Question about working for a large company

[jlt19]

My first 15 years in the workforce was spent at a small place, with 250 employees max over 3 states and most i never needed to interact with. I'd say about 100 were in either my building or right next door and I knew everyone, if not by face, by name.  When you sent an email and didn't receive a reply/response in a timely manner, you'd walk over to them or call them. nothing really ever went ignored.

I started working in June, remotely, for a company with over 9,000. On MANY occasions emails I send get ignored. I often have to follow up a month or so later, for simple answers, like yes or no. It's highly annoying when these are answers that are preventing me from doing a part of my job. Since I've never met these people and there's not a quick 4 digit number to buzz them at, I feel awkward tracking down their phone numbers or calling them via Teams. 

Most of these emails have no bearing on their jobs and some are super busy and don't sit in front of a computer all day, so I understand why they don't respond immediately. I also don't want to be annoying, but I want to get my work done and get frustrated if one little yes or no is impeding that for months on end. Is this normal for a big company? Or do you think it's a symptom of everyone working from home?

[wildrice]

I would say yes? It really depends on the individual but I wouldn't say it is uncommon not to get a quick (or any) response when I reach out to people.

I would send a follow-up sooner than a month if you need an answer, though. I think a few days or the following week would be fine. And keep sending follow ups or call if you still don't hear back. Sometimes if I really can't get ahold of someone I'll copy their supervisor on a followup so they can intervene.

[krystee]

My husband works for a giant company, and IM seems to be most effective if you need to nudge someone (which he has to do often)

[mrssandro]

I have generally always worked for bigger companies. I feel one my strengths is being persistent to getting answer as soon as possible even that means setting up a call or pinging people until they give me what I want. I think people can just be rude and/or distracted sometimes and you have to be persistent to getting their attention. I don't think it is always intentional and I can usually tell if I need to escalate pretty early on.

[mustardseed2007]

I work for a company with 10,000 employees. Only 100 work at our main office and the rest work at different sites. Unless I am engaged in a longer project with someone who is not at corporate, I always start out by calling them. If I just need a yes or no, I also call them. They just don't look at email a lot, like you said.

Now, my business is a hospitality/retail environment. Maybe in yours email is the norm so maybe check with your coworkers about how they normally communicate with offsite team members. And follow up after a few days instead of one month.

[ssmjlm]

Can you message them via MS Teams? That might get a quicker response.

[sahara78]

I also work for a large company. Some emails go unanswered- depends on who it is. The norm is to follow up after a few days to a week. We also use an IM tool regularly. Phone is generally never used (a change over the 13 years I’ve worked here.) I usually like to get a written response so I can forward to others, or save in case someone asks why I did xyz.

[definitelyO]

I would say that it's dependent on the organization and people you're dealing with.
One thing we started doing in the subject line was put preface in:

RESPOND | Subject
INFORM | Subject
REVIEW |
ACT |

etc..... that may help...? but also agree with IM for yes/no.

and keep emails short and bullet points with extra information attached or below the main body of your email.

[Deleted]

I work for a large company, 33,000 employees I think? Anyway, I think that there are just always going to be people that you have to track down, sometimes it's because they suck, and other times it's because they are genuinely busy and sometimes just miss things, or prioritize their own work. For me, most of the time, I quick ping on MS Teams and I can get my answer.

[heliocentric]

If it's a simple question a chat in Teams is often easiest and most effective.

I've found that if sending an email I get better results by making it very clear early on that you have a question and need a response and by when it's needed. Bullet points, bolding, etc. also help as can adding something into the subject line like "response needed." If the question is buried in a bunch of text it's easy to overlook.

If appropriate I might include what will happen if a response isn't given--such as the impact to the project or what I'm going to do if I don't get a timely answer. (ex. "Unless advised otherwise before X date I'll proceed with XYZ." Or "I need a response to X or the ABC project timeline will be delayed.") A lack of response typically impacts my ability to work on the project of the person I need information from, so it's in their interest to answer me. This is acceptable for my job and company culture, but it might not be acceptable where you work.


Can you ask a coworker or boss how they handle these situations?

[pearls]

I work for a large, global company...I second what another poster said. In my subject on emails where I really need a reply, I'll add "Action - reply needed by DATE". And then I'll follow up a day or two before that date with an IM if I haven't heard anything as IMs seem to get more traction. I will say for me it happens less where I've been able to build a relationship with that person over time. It's definitely different though (and requires more effort) than my prior company where I'd just walk over to the person to follow up.

