Work ethics

[scarred04]

I know I can be a bit blunt at times, working on it tho. But had a weird moment at work recently, asked someone from another department to help with a non-billable task and explained that I couldn’t bill the time, so it made sense for them to handle it.

Apparently, that came off as me devaluing their role, which ofcourse wasn’t my intent at all. I was just trying to be transparent, since non-billable hours affect my review.

Has anyone else run into this kind of misunderstanding when delegating across teams? How do you explain it without sounding too dismissive?

 

[legalsidekick]

Yeah, it's more common than we think. It's hard to be open without sounding judgmental. I usually just ask for help and don't mention the billing stuff. I usually just frame it as "hey, would you mind helping with this?" and leave the billable stuff out of it. Have you thought about rewording it next time, or was this a one-off?

 

[Jordan.barr]

Sometimes transparency can get twisted into condescension, people get touchy when they think you're measuring value in dollars, even when you're the one losing out, maybe next time, just frame it around roles or workflow, something like "this one is outside my scope, and I've got to stay on the billables, can your team handle it?"

I dont know, just saying, might still even get misinterpreted

 

[cheekykimmy]

No need to explain, just send the task over with a simple please and thank you.