School of Health & Wellbeing

Guidelines and policies

SHW etiquette for allocating work to professional services colleagues

SHW staff are asked to adhere to the following etiquette when allocating work to professional services colleagues

• Be realistic about how urgent a piece of work may be. (If it can wait a day, or longer, please say so!) This will help professional services staff prioritise their workload.
• If you do have an urgent deadline, please consider how much time the task is likely to take for someone who may already have a full workload OR who may not be familiar with what is required.
• Recognise professional services staff’s expertise and experience in certain areas and, where applicable, ask their advice on how long a piece of work might take, and what issues might arise.
• Please be patient and recognise the pressures colleagues may be under. If there is a small task that needs to be done, it may be more efficient to do this yourself (for example, setting up a Zoom call).
• Always be appreciative of colleagues’ efforts to do the best job possible, sometimes under difficult conditions.
• Treat all colleagues as equals and as key members of your team.