[lacey]

Employee of a 100,000+ employee corporation checking in. You encounter all sorts of people- people who are rude, people who are lazy, people who are too busy, people who do not understand the priority of the work etc. If this is something that affects their job not at all but is stopping you from doing work I think realistically you are going to have to find another way of approaching this. Follow-up after a couple days, start with a phone call or some kind of chat instead of email.

If it’s going to be the same people that you’re reaching out to, scheduling a short meeting or getting them on the phone at first to introduce yourself and explain what your project is and how frequently you’ll be contacting them and what you need from them may help get a quicker response in the future. If it’s a new list of people then I would send out an email before you need the information and then follow up on chat after a couple days and then follow up with a phone call a day or two after that.

[momof2]

I work In a company with 100k plus workers. I’m at the point where I’m an executive so people usually respond to me. I do think you are making a couple of mistakes here:

1. Don’t wait a month to follow up. It makes it look like what you need isn’t important. You are setting the wrong tone.
2. Send one email, follow up in 2 days, 2 days later instant message, 2 days after that forward the email chain showing you have reached out to them twice and copy in their manager. Although you need to understand the food chain a bit before copying in managers — I don’t do that with senior folks.

[noodleoo]

LOL I'm in this situation right now. I need someone to simply read an email and respond with "I approve" to close a project. It's been almost a month and I've sent multiple emails and even asked her assistant to help. She's just too busy I think. My next step is to message her in Teams.  She's C level, otherwise I would have reached out by IM sooner.

Yes, this is a common problem and yes, it is super annoying. I have to be persistent even though I hate it and feel like I'm bugging/annoying people. But it is their job (and mine I guess!).

[pinkdutchtulips]

I think its a bit of both - I worked in-house claims litigation for a large insurance company and w/ some adjusters, it took a few nudges to get a response. Since the pandemic, I've given people who I have to communicate a bit more leeway as for the most part everyone is working at home and has other things tugging at them. If I don't hear anything in 48-72 hours, I'll call and leave a vm. 

I'm starting a new position the end of the month going from a SMALL firm to a firm with offices coast to coast with everyone still working remotely (we've in office the entire pandemic ) so I'll be once again using IM if I have an urgent request that needs an answer ASAP. 

[idahome]

I think you’ve gotten some really great feedback, but I wanted to respond with an anecdote.

My old boss was notorious for not responding to anything over a paragraph. What I learned to do:
- put my ask in the first 2 lines of an email
- bullet point as much as possible
- follow up with a Teams message (or send this first if urgent) letting him know an email was coming that required action on his part


Never give people more then 5 days to respond...your email is totally lost by that point.

[ECB]

I agree with a lot of what's been said. Be very direct in your email. The shorter, the better. Follow up sooner than a month. Also, can you speak to your boss about the overall culture? Is there a "best method" that people respond to in this company? Is Teams better?

My own anecdote - years ago I had to send out an email to a group of employees who were taking a part of a series of classes that started at 7 am. This was before "being virtual" was really done, and while we were using an application that allowed us to be online and use outside instructors, our employees had to take these classes from their desk. They couldn't do them from home

The VERY first sentence of the email was "You can not take these classes at home. You must be in the office".

I kid you not- within FIVE minutes of sending out that email, I got a phone call "Can I do this from home?".

Wanted to bang my head against my desk with that one!!

[Nonny]

I'm out of the workforce now, but I previously worked at a company of >100K people, some in different time zones, and if I didn't get a response to an email, and possibly a follow up email (depending on urgency), in a timely manner I'd either go to their desk if they were on my team or follow up with an instant message.

There is no way I could wait a month for an answer for most of what I was working on. Our project cycles were too tight so I usually needed an answer in a couple of days even for non-urgent questions, maybe a week at most. On the very rare occasions I got blown off via IM, I'd take it to my own manager so they could work out any corporate food chain issues.

But our company policy was that part of a manager's job was keep their employees "unblocked." It was expected that if someone was blocking my work by not giving me an answer I needed, that I wouldn't just sit idly by, I'd mention it and what steps I'd done to try to unblock myself, and if those didn't work my own chain of command would escalate as appropriate. Sometimes that got me an answer in an hour, sometimes it got determined a thing could wait until the next cycle, but then at least everyone knew and was on the same page, and no one was being reprimanded. 

[cjcouple]

Apr 21, 2021 10:09:51 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Can you message them via MS Teams? That might get a quicker response.

I do this.  Then I can see if they even got the message.  lol

[dochas]

I have not had this problem working in really large companies most of my working life. I have had this problem since people started working from home.

