Why do coworkers always bypass their supervisors to come straight to me?
Employees constantly skip standard processes and supervisors to ask a solo HR professional for minor help because they assume you are less busy than management. This constant stream of interruptions prevents you from handling your actual workload alone and burns you out.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1asking ChatGPT to craft a job description for an assistant
- 2telling people "I don't know" even when they know the answer
- 3directing people back to their supervisor or the correct department
- 4saying no more easily
- 5checking emails only a few times a day and working off a task list
- 6declining unnecessary meetings and blocking off admin time on calendars
- 7closing inactive tickets automatically if the user does not respond
- 8Block off time on the calendar and guard it as sacred
- 9Say 'I'll circle back this afternoon' instead of dropping everything for a homeowner ping
- 10Schedule personal items like doctor appointments on the calendar and treat them as non-negotiable
- 11Asking the person to send an email instead so you do not forget and walking away
- 12Setting recurring calendar meetings to handle accumulated questions all at once
- 13Saying 'no' firmly as a complete sentence to establish boundaries
- 14Trying to remain business polite even when people push their agenda
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“this industry has conditioned long term folks that everything is urgent, and everything needs to be solved right this second or the company fails.”source ↗
“employees don’t understand everything you have to do alone so when I say ask your damn supervisor to fix your time punch please do it and leave me the hell alone.”source ↗
“Nine times out of ten, it’s “oh I just came to you because they are busy”. Like what?! What do you think I am doing, just back here twiddling my thumbs”source ↗
“Except it trains people to skip the process and come straight to me instead of going to the right person or figuring it out themselves.”source ↗
“Chasing 100% patch mgmt is stressful.”source ↗
“He'll stop me mid task at my desk or if he seems me walking to the server room for example, for some IT request or question he has, if I try to politely say I'm busy, it's always "two minutes, just stay" from him.”source ↗
“Today I snapped. Raised my voice, told him he can't keep dropping whatever he wants on me because it suits him or what he thinks needs to be done, I'm drowning which I have explained to him multiple times and that it's not fair, he can wait.”source ↗
“I've done it before and it gave me a knot in my chest, but I did the screening. I got screened out right away because I'm not bilingual and it wasn't in the job description. Whew! I get burned out just thinking about it.”source ↗
“I am having a hard time keeping everything organized and I am falling back and making mistakes.”source ↗
“When I sit down to do a board packets, budget, or work on an action list I get pulled away and it takes up my time (ex homeowner requests, office requests, etc.).”source ↗
“It’s starting to impact my personal responsibilities too for myself like doctor appointments, self care like working out, and taking care of my health and finances.”source ↗
“Seems like pressure is rising everywhere and despite me saying “not right now” to people they still park on my time immediately with meetings that could’ve been emails. I struggle with this too.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5How do I deal with non-technical managers and constant interruptions?
- 11Why can't employees ever use the self service portal?
- 20How to deal with uncooperative coworkers who don't do their work
- 6Why are teachers expected to be available 24/7?
- 2What happens when you go months without a manager?
- 8Doing senior IT work alone on helpdesk pay