Is it okay to send work emails late at night?
A reader writes:
As a manager, new parent, and generally busy person, I work some crazy hours. For example, yesterday I was online at 2am (because my daughter woke me up in the night and I decided to use some time to clear my work inbox before a busy Monday) and at 10pm (because I finished early to play with my daughter but needed to meet a deadline). I don’t expect these types of hours from my team or encourage people to work outside of hours if it doesn’t suit them, but sometimes these are the hours that suit me!
What can and should I do to make it clear that what I do is not what I expect of the team and that following my example will not impact my opinion of them or their performance? Working hours are part of my “Welcome to the team” conversation and I talk to each person from time to time using phrases like, “You may see some of my emails at odd times. This is because I have no set pattern of working and sometimes work early or late to allow me flexibility. I absolutely do not expect anyone to respond to me or check their emails outside of their normal working hours, so please whatever hours work for you. Fit in, do the job.” I feel like this is obvious, but “actions speak louder than words” keeps going around in my mind.
I answer this question – and two others – today in Inc. In, where I’m revisiting letters that are buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding their responses). You You can read it here.
Other questions I’ll be answering there today include:
- I’m taking on too much work – how do I reset this?
- How to tell a computer-illiterate co-worker that I can’t help him
