# Escalation

> Escalation brings in more people or a higher level when a task is overdue or beyond its owner's authority, so it does not stall.

Escalation is the rule for what happens when a task cannot move forward with its current owner. There are two kinds:

- **Time-based**: the task is past its deadline, so someone else is brought in.
- **Authority- or expertise-based**: the task needs a decision or knowledge the current owner does not have, such as an amount above their approval limit or a problem beyond first-line support.

A good escalation path is written down in advance: who is added, after how long, and what they are expected to do.

### Why it matters

Without escalation, a request can sit in one inbox indefinitely and nobody notices until the requester complains. A clear path turns "I've been waiting two weeks" into a reminder on day two and a manager's attention on day four.

### Example

A maintenance request has one business day for the facilities technician to respond (illustrative). At the deadline, the technician gets a reminder. Two business days later, the facilities manager is added to the request and decides whether to reassign it or call a contractor.

### Common pitfalls

- **Escalating straight to the top**, which trains executives to ignore escalations.
- **Escalations that are just more email**, with no change in who owns the task.
- **No context.** The person who receives the escalation has to rebuild the history.
- **Treating escalation as blame**, so people avoid using it.

In Easyflow, a step that runs past its deadline sends overdue reminders and can add escalation contacts to the step automatically.

Page: https://easy.wf/glossary/escalation