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Does your company require employees to respond to email after hours?
Recently, I was talking to a friend who said his company enacted a policy where all executives were required to respond to any email they receive within two hours, regardless of whether it was sent during the typical work day or the weekend. I know that technology has blurred the barriers between home and office but have others heard about similar policies?
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17 Answers
There are a couple of problems with the scenario. First, there is an automatic assumption that you have to check your email every two hours. This is absurd. Even people with insomnia need to sleep sometimes. Setting this as a legal policy also sets the precedent that creates a situation were everyone under this dictum could be fired for not following an unreasonable policy.
Secondly, it creates the environment were the worker with no life and who's job is their entire life as a goal to aspire to rather than being a well rounded individual who's more likely to be a benefit for the company. While competition is good, it should not be competition for competition's sake. This is like the unfettered approach in sales rewarding the salesperson with the highest total sales rather than the salesperson who's sales resulted in the highest profit. Although that scenario sounds obvious, it's surprising how often that happens.
Lastly, it is simply an unhealthy policy (business-wise and medically.) It creates unneeded stress. I don't care how much someone makes, no vacation or relaxation time is bad for the individual, not to mention the after effects it will have on their business decisions and attitude in the workplace.
Emergencies should be dealt with in a predetermined manner with chains of communication with several alternates determined for crisis management and catastrophic event planning. Even emergency room Dr's are either on duty, on call, or off.
There are many other problems with this "2 hour response time" issue but these examples alone should be enough to stop this type of practice. Management decisions of this type are often made by the people who will not be affected by it. In the case of the OP's friend, I would be willing to guess that it was a decision of the Board of Directors for whom the executives in question have to report to.
I do not expect employees to answer after hours but I show appreciation if they do.
They also appreciate my responding to them after hours.
If Staff are rostered on I do expect they respond.
I have worked for several companies that require you to answer both phone calls and e-Mails during personal times...and this policy held true for all employees (executive and staff). Technology has indeed blurred the lines between business/personal life, however it is still up to the human beings to control the process.
There should be a framework for why an employee gets a mobile phone or VPN/Remote access...and an expectation set for why/when/how an employee should respond when performing "work" i.e. "taking calls", "responding to e-Mails"...when should they draw the line between personal time and dedicated hours. And personal time extends to breaks, lunches, vacations, etc...THIS IS MADNESS!
Whatever happened to the "6 W's"; Who, What, Where, When, Why & How...before you implement a process or start deploying a practice and calling it policy? The cause and effect? The brain engagement?
Well in my case, I left the corporate arena for entrepreneurship...As the owner of the company, I am drawing the line early between personal and work time so that it is instilled in my company culture. We care about our clients and offer top-notch service...that's why we use technology in the form of; auto-responder's, FAQ's, Quick Tip sheets, online forms and access etc...any tool we can provide to help them help themselves until we are available again. As the owner of the company, I will respond to a customer during personal hours but the expectation and rule is we don't take advantage of this...because a happy employee, makes a happy client. Employee's need the time away to recoup, renew, rejuvenate so the business gains the benefit and value of their creativity.
I have 2 employees and 15 Consultants who work with me...Since 2008 we have been doing Q12/or 360 degree appraisals...and we have consistently 100% received the highest mark "5" for the questions, Do I love my Job? and Do I believe my company values me?...although the company is still small, this is done anonymously.
Yes. It seems to be specific to certain levels (managers or executives) rather than line employees. There are exceptions, usually relating to urgent projects or deadlines, but most firms endeavor to keep work and personal time separate, so they rarely require staff to answer emails when they're not at their desk.
I think the trend in America towards placing ever-increasing demands on small-business employees is rather alarming. You cannot (and should not) expect them to treat the business as if they own it. My business partner and I own a small web design firm, Voyage Media Group, and I cannot imagination placing an expectation on an employee to respond to an e-mail outside of working hours. They are paid in exchange for their time...whether that is full-time (40 hours per week) or part-time. Nothing more. They are not the property of the company, and they need to know that there are safe and fair boundaries between their job and the other equally (or more) important parts of their lives (family, etc.). I believe policies like what you describe simply serve to reduce employee-morale and over-all performance.
