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Work emails at night


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How many of you who are NOT self-employed (i.e. you are an employee) get work emails at night? I'm just curious how common this is.

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I don't log into my work email when I am not at work. Some coworkers do. I think they are silly to do that.

 

My home time is my home time.

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How many of you who are NOT self-employed (i.e. you are an employee) get work emails at night? I'm just curious how common this is.

 

I do get work emails at night. I don't check them in my personal time.

 

Well, I guess that's not really true at all. I do check them, but unless there's an emergency, I pretend I haven't seen them until I'm on the clock.

 

I do this to make an attempt at establishing boundaries. I don't want anyone to expect a reply until I'm on the clock.

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I check emails at home if I have time. It cuts down on extra hours during the week. It depends on whether you have a standard 40 HR per week job or not.

 

I'm in management so there isn't a black and white cutoff

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El Duendecillo

My phone dings throughout the night with work related emails.. which I ignore until the next business day.

 

My out of office reply is permanently set to respond to all emails from outside of my organization, that I will reply the next business day when time permits. Pretty much the same auto reply for emails originating from within my company also.

 

In the last couple of years it became a bit overwhelming, and bit ridiculous trying to keep up with after-hours emails.

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I do. Our company is based in Europe but we have clients all over the world, so...due to the different time zones...I often get emails at night. I try to reply to urgent emails but ignore the ones that can wait until the next morning. That's fine though. It's part of the job description ;)

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Wallysbears

I've carried a work smart phone for years. How much attention to it that I have paid has been contingent upon the work/life balance of a client. And upon my level of responsibility and compensation.

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GorillaTheater

There are a few people I work with who apparently keep odd hours and will send me an email at three in the morning.

 

As long as they don't expect a reply until 8 or 9, it's all good.

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Eternal Sunshine

I get and reply to e-mails at night and weekends. For me, work is integrated in life and I don't feel stressed or like I need a break.

 

 

I also work with global sites which makes it even trickier. I often have teleconferences late at night or at 6am. My boss does this too.

 

 

I guess it depends on what you want. We have people in our team who strictly reply to e-mails "on the clock". Those are not the people that get promoted.

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Happy Lemming

My last job was for a gentleman (two person company) that traveled all over the globe. I was never sure where he was or what time zone he was in. He was the vision guy, I took care of his money and protected his financial assets. We made a great team!!

 

I'd get e-mail(s) anytime day or night. I worked from home, so it wasn't a big deal. I'm also not a solid "sleeper", never have been. So, I'd check my e-mail throughout the night. Most of the time, all that was required was a quick response or send him a file or spreadsheet. A few times, we had to "Skype" in the middle of the night, but those instances were fairly rare.

 

My boss was very generous. In addition to a very nice salary, every time he closed a big deal, he'd include a bonus for me. I was more than compensated for any "middle of the night" e-mail(s) responses he needed.

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I'm in management so there isn't a black and white cutoff

 

Same here. And since many of the locations I oversee are open 24 hours a day, I also get occasional phone calls and texts after hours. There are levels of management between me and operations, but if stuff really hits the fan I have to be accessible and involved.

 

Price you pay for certain careers. You learn the ability to switch in and out of work mode very quickly, 10 minutes answering emails doesn't have to ruin a day off...

 

Mr. Lucky

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Of course I do, our organization is global. I often send emails at night, too. Too much work to figure out what work hours/timezone someone is in and to schedule the emails accordingly.

 

I don't see a problem - just don't check your work email after hours if you don't want to? Then you don't see them til the next morning. I assume the people I'm sending the emails to won't be reading them until the next time they're at work, which is all good.

Edited by Elswyth
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Wallysbears

For me? It was about respect.

 

I had a client that expected me at their office at EXACTLY 8am until EXACTLY 5pm and had zero flexibility or work life balance appreciation. For them? The work phone went to silent in the bottom of my work purse outside business hours.

 

Other clients? I'd be accessible 24/7/365 because they appreciated we all have lives to lead and work when and how we can.

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I only do any communication after hours if it's necessary to let my boss know I'll be late or absent, something like that. No personal just for the hell of it stuff. I think that's crossing a line, especially if you're in a relationship. You are at work enough you should be able to have plenty of work friendship time without it cutting into your family's time with you.

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I only do any communication after hours if it's necessary to let my boss know I'll be late or absent, something like that. No personal just for the hell of it stuff. I think that's crossing a line, especially if you're in a relationship. You are at work enough you should be able to have plenty of work friendship time without it cutting into your family's time with you.

 

 

I don't think most people send work emails solely for personal chatting or "for the hell of it", at any time of the day...

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I work as management in the IT field so I get a lot of night and weekend emails and calls. I simply prioritize the calls/emails. Whether you can expect them during nights and weekends, I think, depends on your job.

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