AIBU to think this is a normal and acceptable email policy?

[SamSamT]

Hi all,

I was conducting induction for some new starters at work this week; and yesterday we went over some minor policies. One of them being our email policy.

Just for context; we are a medium sized business. Standard office environment with your standard business hours. Since the pandemic we only need to be in the office 2 days a week; but are expected to be available/contactable Mon-Fri during business hours.

Our email policy is basically:

• You can send emails whenever you want. You’re encouraged to use schedule send it outside of business hours but not a problem if you don’t.
• The quickest you can expect someone to read an email you send is by the end of the day. On the flip side you are expected to at least read anything in your inbox before you finish for the day.
• If you need to let someone know something before the end of the day, you need to ring or go see them.
• The quickest you can expect someone to reply to an email is 24hrs (not including weekends). On the flip side, you should always try to reply to emails within 24 hours even if it’s a quick “Got your email, I’ll get the info to you by xxx”
• If you need a reply off someone in less than 24hrs you need to ring them or go see them.
• There is no expectation to read emails out of office hours. Emails sent out for office hours will be considered to have been sent at 8am the following business day for the purposes of read and reply times.

We formalised the policy about 4/5 years ago, as we found expectations varied between managers.

Several of the new starters felt it was a bit invasive they could be receiving emails outside of business hours even if they didn’t have to read them until the end of the next business day. A few of the new starters also thought the expectation to have read all your emails before you sign off was a asking a bit much.

Genuinely interested in your thoughts and to see if we’ve somehow veered off from the corporate norm?

Thanks!

The quickest you can expect someone to read an email you send is by the end of the day. On the flip side you are expected to at least read anything in your inbox before you finish for the day.

These don't fit together. Which is it - it should be be read by the end of the day, or the earliest it gets read is the end of the day, in which case when is the latest it should be read, this is more important, assuming someone hasn't got Out-of-Office or notice of their part-time hours on autoreply of course?

A few of the new starters also thought the expectation to have read all your emails before you sign off was a asking a bit much.

Quite. The latter part is unreasonable unless the person's job is to literally sit at their desk all afternoon and check their emails regularly (while doing whatever else that can be regularly interrupted). If they have to be away from their desk or doing involved tasks that require longish periods of concentration at it, is there sufficient protected time, before they go home, catch their train, collect their child from nursery ON TIME, to do this?

If you need to let someone know something before the end of the day, you need to ring or go see them.

How does that fit with the other policies?

Anyway it won't work if they aren't in the same place / can't use the telephone / don't have signal. It's a good idea not to rely on email when walking across the room or picking up the phone would be more effective though, modern offices can be really odd about this in my experience. Depends on what people are doing and whether they can be interrupted though.

The quickest you can expect someone to reply to an email is 24hrs (not including weekends). On the flip side, you should always try to reply to emails within 24 hours even if it’s a quick “Got your email, I’ll get the info to you by xxx”

Again these don't fit together. Is 24 hours the earliest or latest?

If you need a reply off someone in less than 24hrs you need to ring them or go see them.

Yes but see above.

We formalised the policy about 4/5 years ago, as we found expectations varied between managers.

I think it's good to have some clearer expectations but the policy needs a bit more thought IMO as it's too prescriptive and the logic doesn't always follow.

Several of the new starters felt it was a bit invasive they could be receiving emails outside of business hours even if they didn’t have to read them until the end of the next business day.

I'd say tough, they don't have to be, and perhaps shouldn't be, logging in to their business accounts outside these hours so what does it matter? So long as there genuinely isn't an expectation to read them and reply outside business hours, unless it suits them to do so, IMO it's fine. Or are they expecting to log in to their account out of hours to use it for non-work-related activities, in which case 🤔

I can’t believe I just pitched the benefits of “talking” as a mode of communication 😂 but this is where we’re at.

Completely agree that it's often necessary these days. I'm a personal fan of talking to people.

Just remember to make it clear in policy and in practice that, while encouraging efficient use of conversation in general, some members of staff (customers, etc.) have disabilities, neurodiversities or other genuine needs that mean email or other messaging is more appropriate sometimes or always.

Thank goodness I am self employed and can answer my emails when its most convenient and prioritise them on urgency and importance rather than time sent and not deal with this nonsense. Maybe encouraging staff to use any features or make time dependency clear in the subject line and first line of the email would be a better bet?🙃

The policy is a confusing, illogical, inconsistent, poorly written mess. I'd be considering handing in my notice already if I started a job and was given this.

You can send emails whenever you want. You’re encouraged to use schedule send it outside of business hours but not a problem if you don’t.

Seems like a redundant point.

The quickest you can expect someone to read an email you send is by the end of the day. On the flip side you are expected to at least read anything in your inbox before you finish for the day.

What does this even mean? Why can I not expect someone to read the email by the end of the day? Do you actually mean they aren't obliged to reply in this timescale? What does 'on the flip side' mean? I don't think it means what you think it does. What's the point in reading emails if you can't do anything about them because you're about to finish work? Seems pretty horrible to make people leave for the day with stuff in their heads they know they'll need to sort in the morning. Also makes it more likely stuff will get missed the following morning because the emails will now all be read and not marked as new.

If you need to let someone know something before the end of the day, you need to ring or go see them.

What if nothing needs to be actioned before the end of the day? Do I still need to ring them or go and see them? Seems rather inefficient.

The quickest you can expect someone to reply to an email is 24hrs (not including weekends). On the flip side, you should always try to reply to emails within 24 hours even if it’s a quick “Got your email, I’ll get the info to you by xxx”

This seems contradictory...if I have to reply within 24 hours, why can I not expect the person I'm emailing to reply in the same timeframe?

If you need a reply off someone in less than 24hrs you need to ring them or go see them.

This is the most sensible point, although someone discriminatory towards people with various disabilities.

There is no expectation to read emails out of office hours. Emails sent out for office hours will be considered to have been sent at 8am the following business day for the purposes of read and reply times.

This makes it even more of a nuisance to keep track of. Do you have any software to show how long employees have left to respond to each email? Or are they expected to manually keep track of this along with everything else they have to do?

@SlowHorses I am a foreigner living in Britain and it is funny that you think it is rude to refer to foreigners as "foreigners" as most Brits I meet obviously find that to be the correct word. So it MUST be the most polite word to use as we all know that the British are the most polite people in the world, right?