After hours emails

amother

Bone

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:10 pm

It really depends on your work culture. I work in healthcare and nor only is it completely normal to send emails 24/7 but many people do it on their smartphones.

Most people have an email signature which includes the statement 'If I am sending this out of office hours please be aware this is for my convenience and no reply is expected out of hours"

It is so ubiquitous that it is scarely noticed.

Having said that, people do feel under pressure to respond out of hours, which can be annoying as I then feel pressured to respond back when what I wanted to do was fire off a plan to action the following day.

My personal preference is to send emails at fixed period during the day between clinical sessions, so it is not intrusive. So that is 6-7am, 1-2pm and 8-9 pm. Outside those hours I try not to engage with email, and have meetings if I am not seeing patients.

But then again, we have a lot of clinical immediate messaging via an app on our phones so that is also intrusive and can go on all night even when we are off.

amother

↑ Whitesmoke

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 7:02 pm

amother Beige wrote:

Not at all. I don't check my work emails after hours.
Why would someone have their work email on their phone? It should only be on their work computer.
Also, with so many offshore employees in all types of companies it has become much more normal for people's work schedules not to align

Some companies allow work email to be accessed from a phone or personal device.

justforfun87

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 7:06 pm

My boss does this. Doesn't respond for days then on weekends or late at night will blow up my email. I don't respond on my off time, I'm just a school nurse but I do feel a certain kind of way getting emails on a weekend. I feel like I'm supposed to respond even though I don't.

amother

↑ Bluebonnet

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 7:23 pm

I think some of you are missing the point. It’s not just about notifications it’s also about finishing up urgent issues in a timely manner before you leave for the day and coming into 25 emails calling you out and making it seem like you don’t do your work.

amother

Tomato

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 7:25 pm

amother OP wrote:

To clarify— my question is simply this— is it considered unprofessional to send work emails at night?

I work in a corporate environment and emails are sent at all hours, even by the senior leaders. So in my world, it's definitely not unprofessional.

It comes down to your environment and work culture. We can't answer to that.

amother

Carnation

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:22 pm

amother OP wrote:

To clarify— my question is simply this— is it considered unprofessional to send work emails at night?

No. Its perfectly fine. I don't like to schedule emails because sometimes an email can come to me in between that would make my later email not make sense or be relevant.

amother

Crocus

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:49 pm

Just so you know there are studies that show that emails that come through after hours don't easily get responded to.

I can easily attest to this. I see an email coming through at night. I semi start reading it then leave it for the morning. In the morning I'm taking care of all new emails from the morning and I somehow lose or forget the email from the night before. Keeps happening.

↑ singleagain

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:55 pm

amother Crocus wrote:

Mark it un read or flag it for follow-up later?

amother

Blonde

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 11:05 pm

I know someone who includes at the bottom of the email something like "if this email is received out of the scope of your working hours, please only respond when it's convenient for you" something like that to let people know it's when she can work and they can respond when they work. I don't think it's unprofessional but maybe hard for people who have work emails on their phone...

B'Syata D'Shmya

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 3:28 am

amother OP wrote:

I like to respond to or send work emails at night when things are quieter for me, since while I’m in the office things tend to be super hectic and there’s so much to do. Somebody just mentioned to me that it’s considered bad practice to send work emails at night because people who don’t want to be thinking about work at night find it annoying to get work emails at night. What is considered the norm? I’ve never hesitated to send professional emails at night, with the assumption that people can respond when it works for them. Am I wrong?

The norm isnt the issue. I think its ok to send at night, understanding that you wont get a response till normal working hours. It also depends on your relationship with them.

Some people find it annoying so I would make sure that the person you are sending to, is ok with it first.

I did have one coworker complain bitterly about an email I sent out after hours. He had a grudge against me and used this issue to complain to the boss about me.

The boss sends out emails after hours too, as do many workers.

amother

Slateblue

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 4:36 am

amother Carnation wrote:

No. Its perfectly fine. I don't like to schedule emails because sometimes an email can come to me in between that would make my later email not make sense or be relevant.

This!

I'm always nervous to delay my emails because it might be sent after someone else responds. I'd love use/feel comfortable with the feature tho