Answering work emails on the weekend

[isucy86]

I think it is important to be very upfront with clients and co-workers about my answering emails outside work hours (I Don't). It gets a bit grey in today's era of remote working and flexible schedules.

As one poster mentioned, setting an OOO message at quitting time is a great idea. Even weekdays.

I tend to work Saturday am's. But feel that is my time to get organized or catch-up. A lot can get done in 3-4 hours with no interruptions.

So when working after hours I also make sure not to send emails. I write, leave in draft and send when I return to work. I won't leave VM's or IM's either. I don't want to give those 24/7 "heros" a reason to know I'm working.

 

[intrepid27]

This is by far the best take on work-family balance I've heard.

 

[ianoconnor]

The scheduling option in Outlook is pretty clutch. Occasionally I'll stay up late to work through emails or meet a deadline - you can delay delivery on an email to a specified time. That way you can get it off your plate but it isn't pinging the other person at some ridiculous time.

 

[Rabbuk]

The scheduling option in Outlook is pretty clutch. Occasionally I'll stay up late to work through emails or meet a deadline - you can delay delivery on an email to a specified time. That way you can get it off your plate but it isn't pinging the other person at some ridiculous time.

Mine all typically shoot off at 459 pm as i am logging off.

 

[CoachHines3]

i dont even have work email on my phone.

it can wait until monday.

 

[cycloneG]

Does anyone else do this? Work-free weekends are sacred to me and to this point I've refused to engage with my inbox until Monday. But now I'm spending a lot of my Mondays catching up on weekend emails. Not from my coworkers but from external clients, etc. Is there any solution or is this just how it is?

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I am weird and the whole need to keep work and non work completely separate and having to fully disconnect in evenings and weekends never really had any value to me. Maybe it’s from growing up working with a self employed dad growing up where there weren’t really off hours.

I also have a weird thing of needing to keep my inbox fairly clean. So for me spending a bit of time scanning email on weekends, evenings or vacations far outweighs the stress of coming back to a mountain of email. I also figure checking email on weekends or vacation just balances the time in the office I’m on CF

That said I also know the crap of having a boss where you wake up to a ton of email because he’s up all night every night replying. So as I’ve moved to management positions I use my phone to clean out garbage email that needs no reply. I scan the rest so they are easy to deal with in the office but mostly avoid replying unless it’s critical

This is exactly me. I'm in transportation, so our issues are usually immediate and have a tight resolution timetable.

I get a ton of garbage E-mails that aren't that hard to get through. I could easily walk into 250-350 E-mails every Monday without clearing them out during the weekend. Give me two minutes and I can clean out 40-50. Unfortunately, I can't filter them out due to the nature of some of them.

I might never have an issue that needs to be dealt with or maybe one or two. If taking 5-10 minutes to resolve an issue that will cost me hours on Monday, I'll tackle it. I won't check them during any family event and our phones are never with us during meals. Outside of CF, I'm not a social media guy at all, so it's pretty easy to do that fairly quickly without disrupting my life.

And yes, if my inbox isn't empty, I'm trying like hell to get it that way.

 

[Pat]

Does anyone else do this? Work-free weekends are sacred to me and to this point I've refused to engage with my inbox until Monday. But now I'm spending a lot of my Mondays catching up on weekend emails. Not from my coworkers but from external clients, etc. Is there any solution or is this just how it is?

We’ve got 5 pages of “it sorta depends,” (plus The Ballad of Janny’s Ban-Hammer), and I think that’s the right answer. It has varied for me through the years depending on what I’m doing.

1) Does it directly affect income? I have a friend who’s a recruiter, and if he’s awake, he’s on the phone to some degree. It’s the life he chose, and it’s been a rewarding one.
2) Does it affect other work? If you’re in a salaried position and can’t get everything done in 40ish at work, then it’s reasonable to do emails at home. I had a boss that would send a barrage every morning at 5am while on the treadmill. That’s quality multitasking.
3) Will it (really) impact your career path in a meaningful way? This one is tough to discern.
4) Does it affect your sanity? If spending an hour filing emails on Saturday or Sunday night makes Monday morning more tolerable, than it’s time well spent. If you get a lot that you really don’t need to see, there’s some value to setting up rules to, uh, file those, if possible.

Also worth noting that, last I was aware, it’s not legal for an hourly employee to spend unpaid time checking work email. One incredibly nice thing about consulting is the bright line around billable hours: “Sure, I can be on call for 72 hours this weekend. BTW you will be charged for all of them. Oh, maybe you don’t need me that much after all?”

