Striking a Balance with After-Hours Email
The best way for employees to recharge themselves after a workday is to detach both mentally and physically from work. Unfortunately, after-hours email has made that detachment impossible for many.
Interestingly, though, the problem appears to be not the amount of time employees have to spend on work emails, but rather the expectation of receiving email and having to address it. The anticipation resulting from this expectation prevents employees from recharging, regardless of how much time they actually spend on after-hours email.
And this problem is not just during the week. For many employees, the constant ping-ping-ping of email on weekends has turned work-family balance into work-work imbalance. In fact, in 2013, Germany’s employment ministry banned its managers from emailing or phoning staff outside of work hours except in the case of emergencies. The next year, French unions also took steps to protect employees from too much after-hour email. Elsewhere, though, people continue to cope with all-day-every-day connectivity, and this state of affairs understandably makes many of them angry.
It’s possible, though, that the tone of an email affects the reaction of the recipient, as does the length of time it takes to respond to it. Emails that convey a positive tone or that can be dealt with quickly don’t seem to trigger as much anger. On the other hand, employees who have dysfunctional relationships with their supervisors seem to react negatively even to email from people other than their supervisors.
Of course, not everyone disdains after-hours email. Some employees like to deal with this email to get a jump on the next workday. Many more employees, though, are irked by their organization’s “always-on” culture. According to one study, “Even during the times when there are no actual emails to act upon, the mere norm of availability and the actual anticipation of work create a constant stressor that precludes an employee from work detachment.”
Even if organizations don’t do anything to address this growing problem, individual teams may be able to take some steps. For example, they can set boundaries for when it is acceptable or unacceptable to send after-hours email, at least among team members. They can also identify topics best addressed in person or only during the workday. Perhaps they could even use an indicator in the subject line signaling when an email does not need to be addressed immediately.
Enabling employees to feel like they have some control over their after-hours email could make a huge difference in how they react to it.
