To not check my work emails on my days off?

[OverpaidT]

I don't work a normal 9-5 job. I work shifts and only work three days a week due to my shifts. However, my company is made up of shift workers and 9-5 workers. If I send an email I don't expect a reply for a few days minimum as I might be sending it at 2am on a Saturday night. I don't check my emails when I'm home on non-working days. I received an email which has had me questioning this and I now wonder if people who do have equipment to WFH check their emails when they are on their days off?

I’m a senior manager and don’t routinely check emails out of office hours. I’ll check them if there’s something urgent I know about going on, and my team will WhatsApp me if something urgent crops up while I’m off but otherwise I think it’s important to switch off.

I wish our senior leadership team would respect days/weekends and off, when I’m already bloody working. I don’t work on Mondays but got a nasty shock this week to find a reports deadline had been arbitrarily moved by two days - if I hadn’t checked I’d have been even more screwed. Hate that this is not an unusual occurrence.

I don't check my work email on days off but will do if on annual leave- just to keep up with any changes in the workplace - which happens regularly!

I do, but lik a PP unpaid over time is an expected part of our contract (when required, and my salary is fair).

If I'm not going to have access to emails I ensure I have an out of office on and note when I'll be at my desk next to respond.

But I work as part of a close team, and there are times a person's absence would block general progress.

Nope. I’m a nurse and have no obligation to check my emails when I’m not there. Sometimes I have if there’s something I need to know for the next day, if I’m on training and need to know which room I’m in for example.

It can all wait until I get back.

I now work 2 half days a week in a senior role, pushing projects along. So yes I check my email most mornings and evenings in case I need a quick one liner back to confirm something/chase someone.
If I do actually get involved in something on my non working days I have an overtime rate agreed and would be paid when I reached say half a day.

nope but i work 9-5 - people in my workplace who work differnet days/hours make it clear in their email signature/out of office when they are next in work so a reply can be expected

I don't check mine unless it's a particular situation that's on my mind (that happens rarely). I'm not paid enough to work above my hours.

You should try running your own business when you have to answer emails at all hours and there are no paid days off! I run an internet business selling mainly to USA so my customers are online when the average Brit is asleep. I dont go to bed til 2-3 am most nights but I sleep during the day if I need to.

I still set boundaries. Generally I dont do business on sundays unless its very urgent or profitable for me. I also never check my email within an hour of going to bed. If something urgent comes up it will still be there when I wake up and I will be fresh to deal with it. Otherwise I may not sleep for worrying about it.

I also dont keep a smart phone in the bedroom!

I think your approach is the correct one, to which I would suggest having an out of office message advising when you are next back at work. Then those not getting an immediate reply know why and to respect your work and non-work time.

@Glendaruel

No, I don't unless it's exceptional circumstances. I'm the manager, so what I do sets the tone for office. I want my staff to relax and switch off from work on days off so they are fresh and I get best work from them when they are in. I don't expect people to work when I'm not paying them for that time.

Same here.

The former manager of the company was useless because he never decompressed, never switched off, his life was his work and nobody could do anything without him.

He's been gradually leaving the company by reducing his days, and having taken over his work, it's very obvious that extra hours worked meant absolutely fuck all in terms of business improvement.

If any one of us drop dead tomorrow, our businesses will do just fine without us. Anyone who makes themselves a slave to their employer is a fool.

Nope. I’m refusing to do that.
It’s my day off so I’m not working. That’s it.

If management was asking the question, I would ask then if they are also happy to pay me overtime 1 hour each day I’m off work just to check my emails and obviously answer any query.
The only time when I would accept a situation like this is if the request was EXTREMELY urgent and no one else could answer the question. I would then expect a tel call and plenty of apologies to disturbing said day off.

I also think this is even MORE IMPORTANT now that many people are working from home (so have computers etc.. at hand). See the fact that many studies have shown that wfh workers are actually putting MORE hours in and end up working in the evening/weekend when they didn’t use to.

Absolutely not. This is something I feel passionate about as everyone should separate work and home, even more so these days.

I refuse to even have work email on my phone and it’s never been an issue for my boss as he would not expect an out of work response anyway.

And to counter a pp we are also fairly senior, well paid and I have been promoted twice in three years. So you don’t need to be tied to your work to progress in your career. Or maybe I just work for a company that values well-being

No, but I’d put my working hours in my signature so people know not to expect a reply straight away.

