that a problem exists and giving them a solution to the problem makes it much easier to get buy in. This report helps make it perfectly clear that you are on top of this responsibility but there are specific instances (with dates and times) of lack of follow through from others.
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Thanks for your comment, I already do send a weekly report of everything and my boss knows how often this paperwork doesn't get done.\ Commented Apr 16, 2020 at 12:03
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Sorry by everything you mean you include note of attempts at resolution including date and time? Also you do include those who are failing in CC for this report? If so it sounds like you are already taking a reasonable level of action. You've covered yourself and haven't been given authority or instruction to take any other actions. If your boss gets annoyed with you specifically on lack of results request instruction on how to get better results; if your boss is annoyed with everyone take the opportunity to ask how they'd like the process to change to improve results.– MylesCommented Apr 16, 2020 at 16:33
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@ElizabethdeBrito As follow up to this, I realized I've made an assumption here. Has your boss given you authority or instruction to change the process to improve response rate?– MylesCommented Apr 16, 2020 at 16:35
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Hi Myles, my boss made it clear that I'm an administrator and we have a deputy estate manager so he would manage my co-workers, it's his responsibility to speak to them about problems we find and discipline them. She's told me the deputy manager is not good at managing the staff and he isn't. Commented Apr 18, 2020 at 15:40
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1This ticks all of my boxes. Bring it directly to your manager. Have a solution. Regular status updates for accountability. Commented Apr 19, 2020 at 0:36
Don't stress yourself over something that is your boss's problem. She's got tools like the company bonus/discipline procedures that she hasn't given you the authority to use, and managing these people is her job, not yours.
You can try to help her by providing all the information she needs, and making sure no one can claim they didn't know they were supposed to do something, but that's all you can do.
If this causes you any difficulty in doing your job, you need to discuss this with your boss too.
