There are many tips and tricks to nailing a job interview and landing the paid gig of your dreams, but taking messages on the weekend? Surely that should not be one of them.
But according to boss Erika Nardini, it is, and her reasoning behind it is… shall we say, outdated?
“Here’s something I do,” the Barstool Sports CEO told the New York Times last week. “If you’re in the process of interviewing with us, I’ll text you about something at 9 pm or 11 am on a Sunday just to see how fast you’ll respond.”
Listen: Mia Freedman, Monique Bowley and Jessie Stephens discuss the requests on Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues…
She explains, “It’s not that I’m going to bug you all weekend if you work for me, but I want you to be responsive. I think about work all the time. Other people don’t have to be working all the time, but I want people who are also always thinking.”
As the CEO, it’s good to hear that Nardini always thinks about work. She’s clearly made it to that position because she made the choice to do so and put in countless hours of hard yards, and that’s great. But not everyone else is the CEO, and more importantly, not everyone wants to be the CEO. And so to dismiss someone for not jumping to command outside of hours? That’s surely got to have a negative impact not only on the existing company workforce but on its future as well.
We asked three senior figures within the Australian business industry what their contact policies were.
Top Comments
Whilst I completely understand the thought process that people shouldn't send emails out of hours, I have times where I'm super busy or have been travelling (or sitting on Mamamia instead of working during the day) and therefore catch up late at night or weekends for emails. If I am responding to an email out of hours, I don't expect a response until the next business day, I'm just sending it to get out of my to-do list whilst I can. If something is urgent and needs immediate attention, I call or text the person and always apologise for intruding on their personal time.
I think it also comes down to the receiver, not checking emails or not further responding until the next business day.
Not every person thinks this way however and that definitely needs to be adjusted.
Fuck off! Sorry, if I'm not being paid to be on-call over an evening/weekend, I will not be answering your text messages. Find someone who gives a crap.