How late is too late to send work emails?

[BumDNC]

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.

I totally disagree. The joy of email is that I can use it from home, when the DC are in bed. IF someone is not "Working" then their email devices should be off! I certainly do not expect a response out of office hours. I suppose I'm kind of used to abnormal working hours though, as my boss's daughter swim trains at 5am, and he sends emails then.

I send emails at all sorts of times during the night. It fits in with children, school, work etc. I obviously don't expect a reply until morning, although I do often get one from others doing the same thing.

Is 6pm also the cut off for popping a letter in the post box?

I sent one at half midnight last week when I was very tired and managed to spell my own name wrong! I would save important stuff until a sensible time when I could proof read it.

Boss sends emails up to midnight and from about 5:30 regularly!

Do people even look at what time emails are sent? My work emails come from all over the world so the time is irrelevant and I'm not sure I would pay much attention.

Don't use the outlook scheduled email option for important emails as my experience is that it doesn't always work!

I'm rather horrified that there are so many jobs that require people to check and write emails outside of normal office hours. I got an email yesterday from the boss of the cleaning agency I use asking for feedback. I didn't reply because it was a Sunday . I am not convinced that emailing is the best way of doing business but of course there's no going back now.

My company is very keen on work/life balance and only senior management can actually access email outside of the office.

I'm surprised so many people commented. I frequently send work emails in the evening and early in the morning. When I was breastfeeding I would often send them in the middle of the night too. I can't remember anyone noticing.

Not having personal devices set up to receive work emails

Why not?

Not having personal devices set up to receive work emails

Why not?

Because then you can only look at mail when you're in the office, during normal business hours. If work is so urgent it can't wait till the next morning, there should be 24 hour shifts or an on-call rota to deal with it.

We used to cope without being available for work every second of the day. (In most cases. I grew up on a farm, and if cattle get out, you have to deal with it, even at 3am, but we still managed without email, even without a phone often.)

I send and receive emails at all hours (law) but did once work for a law firm where the rule was that you could draft emails at any time (there were frequently still people in the office past midnight) but then you must not send them unless between the hours of 7am and 9pm to give the illusion of work life balance at the firm..

My old boss once sent me a work email at 1am when he was in hospital! Apparently there was so much noise on the ward he couldn't sleep so he thought he'd do something useful. He didn't expect me to respond in the early hours though.

I do notice when emails are sent to me (I never send emails outside of my own working hours and can't see them on my phone) and admit to wondering if the person has quite got a handle on their job if they can't organise themselves to get it done in the working day.

But I don't work in a workallhoursandlookatmybigbollocks industry. My boss is extremely strict with his own working hours and so am I.

As I work as a part-time teacher I find being able to manage my inbox at a time and place of my choosing invaluable. I am careful never to email parents out of hours as I don't want them thinking that's a normal time to contact me so I draft them to send later (will look into delayed sending thanks PP) but colleagues all know that we send and receive when convenient and don't expect a response outside my working days.

I use a mail app but always have notifications turned off, I think that's very important.

I'm constantly getting bollocked from my boss for sending emails while on leave/at night/at weekends. It never affects my time with the kids though and it saves me being stressed the next working day.

I don't see the problem when if my phone vibrates at the side of me to indicate an email why I can't just answer while sat watching tv. If I can.

And I am in no way a workaholic.

Some workplaces treat staff like children who can't organise their own lives.

I tend to deal with emails when they come in, I did draw the line at emailing back at parent from school at 3am this morning when I woke up full of cold (she had emailed at around midnight!)

I don't expect immediate responses. E,g, I sent a few at the weekend asking other teachers for things, but made it clear the didn't have to reply/action immediately, e.g. 'On Monday please can you send me X' I have to be able to work out of hours to do my job properly so can't just send emails during school hours.