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Original poster

How late is too late to send work emails?

118 replies

BumDNC · 01/12/2016 23:22

I was out all day doing something else for work that was compulsory.
Then I spent the evening with my children and focusing on them etc.
So at 10pm when they were in bed I felt like I should have a look at the emails for the day that I had missed and dealt with a few. To me, it wasn't a big deal, took half hour of my otherwise only watching telly time but now I think people are going to see email sent at 10.44pm and think I am a workaholic nutter!
I admit to thinking the same if I ever see a late work email.

OP posts:
CMOTDibbler · 02/12/2016 07:22

Doesn't bother me what time they are sent - but my boss is 5 hours behind me, my main team is +1, another is -6 and currently I'm GMT +9. Stuff gets sent/replied to when people have time which is sometimes early/late for them and deoends on travelling and so on

StealthPolarBear · 02/12/2016 07:23

No. I suppose it's a culture thing. I work somewhere with plenty of people who work part time, work funny hours. Men and women work flexibly around their families. My boss barely reads the content of the email, she's not got time to work herself up about when it was sent :o

StealthPolarBear · 02/12/2016 07:24

We also work in different officea across the country. We can go a few weeks without seeing each other which I think helps to make the point that as long as the work gets done it doesn't matter too much when.

dynevoran · 02/12/2016 07:27

I'm self employed and mainly subcontract part time for one company. I send them any time that I write them. Even after midnight. I don't expect a response until convenient for the recipient but if I don't send late at night when I finish work I'd then have to find time in between a toddler on a non-work day to get them out which is annoyingly hard.

NapQueen · 02/12/2016 07:31

I'm usually still at work at 11pm so if emails need sending then I send them. More fool the odd boss who has his set to ping (with noise!) Into his apple watch whenever they arrive. How his wife hasn't chopped his arm off and beaten him with it is anyone's guess.

The overnight team also have set reports to send out during their shift. Again, any normal employee will read them in work time but there's always someone who will exclaim "they woke me up!" - turn off your notifications then!

RandomDent · 02/12/2016 07:42

We connect to work emails using a vpn, and have been encouraged, if we are the sort to send out of hours emails, to switch it off. When we connect to the office network in the morning they get sent then.

I used to look at my emails before bed, but realise that I often spent the night thinking/worrying about them. So now I don't, and to stop anyone else doing the same I won't send any either.

Paddington68 · 02/12/2016 07:42

Send them whenever, but I wouldn't read them after 8pm.
Renee,ber your 'important', could be my 'don't give a toss'.

Paddington68 · 02/12/2016 07:44

Remember!

ACubed · 02/12/2016 07:45

I always used to find it a bit annoying getting emails late, because even if you know you do t have to read them, I would usually have a quick look, and then if it's something stressful it would put me in a bad mood before bed. I used to just save lots of drafts and then send them all at half eight/nine when I got to the office.

youarenotkiddingme · 02/12/2016 07:47

I find it easier to read and respond to mail later in the evening sometimes.

I've been known to reply to an email after 9pm to Ds school because he's in bed and I can send a better more succinct and to the point reply - instead of the usual waffle as I'm multi tasking!

On the few occasions they've then replied that evening so after 9pm Ive always thanked staff and highlighted I don't expect a reply out of school or working hours with a footnote saying how I appreciate the hours school staff work are long and often anti social.

AddictedtoLove · 02/12/2016 08:11

I write them whenever, and then save them to my draft folder, and send them within office hours. I do this particularly with my undergrads, who tend to write whenever they feel like it (emails about an essay on Boxing Day, anyone?) so I'm trying to train them into respectful & professional working practices.

