At what level of salary/responsibility is it reasonable to check/respond to emails on holiday?

I have my work emails on my phone and have ended up working on every single holiday - however I have recently moved into a role where I have no responsibility for a team and now can completely switch off. I’ll still keep an eye on emails but only because it makes me anxious not to!

My husband is in a very senior, very well paid role. He is very protective of his time off, and doesn’t deal with things generally while on holiday (or on evenings or weekends). If he needs to schedule something while we are away, it has to be a real NEED. And even then he is deeply annoyed about it. I find his attitude really baffling - at his salary I would expect to be (and be happy to be!) on call almost 24/7 (I know this is definitely a me/anxiety problem and his attitude is far more healthy than mine!). I’m used to working in organisations that don’t treat staff well, which has definitely impacted my expectations and work culture. Not being available just wouldn’t have been tolerated culturally, laws aside. Whereas I suppose he knows his worth and values himself enough to say no.

There's also a difference between quickly checking your inbox over a coffee vs actively having to work - last holiday my DH (not super senior but in tech where high salaries put him into six figures) spent 2-3 hours a day working which I think is ridiculous unless it's some kind of unexpected crisis (which it wasn't)

I’m a partner in consulting - yes I check my emails and I don’t remember the last time I didn’t bring my laptop on vacation, probably was my honeymoon

As a PP mentioned I don’t find it stressful to skim through and reply to something that would help the team or keep things moving, and ignore or file the rest

I would not expect junior team to check emails yet past a certain level of seniority (that comes with more autonomy and flexibility) yes indeed

My salary is mid six figures and I don't check work emails on holiday or weekends, and almost never in the evenings. I work in tech for a large multinational, and that is standard in our team.

I'm senior management and check my emails and messages when away to assist where I can (and not come back to a shit show).

However, my higher ups do not expect it and are grateful if I do help out. I suspect if it was expected and they were ungrateful, I wouldn't be as happy to muck in.

My husband is very well paid, high 6 figure and he has never looked at emails while on holidays for the past 30 years.

It can be from as low as £40k plus allowances in the Civil Service if in a PO post for a Minister. So it isn’t just seniors having to go through it 😅

I think that at a certain level of seniority you should have people below you who can be relied upon to alert you to something which is urgent and requires escalation. So you can safely assume that “no news is good news” and not be actively sifting through emails etc.

I think it can be actually trickier in mid-tier roles where you don’t necessarily have that level of support underneath you and you end up having to “keep an eye on things” when you are away.

Dh used to check his daily on holiday, partly to ensure he didn’t have 400 emails to sort through when he went back to work. He was a regional finance director.

I think the only person who should be contactable when on holiday is the owner/ceo and that’s only in an emergency.

everyone is entitled to time off, time away from emails and time to spend with family.

i don’t look at emails, WhatsApp chats regarding work throughout my holiday. No one should regardless of their salary.

I think it depends on the size of the company and whether someone else can cover your job.

I have mainly worked for small companies (20 employees) and the senior people always keep an eye on their email if they can bc they want to as they care about the company and no-one can cover for them.

The other staff know that they will only be contacted if absolutely necessary and they are ok with that.

CEO, MD, Prime Minister, Chancellor.

Being recalled from holiday in a real emergency is ok, but no one should check emails while on holiday as standard practice because we need a break.

My director is currently on holiday and he sent out an email beforehand asking everyone not to email him at all until he was back.

I'm a director and I don't even have work emails on my phone. I will, however respond to a phone call from my MD.

Anyone below that level I would not expect to be contactable at all whilst on holiday.

I am self-employed and run my own business and do respond to emails on holiday.

DH is a senior manager and does not check email, but as others have said if he gets a call from one of his colleagues he'll answer as he knows they would not bother him unless it was urgent.

My manager, who is probably on 70/80k doesn't check her emails as such but is very much happy for us to contact her if we really need help. Our boss who runs the whole team across multiple offices, is definitely on £100/120k or more and intermittently checks his emails if he is away for more than a few days. He also gives his mobile for us to call if needed on certain important matters.

Unless you are at CEO/the buck stops here type level, I don't think it's ever acceptable for a company or client to expect you to be contactable if you are not being paid.

If that expectation exists then something should change so that expectation ends. There is a lot of research that says that if people cannot truly disconnect from work on a holiday than the benefit you get from the break is greatly impacted.

My CEO is on holiday at the moment and still working - he never really stops. I tend to put my out of office on and say to anyone to text if they need me to check something. I will keep an eye on emails as sometimes it's just easier to move stuff on even when you are off.

I think it depends a lot on the industry. I’m in logistics so we’re 24/7, 364 days of the year. We have demanding customers that operate those same hours. I’ve not had an undisturbed holiday from calls & emails for over 15 years but it’s very much expected from both the company and the customer.

There is no chance, however much money I was earning for an employer that I would be dealing with work matters whilst on holiday! Otherwise what is the point of calling it annual leave.
If if was my own business that's a different matter but, again would depend on how big my business was.

It’s not about salary for me. It’s about whether it will directly impact someone. I manage people, if they have a crisis or something while I am off I would want to be available. If it’s work as in admin based, not interested and it can wait until I am back.

In theory people should be able to log off on holiday but I have to say I think this is unrealistic in many jobs and people are sometimes a bit silly and hardline about this.

I manage several client accounts and the reality is that if I am uncontactable during a crisis it is creating work and stress for more junior team members.

I get paid well to be accountable for this and the quid pro quo is that sometimes I have to be aware of what is happening when I’m technically not working in order to support other people. Checking emails a couple of times in an otherwise leisurely day and possibly making the odd phonecall isn’t the greatest stress.

My husband often responds to questions from his team when he’s off work.

But he’s a manger for a local authority. If things fuck up when he’s not there, it falls on him and he gets the flack. So it’s in his interest to make sure it’s all going smoothly.

It depends on the role obviously but I expect all the senior members on my team to check emails while out eg once a day and to respond to emails/texts/calls for anything urgent (in addition to doing a proper handover beforehand so hopefully the urgent matters are limited). They are all paid over £150k, private sector. My boss expects me to check emails multiple times a day while on leave and to log on / join calls as and when needed, it’s just the nature of the job in that not everything can be delegated and there’s no concept of truly switching off unfortunately. We are highly paid for what we do therefore there is an expectation we will be available out of hours and when on leave, just how it is.

Nope, never check emails or teams etc if I am off. We do deal with life and death situations on my role, but there are people paid much more than me to handle a crisis should it happen. But if I am needed, they have my personal mobile.

I tell my staff not to look. I had one new staff member who would not switch off at all. He kept responding to emails on his days off, and I really had to work hard to drum it in to him that hes not expected to, nor paid enough to do this.

DH is high ranking police, so occasionally needs to be contacted, but rarely checks his email when on leave. Again, there are people around and above him who can handle if needs be.