Replying to Messages and E-mails

for me? It's as soon as possible. If I miss a phone call - it could be a client telling me about a new position he/she has open or a candidate getting back on an offer.

No, it doesn't matter to me if it's from within my organization, a client or someone else. You treat them the way you want to be treated. So really? I do it as fast as I can without skimping on someone else.

If I am in a meeting and see that I missed a call - I will send a quick text to let them know I am in a meeting and will call when it's over.

If a volunteer situation? Same rules apply. Why would it be different for volunteer? Just because I don't get paid for it - doesn't mean I shouldn't put my best into it.

I take it that someone didn't get back with you - or you got in trouble at work for not responding back in a "professional" amount of time?

I respond as soon as I possibly can. I have always been praised for my responsiveness. I believe that it is rude to wait several days before responding. I also expect other people to be responsive to me. If I really need an answer, I have been known to walk away from my computer and personally visit somone (gasp). It's a lot harder for someone to blow you off when you visit them and ask a direct question.

People fall into preferred methods of communication.
Those who like emails will respond to emails and tend not to respond or even check their voice mail.
I work with people long distance.
I have to email the email people, instant message the instant message people, and phone call the voice mail people.
You have to sort out who is who.
And then there are people who you have to hound every which way you can - they are too busy (or important) to bother with communications with the likes of some low on the totem pole people like you or me - it's an attitude that's hard to work with.
Basically - you have to cover your behind.
As long as you can show you TRIED to convey the message, the consequences of their not responding are their own fault and not yours.
If the chairman has an assistant / secretary, they are the people you need to get a hold of - they screen the calls and communications and it's possible the message is not even getting through beyond them.
People get back to me in about 24 hrs, but a few will take 2 weeks or ignore me completely.
If they are ignoring a requirement that could impact our Service Level Agreements (SLAs) (the breaking of which will cost the company money), escalating (cc'ing) to their supervisor usually will force a response in a more timely manner.

i really do think there is a huge range of "normal" for this one. i am a compulsive emailer - if i get an email, i read and answer right then, unless it is something i need more research on, or to complete a job before answering, etc. then it's within a couple hours usually. also my job keeps me away from my desk quite a bit so i may not get it right away. (i don't do the blackberry thing)

what's funny is there's a girl in another department (oh lordy don't get me started) that is addicted to her crackberry - and answers within seconds usually. until you ask her to do something. then it's days lol. especially if it's something she doesn't think she should have to do, or annoys her that you asked. she has her own folder in my email so i can keep straight what i've sent her :)

voice mail, i don't use much except when someone calls in for my department, which we don't return, so i can't help you there. but in my job i would say normally it's the same business day. anything beyond that and i am "following up" :)

*disclaimer - i work in a lab so test results are usually on a rotating basis every 24-48 hours, so now that i think about it, almost everything we deal with is pretty time sensitive.

It would definitely depend on the urgency of the message.
I have found in most cases a reply is still considered "reasonable" within a 48 hr period.
I work in a business, and most of my vendors, etc, do not reply to me for 3 or 4 days in many cases.
I used to be anal about quick response but have learned to chill and realize it's okay.
I listen to my voicemails at the end of the day, and answer those that seem necessary to answer... but most can wait until another time.
I don't expect quick responses anymore, and I don't do them anymore.

ETA: I see that most of you are saying you answer asap, I think you are in electronics forced stress mode. Trust me, you gotta relax about it. You will see.... in time.

One business day at the most! I am out-of-the-office frequently, so I leave a detailed "away message" on both my email and office phone with my secretary's contact info if it's urgent. She knows what needs to be immediately forwarded and what can wait. Either way, someone gets in touch with the person within ONE business day. Late Friday phone message? First thing Monday morning, etc.

I "prefer" they get back asap... or when they possibly can... I have found that people often cherry pick and if you aren't on the top of their list (Even if you are a customer) then you don't get called/emailed back right away. I think it's unprofessional. To me, IF you truly do have the time to call a person back DO IT!!! Especially if you work in a big organization where email/phone is how you communicate. You don't need to solve any or all questions asap, but at least let the person know you are aware they contacted you .. So often, people are out of touch when it comes to GREAT customer service.. this also includes customer services towards your co-workers...