 

[wxman1]

My boss and 1 or 2 coworkers have my cell if I am absolutely needed. Has never happened. This does play a role in how far I want to ascend. I am willing to handle occasional exceptions but as a father of now three all 7 and under with a wife that is a nurse who works nights and one weekend a month there are times where it is non-negotiable that I am unavailable.

Since we switched from the Google Suite to O365 and Outlook I have not had an instant messenger or email on my phone and am much happier.

 

[throwittoblythe]

I took a job in BD/sales for a construction/engineering firm about 18 months ago. The job is 100% remote and we have the "no vacation" plan.

Overall, I really like the flexibility. As others have said, under the "no vacation policy" plan, I tend to take less time off, not more. The company gives us 2 weeks off at Christmas time, but it takes a lot of personal fortitude to take time off during the summer. Not because they won't let me, more because I'm so busy that it's hard to get away.

I also have full control over my schedule. I generally don't start working until around 9 and I'm done by 5 when I'm at home. When I'm travelling, I can work from 6am until midnight fairly regularly.

Regarding the email question: because I'm in sales, I'm kind of always "on." If a client needs something, then I need to do what I can to get it to them (assuming it's reasonable). I tend to answer emails on the weekends if they are quick answers and/or if it is easier to do it in that moment. I try not to set the expectation that others need to respond to my evening or weekend emails. I try to be cognizant that just sending the email implies a need for response.

I'll be sure to write a book when I get this all figured out.

 

[isuno1fan]

Yes...work from home...salaried....great work life balance so I do things on my own timetable for the most part. That includes weekends. It's what works for me.

 

[bozclone]

I will check emails once or twice during the weekend, but I never respond. It is solely so I know what is coming at me Monday morning.

 

[ISUTex]

I start going through them Sunday evening after dinner.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

You do this manual or can you set automatically?

Manual for vacations but I have it automatic on the weekends and evenings

 

[Cdiedrick]

Does anyone else do this? Work-free weekends are sacred to me and to this point I've refused to engage with my inbox until Monday. But now I'm spending a lot of my Mondays catching up on weekend emails. Not from my coworkers but from external clients, etc. Is there any solution or is this just how it is?

I’m in sales, I don’t get a day off. Yes I respond to them.

 

[cycloner29]

Since the owner pays for my phone bill, I kinda feel obligated to answer emails. If I do it's usually from a client and they are surprised that I answered them. One way to build on relationships! Do I get a lot of emails on the weekend that I need to answer? No. I tend to get a a lot of crap emails from the company that takes care of our IT. It's called "Barracuda Email Gateway Defense Quarantine Notification." I get more of these than I do regular email throughout the week even! It then up to you to allow, or block it. Kind of a pain in the a$$.

 

[Rabbuk]

Since the owner pays for my phone bill, I kinda feel obligated to answer emails. If I do it's usually from a client and they are surprised that I answered them. One way to build on relationships! Do I get a lot of emails on the weekend that I need to answer? No. I tend to get a a lot of crap emails from the company that takes care of our IT. It's called "Barracuda Email Gateway Defense Quarantine Notification." I get more of these than I do regular email throughout the week even! It then up to you to allow, or block it. Kind of a pain in the a$$.

I spent so much time fighting with that specific filter to let me see legitimate emails at my old job. Seemed like any outside the org email got quarantined.

 

[Gunnerclone]

The problem I've found is, even if you just read them and don't respond until Monday, half the time the email has something in it that ****** me off and ruins half or all my weekend fretting over it.

Sometimes it’s as simple as someone sending an email at 1:41am on Saturday that sets me off. Doesn’t matter what the content is or even if I’m just a BCC.

 

[cyfan92]

I'm young in my career and trying to climb. So I usually spend 30-60 minutes on Sunday looking over email and responding to certain items

 

[mywayorcyway]

The scheduling option in Outlook is pretty clutch. Occasionally I'll stay up late to work through emails or meet a deadline - you can delay delivery on an email to a specified time. That way you can get it off your plate but it isn't pinging the other person at some ridiculous time.

If you want to get ahead/stay on track on the weekends, you should be using this option whenever possible. Allows you to work on the weekends and at the same time, set proper and reasonable expectations. Pen the email at 6:30am on Saturday morning, person receives it at 8:23am on Monday.

I strongly recommend not checking/replying to your email on the weekends at all if possible, but if you feel you must or it is required of you, use the scheduler to send whenever possible.