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17:59
6
Q: My boss wants me to reply an acknowledgement for every mail I get from a coworker, is this fair?

GermaniaMy boss wants me to reply “got it” 300 times a day every time someone sends me something to confirm I received and read the email and archived it. This has become a robotic job where I have a lot of other things to do besides do this and this request is micromanagement and I was hoping to learn h...

Have you approached your boss about this inconvenience?
Is there a reason for this? Are you client facing? Did you miss important emails in the past?
Got
Got
Not client facing. Never missed any emails
The boss wants to make sure things are going through. They’re not concerned about iT.
They don’t distrust the email server.
I wonder if there's a back story here? Is the boss concerned stuff is not being done, was there a fracas about "I didn't get the email" etc ???
Got
Got
Stuff gets done but they’re doing a check I’m guessing to make sure I can get everything done the second someone sends it. Asking you to reply is just a way of predicting whether you’re able to done things fast and efficiently
Kaz
Kaz
17:59
In Outlook, you can configure custom quick actions. You might be able to make one that does your reply message and archiving in a single click.
Do you already go through and read all of your emails?
"is this fair?" - it's pretty silly, IMHO.
300 times a day, reply "Got it" and CC your boss each time. After a few days, his attitude may change.
If you need to acknowledge that you read your email, then consider to stop reading your email (if you didn't read it, you don't need to acknowledge it), or alternatively (and a more serious suggestion), if you get swamped by this so you don't get around to your actual work, then only read email twice a day (say when you come in, and somewhere halfway through the afternoon).
While it's a strange request, how long does it take to send a "got it" answer? 5 seconds? It certainly takes a lot less than reading an email. I'd say suck it up, send the answers, and if you need to do it 300 times per day it means you lose (cumulative) an half hour of your work day for a task for your boss, it doesn't seem that much to me.
are the coworkers on your team? Can your boss just make your coworkers send emails requesting a read receipt, so it's taken care of automatically.
17:59
Does your manager require this from others on your team, too? If so, how do they deal with it?
300 emails a day is about one email every minute and a half (assuming an 8 hour day). Is that correct?
Tell your boss that you want to make sure he's received your replies OK in case there's any problems and would he mind replying to your "Got it" email with a "Acknowledged" email (j/k)
I wonder why the system doesn't do automatic delivery and read receipts. (Or, if not automatic, then people who want to know their mail is read should add the receipt request.)
@JoeStrazzere lol brilliant
If everyone in the company is required to do this, then every e-mail just saying "Got it" would have to be replied to with another "Got it", resulting in an endless loop of pointlessness. And what about group e-mails sent to the whole company - does everyone have to respond with a "Got it"? (This is especially bad if multiple people are automating the process as you seem to be planning - that's the kind of thing that crashes e-mail servers...)
 
1 hour later…
19:20
You know, my question about the volume of email wasn't part of a "discussion" it was an attempt to clarify the OP's post. I wish it hadn't been moved off into this discussion.

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