Now, being that your friend said the policy applied only to executives, I can see where it could be a more realistic expectation...although I still don't think I would run my business that way. That's my two cents, for what it's worth.
Yes, few top notch people in list they have company given Black berry and they respond 24/7....
With regards,
Paresh Trivedi
If there is an expectation to reply to all emails at all hours then hopefully that has been addressed in their compensation package as well. Everyone needs down time away from the job regardless of the level of responsibility. 24/7 is an unreasonable request other than special projects or emergencies.
I am guessing many executive still have someone else filter/check their email. It may be that a response is necessary in the 2 hours for some companies, but that it does not have to be a personal response from the executive. An acknowledgement that the email was received and will have follow up may be sufficient.
As anyone can send an email to any email, it would not make sense that an executive would need to reply to random emails or even to emails sent by employees with a general question/concern.
Also, executives with this 2 hour rule may not need to respond within 2 hours during evening/night hours. Responding on Sunday is not the same as responding at 2a.m. Saturday morning.
Philip Sawyer brings up a very good point, what is the rule for part-time employees?
The question was for employees, the executives mentioned were an example, but the question is not limited to them.
I must agree with Melissa Brown, it depends on the response required. An "Out Of The Office" response is no big deal, it can be fully automated. A smart responder might also work with a set of canned responses which does not respond for exactly 1 hour and 59 minutes.
But, ignoring the bigger ethical problems, the technical and legal issues are horrific.
1. What if the email system is down or slow? If the message takes more than 2 hours in transit, response within two hours of origination is impossible. The message "Our Internet connection has been severed by a backhoe. What should I do?" sent to the CIO's Blackberry might be delayed for a long time if sent from the internal network.
2. In many states, compensation for performance of a company's duties 24/7 requires additional compensation and it is illegal to put a person on duty 24/7. No more than 16 hours per day and no more than a fixed number of days without a day off. If a salaried employee were told that he would be required to commit an illegal act to do his (or her) job, what would the courts hold? Would the corporate veil be pierced?
3. How would you react to an employee stealing from you?
Most contractors are required to submit time sheets and are told that the minimum billable time will be "X" hours per billable event. Is checking e-mail is a billable event?
How much would a contractor be paid for 24/7 billing, that is 168 hours per week. Multiply that by $50 or $100/hour and a contractor suddenly has a very lucrative operation.
Contract houses ONLY sell the contractor's time. Not reporting billable hours is theft, pure and simple, it takes income from the contract house for the gain of another.
4. This also means that any employee who falls under the mandate either has permission to work at home or must be at the company 24/7. Can you see issues with this?
5. Then there is the civil liability issue, if the company requires the employee to operate a motor vehicle and deprives him of sleep, who is liable when the employee falls asleep at the wheel?
Unfortunately yes, 24/7/365, companies of the future & global. However you can handle your time and your Blackberry. Just a few words can keep the client happy until you answer with further info.
I love this question, because there are few things that have a worse cost/benefit and few things that are better indicators of a company's "culture". That said, hard to do it justice in a few words.
If your company culture has created this phenomenon, then there is little you, as an employee, can do. If you want to get ahead, be seen as a team player, show your commitment...you have to play the game. It's a game because most emails sent after work hours don't need immediate responses, so answering them is providing no true benefit to your company's success (some do, but these truly required off-hours interactions were in place long before Blackberries and email, and not a debatable point...of course you have to respond to something critical to your business's success).
It's a game, because employees respond not after evaluating the need for an off-hours response, but by evaluating the expectation of the sender and the impact on one's career.
