Always On Email Damages Productivity

[engine]

Although this as addressed to a UK audience, the same thought apply wherever you are.

Is the practice of employees e-mail always being expected to be read a problem. If you do it for yourself, that's fine, but if you're an employee, are you expected to read, and more importantly, respond to e-mail whatever time it is in the day, or night, weekend, or holiday time?

[bbc.co.uk...]

[piatkow]

I'm just glad that I retired from the day job just as smart phones were becoming the norm although I made a point of never giving the office my mobile number.

The problem with internal email is that senders seem to expect their latest message to go to the top of the stack. It was normal to get a phone call within a quarter hour of a routine email asking for an update.

[lawman]

Since it's my business and since I'm a small operation, I read emails all day and respond accordingly, whether they are from my office or clients. Doesn't matter whether it's weekend, night or holiday. The light at the end of the tunnel is that I'm 64 and intend to drastically cut back my work load in 3 years. I will not miss the never ending noise.

[engine]

When it's your own business, that's entirely different. I can see why you'd do that. This article is referring to employees with far less responsibility. Perhaps it's just a fact of the ease of portability of technology!

[LifeinAsia]

Not sure what the labor (sorry, labour) laws are in the U.K., but in the U.S., depending on the jurisdiction, being required to "work" outside of scheduled work hours could be construed as overtime and paid accordingly.

That's if you're an hourly employee. If you're salaried, you're stuck being available 24/7. :)

If you're a manager-level position, especially if your company or department is a 24/7 shop, then there can be some expectation of responding to emergencies. But those would probably come in a more immediate communication channel, like a text message or phone call. I know many managers who are working anyway after hours and respond to e-mail out of courtesy. But I think most would balk if it became expected that they do that on a regular basis. At least, that's been my experience at the companies where I worked.

[graeme_p]

UK law on working hours is complex:

[gov.uk ]

I also expect employers will argue that people are only working the time they spend reading and replying to emails, not just available.