I would get back to my customer w/in the end of the business day or no later than the next end of the business day. If I was the one leaving the message, I would expect the same in return. I think a day is adequate.

In General: In my line of work, it has to be fairly quick if its internal work related. If I don't respond, they will either come out 15 minutes later or call to ask if I got the email. Sometimes, they go to my boss and say I haven't answered the email just to light a fire under my butt. If I can't I will just tell my boss why and he can deal with it. If I am working on a current job, I will finish what I am doing and then respond. I rotate jobs and emails. It takes at least 30 minutes to complete a job.
If its something that isn't important, then I might respond in a day or 2.
I am not supposed to email or call clients unless I am asked to because sometimes we busy to where I go in on Saturday and that way our client has the data on Monday morning and paperwork on Monday morning.

Generally 48 hours is my rule of thumb for any sort of professional situation. I am an office of one, and when people call me repeatedly through out the day, it just winds up taking met hat much longer to get back to them! After 48 hours its appropriate to just make a follow up call "just wondering if you got my message re...."
Also if you are trying to reach anyone at the state of CT Dept of Social Services, they very rarely return any one's phone calls.

If I am in the office there is no reason that they don't get an immediate response. I am there, I get my emails right away, I am being paid to respond therefore I do.

At least as this relates to me if someone doesn't get an answer in five minutes I am out of the office.

When I used to volunteer you actually got five minute turnovers unless I was sleeping. My phone alerts me of personal emails.

Usually as soon as possible. Sometimes I need time to research and my response will take longer, but I will advise that that is the case, normally.

I think some type of response is nice with the day that the initial contact was made. I realize that people are busy & that I may not be on the top of their list, but I expect at least some type of response. With the industry I'm in, my dealers can be flaky, or not check emails on a regular basis or receive messages I leave them, so it's a little different for me.

It really depends on who is sending it and what it's about. For external clients, I try to respond the same day or if I don't have an immediate answer, will let the person know that I received the message and am looking into it and will get back to them by X date.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many e-mails from my colleagues that I never open at all. I have 466 unread e-mails in my inbox at work now and 47 of them are from this week alone. I probably have at least as many that I open and ignore.

For something not urgent, like a volunteer thing, I would probably respond within 1-2 weeks.

I expect people to get back to me by the end of the day on any "business day". I always return business-related emails or calls within 24 hours, but only because they aren't more time sensitive than that in most cases, and if they are, I return the call/email immediately.

I could take weeks to even retrieve voicemail, let alone respond. E-mails...righ away.

I think the answer for me is "as soon as I can." So at my desk, that means almost immediately, unless it involves some research, design, etc. And even then I will respond immediately saying something like: I should have this for you by xyz."

Pretty much same with personal calls/email.
EXCEPT in the case of about 2 people I know that I NEVER call back (just to chat) because I know it will mean a 1 hour minimum phone conversation, causing my stomach to knot just thinking about it, so then it's another 6 months before they call again and the cycle continues.....lol

If it's a personal email invite/mailed invite/question/etc. pretty much immediately.

It depends on what my job was, but as soon as possible. If I was running around at my last job trying to get answers from engineers and going to meetings on new products, I might not respond to a voice mail for several hours. Same for email. I did not have a Blackberry. I did try to at least respond in a "I'll have to look that up and get back to you" kind of way within the business day. I gave department managers a day or two before I followed up, knowing they were likely not at their desks much. If it was really critical and I needed answers sooner, I would try to find them or find someone else who could help.

For volunteer work...depends, but I wouldn't sweat a couple of days. I'd start with one thing and follow up with another. (Say, send an email and then follow up in a day or two with a phone call if time was critical.) I'm on a communications committee that meets once a month. When it's my turn to do the newsletter review, I turn it around in a day. I know to look for it every Monday. But if there's a pre-meeting email discussion? Not so critical.

I agree that there are preferred methods of communication. Does that person prefer email, phone call, text or even FaceBook (volunteer stuff)? Does your office have a short message/chat system? Etc. Start with what usually works best.

If there is no response after several tries and you need to cover your butt, then write an email to responsible parties professionally detailing what and who and why.

If someone didn't like your response time, all you can do is explain and try to do better and hopefully nothing critical got missed. Sometimes people are reasonable and sometimes they are not.