It's a game, because you are forcing employees to demonstrate that work is more important that family and free-time. It's only difficult at first, until your family and friends accept your tethering as the new normal. Once you develop the habit of constantly checking email, it becomes easier for you too, as you can do it without deliberation or even thought.
It's a game because then you impose the same expectations on your employees, that your management imposed on you. You also start to gauge people's value by their ability to give you outsized priority in their lives.
It's a game because emails sent from Blackberries in the middle of the night are often unthoughtful grunts of communication that almost never provide closure to the original email's purpose.
And finally, it's a game because when you are not forced to play it, your life expands incredibly, your stress diminishes, your time in bed improves greatly (yes, both things you do there), your mind, left untethered, is free to come up with deep work (and life) innovations and you do become much more productive during your work hours.
And yes, if there is an off-hours emergency, all my employees are always reachable. I just call them.
I think Esteban's response is a reality, especially for global work that covers multiple time zones. I vote "no" on policy for this, but appreciate work partners who value keeping positive progress moving. Time management is something that will always be a challenge, and most people are pretty reasonable in their expectations for response ... do you find that to be true, too? I'm loving my work with people all around the world and it is a pleasure to connect with them at unusual times of day, even if as Esteban says, to let them know I'll be getting back to them very soon.
My wife and I are the only emplyees and we would answer any e-mails after hours. Especially if they involve a telephone call to the individual and was requesting more information. If we had employees it would normally not be required of them except in special cases where they had to followup on a previous contact and information was requested.
Philip Sawyer brings up a very good point, what is the rule for part-time employees?
The question was for employees, the executives mentioned were an example, but the question is not limited to them.
I must agree with Melissa Brown, it depends on the response required. An "Out Of The Office" response is no big deal, it can be fully automated. A smart responder might also work with a set of canned responses which does not respond for exactly 1 hour and 59 minutes.
But, ignoring the bigger ethical problems, the technical and legal issues are horrific.
1. What if the email system is down or slow? If the message takes more than 2 hours in transit, response within two hours of origination is impossible. The message "Our Internet connection has been severed by a backhoe. What should I do?" sent to the CIO's Blackberry might be delayed for a long time if sent from the internal network.
2. In many states, compensation for performance of a company's duties 24/7 requires additional compensation and it is illegal to put a person on duty 24/7. No more than 16 hours per day and no more than a fixed number of days without a day off. If a salaried employee were told that he would be required to commit an illegal act to do his (or her) job, what would the courts hold? Would the corporate veil be pierced?
3. How would you react to an employee stealing from you?
Most contractors are required to submit time sheets and are told that the minimum billable time will be "X" hours per billable event. Is checking e-mail is a billable event?
How much would a contractor be paid for 24/7 billing, that is 168 hours per week. Multiply that by $50 or $100/hour and a contractor suddenly has a very lucrative operation.
Contract houses ONLY sell the contractor's time. Not reporting billable hours is theft, pure and simple, it takes income from the contract house for the gain of another.
4. This also means that any employee who falls under the mandate either has permission to work at home or must be at the company 24/7. Can you see issues with this?
5. Then there is the civil liability issue, if the company requires the employee to operate a motor vehicle and deprives him of sleep, who is liable when the employee falls asleep at the wheel?
Steve mentions that firms try to keep work and personal time separate. With some many folks working at home now and so many communication options, I am not sure if that is possible anymore. I wonder if answering email at night or on the weekend is payback for being able to work at home and pick up the dry cleaning or a daughter from piano lessons.
The point is that checking e-mail every two hours is silly, emergency communications are not.
As CEO, CIO, etc. how would you respond to texts every few minutes 24 hours per day asking "Are you up?" Okay, how about to HAVING to check e-mail every two hours while you are trying to sleep? Would that make you unhappy?
Often telling someone to check e-mail every two hours SOUNDS easy, but formalizing it is more difficult. Do you mean while sleeping? Do you mean while anesthetized during an operation? Saying "between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM" is reasonable, 24/7 is not.
no but some do if online
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