I do but only at the moment given the current situation. I dont expect the rest of my team to or to work late hours (but weall do )
@OverpaidT I would make sure your out of office is always on clearly stating when you are back in the office and who they should contact instead.
It may also be useful to put under your signature your working pattern

Our execs lead from the front. They don't email at all on weekends, and their email footer has a message which basically says that as a business their people work flexible hours, this email has been sent at a time that suits them, but a reply is only expected at a time that suits you (words to that effect).

We do however work in a business where sometimes you are required to work later, or check emails if we have a project going live, but we're also expected to manage our time so that we take the time back and make sure we have proper rest time from work. There is no expectation of any weekend work unless you're specifically contracted to it.

The danger with some of the replies to this post where out of hours email checking seems to be expected are that as a part timer, you can potentially end up working all the hours of a full time person, and then checking emails on top. Easy to clock up a 60 hour week for 30 hours pay if you aren't careful

I always do. It’s a small business so things can move fast.

In an old job there was a lot of ‘politics’ between the SMT and things could move quickly- one evening a small disagreement descended into WW3 by morning (mostly) because I didn’t step in to stop the babies squabbling.

@LadyCatStark

No, but I’d put my working hours in my signature so people know not to expect a reply straight away.

How would that work?

If you aren't checking the email they won't get an answer with your signature on in the first place.

A better option is an out of office with working hours but tbh that's a pretty basic routine nowadays, I get those every day at work

Dh does and I hate that he does as if something happens he immediately deals with it when he is supposed to be off. It is a habit he is trying to break as it does reinforce an expectation. I have also found him saying things like 'I have to' etc. If it is urgent they can contact the out of office contact anyway.

When I was employed part time (self employed now) I used to sometimes check mine on days off. I didn’t ever “action” anything iyswim, I just liked to know if an email I had been waiting for had come in or if I was likely to be doing xxx on my next day in office. It worked for me to help me feel less stressed.

I work 4 days 9-5, but yes I do check my emails outside of my hours, and I also do the odd bit of work outside my hours. Alongside that, I might go for an extended lunchtime walk, or pick my kids up from school early, or do some house admin during working hours. My employer is flexible with me, so I am flexible with them. It's not expected per se, and I have been told off occasionally for working on my day off, but I'm a bit of a control freak, and would rather quickly respond to a query and get it resolved, than it go to my boss, then she spends a load of time trying to work out the problem and solve it, when I am across the situation and can resolve in a couple of minutes. My boss is very fair, and if I'm having to pick up quite a bit out of hours, she will pay me for it (I don't expect it unless I really am working a lot of additional hours).

I did when I first started WFH but realised I was working full time for part time pay.

I am quite good now at just not looking. I also feel that once I have 'quickly' looked, I am in work mode. Also, nobody expects it.

So if two colleagues are part time, and one works the days that the other doesn't, how do they ever communicate? What happens when one of them needs information or a decision from the other?

I'm astonished at the vast majority here who refuse to check emails and think it's so unreasonable to do so. In my job my life would have been much harder if I didn't. Who wants to walk into work and find there's a crisis they could at least have known about or possibly averted?

No-one should need to actively work on their days off, unless their job is such that high remuneration is involved which acknowledges the need for presence in a crisis, but checking emails takes seconds. If you're in any kind of work where things can blow up or change quickly, it makes sense surely?

I used to check my emails outside of work when I was younger and had no children. I actually worked somewhere else too even though my main job was FTso I can't say I didn't have other responsibilities but I was very driven back then.
Now I'm driven but not to the same extent, I check emails occasionally outside my hours if I'm expecting something or think something hasn't gone right as feel it is my job/responsibility but the trap is...once I've read said email I can't not action it, sometimes it's a quick email, sometimes it's liasing with several different department to sort a major issue, can't get hold of everyone you want, have to keep trying and you end up doing a lot of 'extra' hours as you got involved/read the email when really, work should be able to cope without you when you aren't working, are on hol etc. But hard to let go sometimes but when I do do it, I'm annoyed with myself as it impacts my children now as I'm not 'present' for the time I'm with them if I'm ringing around work etc

I'm a lecturer and students message at all hours. I used to be pretty good at walking out the door at 5, but now we're working from home it feels absolutely relentless with Teams as well as email, and even management now message at 11pm and so on. I deleted the apps from my phone, but do still have them on my iPad.

I only work four days a week officially, but since March have been working full time and then some (partly because things are much harder remotely).