[mambo123]

Apr 21, 2021 10:15:21 GMT -5 definitelyO said:

I would say that it's dependent on the organization and people you're dealing with.
One thing we started doing in the subject line was put preface in:

RESPOND | Subject
INFORM | Subject
REVIEW |
ACT |

etc..... that may help...? but also agree with IM for yes/no.

and keep emails short and bullet points with extra information attached or below the main body of your email.

I understand and appreciate the intent, but this would drive me crazy. I guess I see it as I'm an adult and can manage my workflow and if people aren't getting back to OP and she's waiting a month to follow up, it must not be too important. And if it is important and I didn't follow up, then I would expect some not so fun action from my boss to follow.

[picksthemusic]

Does your company use Teams or something similar? I use that to get in touch with coworkers in other buildings (I'm in medicine/healthcare) and it's way easier to send an IM/DM than waiting for people to respond to emails.

[tarzanswife]

Big company employee working in Litigation. Sometimes I need answers quickly and I also receive over 200++ emails per day.

1) Subject line: I try to give direction on when I need a response and the issue
2) I give people 2 days to respond. If they don't I circle back immediately with a reminder that I have a deadline.
3) If the email is still being ignored I pick up the phone and call.
4) Teams is amazing for IM but I stay away from it. I prefer a phone call. Mostly because I am dealing with litigated issues and messages in teams are forever. They are logged in the system and are subject to discovery. So don't put anything in Teams chat that you wouldn't ever want read before a Jury.
5) Because I get so much email I do not have time to read a long history on an issue. If you feel it is pertinent to my response do your detail at the bottom and put the ask and issue in the first two lines. If I have an question I will let you know.

[sakoro]

Apr 21, 2021 10:12:33 GMT -5 sahara78 said:

I also work for a large company. Some emails go unanswered- depends on who it is. The norm is to follow up after a few days to a week. We also use an IM tool regularly. Phone is generally never used (a change over the 13 years I’ve worked here.) I usually like to get a written response so I can forward to others, or save in case someone asks why I did xyz.

This.
I am all about the MS Teams chat! Also you can set up channels in MS Teams specific to the project and tag people in the group chat or post a file. It keeps similar information together and prevents digging through emails later.

[picaflora]

I worked for a Fortune 500 before Teams/chat was really a thing (we had a chat feature, but most people didn't use it/log in).

Getting info meant multiple emails, phone calls, and often times copying my boss and theirs. It was super annoying, but just how things went with everyone having different priorities and such.

[jlt19]

A bit of follow up. I started in June and they had just launched TEAMS. But, they still have Skype, so like half of the people are on one all day, the other half the other. And after spending 3 days w/IT trying to get Skype figured out on the laptop they mailed to me, I gave up, so Teams is my only option. Skype is SUPPOSED to be being retired, but who knows when that will be.

As far as waiting a month, obviously none of it was urgent. It was all for backlogged old stuff that was thrown at me. So I'd send like 25 emails to different people, go about my current work and then go back to it. Obviously not ideal and I won't be making that mistake again. These are all career engineers and department managers, so above me on the chain of command, but not MY chain.

Hopefully, after tomorrow it'll be all for naught, because if I get the job I'm interviewing for, those same engineers will be needing ME to get their projects financed.

[definitelyO]

mambo123, - oh believe me when "corporate" rolled it out I was rolling my eyes and was annoyed... that said - I don't use them all the time - but when I need a response I do

also - adding a when you need something by is helpful.
*A response by May 1 would be appreciated.

And also agree with momof2, don't wait a month. Also - I find that if it is something easy - set a shorter deadline - otherwise, people procrastinate. give them a month - they'll take a month.

[Jillaroo]

Some people are just way more responsive than others.

I’ve found that the best way to get a response is to mark it so you’ll receive a notification when the recipient reads it. Then they know you know they read it.

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2021 16:39:01 GMT -5 Jillaroo said:

Some people are just way more responsive than others.

I’ve found that the best way to get a response is to mark it so you’ll receive a notification when the recipient reads it. Then they know you know they read it.

I always choose "no" when asked to send a read receipt for people who do this.  These are one of my (perhaps irrational) annoyances in email etiquette.

[isabel]

I am in the same situation. Went from a small company of about 400, sitting in an office with 30 people I worked with daily, to a company with over 20,000 employees.

I have no qualms about messaging or even video chatting someone on Teams. It seems to be the norm to talk to people I’ve literally never interacted with as if I know them.

I don’t have the same issues with people ignoring emails generally, but when I do, pinging them on Teams often does the trick.