Manager insists remote employee of 21 years attend 90 minute, 6:30 AM meeting three times weekly: 'I am genetically inclined to be a night owl'

When it comes to remote work, the endless flexibility can be a blessing and a curse.

One of the biggest benefits of many working from home jobs is the ability to attend to chores and commitments during the workday in ways that would be nearly impossible in any on-site role. The flipside of this is that plenty of employers feel like being remote means that they get constant availability from their employees, and can expect them to drop everything for work in any place, and at any time.

While it is possible to work a remote job that has a respect for boundaries and normal working hours, it is just as easy for those more unreasonable expectations to creep in as it is to waste an extra hour of the working day on lunch when no manager is breathing down your neck. These extra responsibilities can take you by surprise.

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  • A tired female employee rests her head in her hand while sitting at her desk in her home office
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A tired female employee rests her head in her hand while sitting at her desk in her home office

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • While it is all well and good that the age of remote working allows us to connect with colleagues around the world, those time zones bend for no man. It can mean that catching up on a call with somebody who works in a different place from you can get a bit awkward. 

    The thing is, there are workplace setups where there is no getting around this conundrum. It is inevitable that at least one person is going to have to compromise for the sake of everything working smoothly for the team as a whole, and they may not be happy with doing that.

  • Start Time

    Hi, I have been with my company for 25 years, 21 or so of those years working 100% remotely.
    via rs1971
  • I live on the West coast and as the result of a recent reorganization, I was assigned to a team based on the East coast.
    via rs1971
  • They hold a thrice weekly 90 minute team meeting at 9:30 am EST, which is 6:30 AM for me.
    via rs1971

  • In this story, an employee who had worked remotely for a company for more than two decades was reassigned to work with a team on the opposite side of the country from them. These coworkers had a ninety minute team meeting three times a week, right at the start of their working day.

    This was an issue for the employee, as it meant that they had to start work at 6:30 AM their time. They knew that they were not well-adjusted to early starts, and they didn't believe that it would be productive for things to continue like this. They weren't sure how to approach this with their manager.

  • I am not a morning person and have never been able to fall asleep before 1AM.
    via rs1971
  • I have tried to change my sleep patterns several times over the years, but it's never 'took'.
    via rs1971
  • I believe that I am just genetically inclined to be a night owl. In my previous role, I quite frequently worked well into the night.
    via rs1971
  • If I force myself to get up at 6:15, having only slept 5 hours, I will not be able to function at anything close to 100%.
    via rs1971
  • This is actually quite a bad trade off for my employer. (speaking generally, do people think that this is reasonable request on their part?) In any event, I'm trying to figure out how to approach this with my new boss (with whom I have no relationship).
    via rs1971
  • My current plan is to force myself to do it for a couple of weeks so that I can say that I tried and then to approach him about only attending the last 30 minutes of the meeting.
    via rs1971
  • Seven-thirty is still early for me, but manageable. Anyone have any better suggestions? Thanks
    via rs1971
  • A tired female employee rubs her temples while sitting at her desk in her home office
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A tired female employee rubs her temples while sitting at her desk in her home office

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Visual_Leadership_35 A 90 minute team meeting three times a week, that's dreadful even without the time zone issues.
    via Visual_Leadership_35
  • rs1971 Original Poster's Reply Yeah, it's a software development team and they use the meeting to go over outstanding bugs/ customer issues. The argument for the meeting is that they want everyone to know what everyone else is doing, but in practice. almost everyone just zones out and pays only enough attention to note when their name is mentioned. I have been tangentially involved with this group for 25 years and this meeting has been a mainstay the whole time, so, unfortunately, I don't think
    via rs1971
  • AffectionateJury3723 Having worked for companies with offices all over, I can tell you most bosses are not going to inconvenience the rest of the team for 1 person. He may agree to you only attending a half hour but that is only based on whether or not you are key to the discussion.
    via AffectionateJury3723
  • rs1971 Original Poster's Reply I wouldn't expect him to change the meeting time. In fact, it would be almost impossible to do so given the number of attendees in India.
    via rs1971
  • toodleoo77 This. Not sure why OP is immediately capitulating to a 6:30 AM meeting. Their boss probably hasn't even realized the time difference.
    via toodleoo77
  • rs1971 Original Poster's Reply He definitely realizes it. While I didn't complain too loudly, when we were introduced, I was clearly less than enthusiastic about the schedule. I think that my exact words were ... 'let's see how it goes'.
    via rs1971
  • Aardvark|||6079 Your boss does not care. We have weekly 8:00AM EST meetings. West coast people absolutely need to be there. No exceptions.
    via AardvarkIll6079
  • rs1971 Original Poster's Reply You would have to pay me at least $800k/y to go to a 5 AM meeting, three times a week. I might do weekly, if it was understood that I'd be going back to bed afterwards.
    via rs1971
  • ladiabla22 It's called advanced sleep phase. I was diagnosed with it years ago. Basically means we are night owls and our natural body clocks will NOT adjust to earlier hours. You'll just have to make it through these meetings and try to fit in a nap later.
    via ladiabla22
  • rs1971 Original Poster's Reply Yeah, I've lost track of the number of serious attempts I've made to change my cycle over the years. There's nothing worse then having only slept 4 hours the night before and still laying in bed for three hours unable to sleep until well after midnight. I had a similar situation about a decade ago, with 6:30 meetings a couple of times a week and it had serious health ramifications. Fortunately, I ended up running those meetings so I was able to just push them back
    via rs1971
  • OneLessDay517 I work for a company that has a large east coast as well as Central and Mountain presence. It's our unspoken but pretty much. standard practice that we schedule meetings based on the person in the latest time zone. It's just polite. I don't schedule a meeting with someone in Denver before 9am their time. When I have meetings with India, I've been on calls at 4-5am my time. But I'm a morning person and am normally prowling my house at 4am anyway, so it's not a big deal to me. do y'a
    via OneLessDay517
  • rs1971 Original Poster's Reply It's funny. When I need to talk to someone in India, (which happens pretty frequently) I do it at 10PM at night.
    via rs1971
  • ladiabla22 People who don't suffer from this condition don't understand how difficult it makes our lives. My husband wakes up naturally at 5:30/6:00 am and to me that's the middle of the night!
    via ladiabla22
  • rs1971 Original Poster's Reply The 'just go to be earlier' stuff kills me. Like I never thought of that.
    via rs1971
  • Academic-Lobster3668 Does your position change make sense in the framework of the reorganization? If it's not clear that you needed to be with this particular group for a very good reason, I suspect they're trying to have you let yourself go. You may be one of the higher cost people at your level due to your tenure. Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I would start looking now. Good luck! PS. I feel for you - fellow night owl here
    via Academic-Lobster3668

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