'My emails become unnoticed by the manager': Manager claims employee isn't doing enough work because their work gets lost under coworker's mountains of updates

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jan 18, 2026 10:00 PM EST

Everyone requires a different level of communication.

Some people need to be constantly kept in touch with. They want you to check in at all hours of the day, or else they feel abandoned. It's their natural cadence, and they expect you to meet their needs. Other people you can go months without speaking to and resume your life just the same. Everyone has different preferences, and we all have to learn to accommodate each other and assert our needs. Especially at work. Communication is one of the most essential parts of working somewhere. Odds are, you have to check in with a team or a boss throughout the day. Maybe you do this over Slack or in person, but either way, you're figuring out how to talk to each other. You have to suss out how casual or formal you can be, how direct or flowery, and what your response time is expected to be. It's different at every job. And it might take you a while to adapt to someone else's cadence. 

Maybe you were used to a little more independence at your last job, but at this one, you're expected to ask someone before you do every little thing. This can be a weird thing to get used to. You don't want to ruffle any feathers while you're working, so you want to adapt to whatever your boss wants out of you. But what if it obscures the actual work you're doing? That's the situation this worker was in. 

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  • A young frustrated businessman works in an office with coworkers behind him
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • After months of working with no complaint, things started to change when her team started to grow. Usually, that's a good thing because it means they trust you to manage a team. But it can also mean that your work gets obscured by the work your team is doing. That's what started to happen here, when a worker was called out for their perceived lack of communication. But the way they saw it, they were contributing plenty. They were just being overshadowed by their underlings. Read on to see what happened in this story and what you think about it. 

  • Manager doesn't recognize my work anymore because of new employees.

    We have our first 1on1 on Monday @1pm. Pls have updates ready for everything meet. If you have a spreadsheet that you are using for tracking, you can present that as well. I don't see very many emails or updates from your portfolios so its difficult to understand what you are working on day to day. Lets develop a system we can use. Thanks, me 10:11 A ← Good morning, Sure no worries. I do have sheet I use for tracking and data entry. I'll show you on Monday. Thank you
    via u/RateFantastic1
  • Past month or so 2 employees joined my team? I was by myself working. I gave them training and they spam emails trying to appear like they do a lot. My emails become unnoticed by the manager. hilarious
    via u/RateFantastic1

  • Commenters gave their thoughts on the situation.

    WallabyInTraining You trained your replacements. Young and cheap.
    via u/WallabyInTraining
  • A man leans over angrily at a desk with two other people
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • RateFantastic1 Original Poster's Reply At this point its just funny and pathetic. Was hoping to get more people in the team so less workload on myself and such. Did not expect them to steal the spotlights and have me fired eventually. Nonetheless it wasn't my decision to hire or transfer employees into my team
    via u/RateFantastic1
  • strange-brew Whatever you do, don't sign a PIP.
    via u/strange-brew
  • RateFantastic1 Original Poster's Reply Really. Why. And can i say no?
    via u/RateFantastic1
  • Nevermind04 This smells like a PIP ambush. Document your work as much as possible and start making copies of all communications regarding your work.
    via u/Nevermind04
  • Otherwise_Fined Teach your boss how to flag your emails as important. While you are at it, flag the others as spam.
    via u/Otherwise_Fined
  • okahui55 its what they always do. give you shit for doing what you were already quite well
    via u/okahui55
  • OrganizationBorn7486 Precisely that. In a few weeks OP will make a surprised rant post about being put on PiP. And then fired a month later.
    via u/OrganizationBorn7486
  • Just SomeDude13 Sounds like the system used for tracking projects/progress is either shit or nonexistent. If everything is dependent on each employee tracking things on their own spreadsheet with no centralized database/tracker, you're never going to get anywhere close to the full picture as a manager.
    via u/Just_SomeDude13
  • Artemis_Hunter Got asked to sign a PIP once. I said no. They said "well we don't really need you to sign it, we can just do it anyway." And I said "okay, then I won't sign it" and that made them both confused and annoyed, lol. Got an employment lawyer and managed to leave with severance (which is what they were trying to avoid paying) so all's well that ends well.
    via u/Artemis_Hunter
  • sinzip Dear boss, your difficulty in understanding sounds like a you problem. Please let me know if you need me to take over your position while you go on unpaid leave
    via u/sinzip
  • casualmagicman Just add your manager as an auto CC on your emails if the # of emails is a metric that matters.
    via u/casualmagicman

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