GoofyTheHero · 02/12/2016 08:16

Doesn't matter when an email is sent surely? DH often logs back on in the evening when the DC are in bed, I imagine he sends them as late as 11pm. I doubt anyone even notices.
He does get told off by his boss (and me!) when he sends them on annual leave though.
A colleague used to write a load of emails during working hours then log on at 10pm to send them so it looked like she was busy and committed (she actually told me this!). It worked, the senior management all thought the sun shone out of her arse.
However... I used to tell my team that if they were feeling the need to work at that time then we needed a chat about their workload and time management skills!

saltandvinegarcrisps1 · 02/12/2016 08:21

Addicted - this is the point I was making. Have found if I answer out of hours/ weekends etc they start to expect/depend on it and when you don't, eg if they are looking for assignment extension 5 minutrs before its due - it carnage and they will say " but you usually answer on a Sunday"

MargaretCavendish · 02/12/2016 08:26

Agreed, salt and vinegar and addicted. I used to work in a department where all online essay submissions had a deadline of midnight Friday. More than one student was of the opinion that it was completely unreasonable that I didn't answer their email about the essay sent at 11pm in time for the deadline!

K425 · 02/12/2016 08:40

I'm a university administrator so I get emails at all times of day and night from academics who are night owls, larks, or out of the country. I only reply in work hours and don't guarantee a same-day response (otherwise my entire day would be email rather than actual work). I have a colleague who checks email at home, and is in the office 8am-6pm, and then complains that her academics expect answers all hours. Mind you, I've also worked on my Paddington Bear Hard Stare.
And last summer, because I had lots of leave to take, I said I wouldn't be doing email during August so anything I didn't reply to by the first week of Sept should be resent. And then I deleted everything. Very rewarding!

Marmelised · 02/12/2016 08:43

My attitude is that it's sometimes easier to send a quick email on my iPad from the sofa of an evening in preference to reminding myself that I have to deal with something the next morning.
I work with a lot of volunteers so they tend to send emails in the evening. If I reply immediately they can get on with what they're doing that night which helps me the next day.
I don't feel obliged to look at or answer emails. If there was that expectation then I would challenge it.

Trills · 02/12/2016 08:43

The point of asynchronous communication is to send it when it's convenient for you, and the recipient can read it when it's convenient for them.

Expecting an answer at 10:44 would be unreasonable.

If you are responsible for people you may want to make it clear that you do not expect it - they may assume expectations from you that you don't really have.

Starduke · 02/12/2016 08:47

I used to send emails in the evening, and the early morning - usually from my phone. One memorable night I was up with a baby who wouldn't sleep and ended up having a whole email conversation with a colleague who was also up with a baby...

However I've changed job and am no longer obliged to have work emails on my phone so I'm testing doing without. It means I get a proper break from work and don't go to bed worrying about an email I've just read.

Totally impossible in my old role but I'm enjoying having this break in my new role.

SarahOoo · 02/12/2016 08:51

Easy solution: write all the replies, save them in drafts and ping them off in the morning...ta da!

idontlikealdi · 02/12/2016 08:54

I have international clients so oddly timed emails are normal.

AddictedtoLove · 02/12/2016 09:06

I learned -through hard experience of being bullied - never to look at work emails at a time of day when I couldn't do anything about any issues raised. so generally, never after 7pm, which is usually when I leave the office.

spicyfajitas · 02/12/2016 09:48

My email is on one computer that I can check or not... So it's a holding space for messages, rather than instant, like a messaging app. So I think any time is fine.
My husband has his messages forwarded to his phone, so is reminded of work constantly. His choice though.

I think it's up to you when you send a message and up to the recipient about how they manage their tech so that it doesn't fill all their headspace if they don't want it to.

originalmavis · 02/12/2016 09:49

Sadly, it's never too late or too early. But never after a glass of wine, oh no.🍷

StealthPolarBear · 02/12/2016 09:57

Yes thus is ridiculous. Sending an email isn't disrespectful. Do you never post a letter late at night or early on the morning? :)
People get their email next time they access them. When they were sent is irrelevant. If they find it helpful to have a notification of an email arriving that is up to them but they can't complain when it does exactly that!

c3pu · 02/12/2016 10:00

Pah, if they want me to work I expect payment for it.

I don't do any sort of work from home, it can wait until I'm back in the office.