Why do some co-workers constantly invite you to join them in Team meetings?

Does this mean they're depressed and lonely? No! They seek to steal your time and destroy your day.

You finally end an agonising call with a customer and plan to leave your desk for lunch, but a call from a coworker urging you to attend a meeting comes in. The caller's photo is of a smug grin face. You pause and consider whether to disregard it. What if they need to talk to you about something important? Your manager might be waiting for you on the phone, which would be a stronger motivation. Not picking up and joining would not be a sensible choice.

On the other hand, it could be a set-up with the client who is waiting for you and your coworker who is about to ask you a question you won't be able to answer and put you on the spot. Or perhaps it will just be a casual conversation about how your day is going? Let's presume that it won't be the latter.

Sometimes your entire team might be waiting for you on a call and want your opinion on something vital. Once you get invited, the small talk starts where a joke is said to break the ice, or someone will ask how your day is going while the other person on the call probably doesn't want to be there like you.

Inviting people to join calls has become a norm in some organisations it's a wonder anything gets done. There are other messenger tools people can reach you on like Email, telephone and some people will go as low as sending you a text message.

What value will you bring to the call is the real query? When a coworker asks for your presence, the worst thing you could hear is:

'My co-worker is an expert in this field and will be able to tell you everything you need to know.'

There are additional factors at play when a coworker asks you to join a call. Numbers and security may play a role. Having someone on the call who is more knowledgeable, confident, and has a specific status within the company can be another factor. This person could be useful when dealing with a client group or an individual client. Having a large group of people join the call acts as your crew or gang's safety net if things go wrong or a full-on conflict breaks out.

Just picture how impressive this ability would be on a résumé. "I've gotten people to join calls before,"

The truth is that more workers will prefer to contact you in this way when they require support or assistance, so it would be good to pick and choose who you ignore. Constantly ignoring calls, however, could harm your career. Unless you're working from home and binge-watching Netflix, it's doubtful that you'll ignore the CEO or your line manager.

Tips to least get involved with a call you've been asked to join

• Fill your calendar with fake meeting requests or mark the meeting as private. With this visible in your calendar, should deter calls to you.
• As the person is calling you from Microsoft Teams to join a meeting, message them and tell them you're on your mobile phone on an important call to a customer.
• Claim you're having internet connection problems and they keep cutting out.
• You're on your lunch hour. Keep in mind you can only use this occasionally.
• Don't be of any use on the call whatsoever and they won't call you again.
• Sore throat, you're not going to add any value
• You're expecting a call from an important client at any minute**

Conclusion

Getting involved with these time stealers as little as possible can give you the majority of your day back and enable you to be more productive in the long run, though you must keep in mind that you won't be able to stop these snakes from constantly phoning you.