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

[NameChanger400]

There is an unwritten rule at my work that those who are senior / well paid will still keep an eye and support/input as needed even on holiday.

YANBU - everyone deserves a break, even the CEO, PM etc!
YABU - if you are paid over X amount and have the responsibility, then it’s par for the course to always be available (and opinions on X amount would be helpful!)

I think some people need to be contactable should shit hit the fan. I don’t think anyone needs to be checking work emails in anticipation of that.

I've been self employed in recruitment for 5 years and will take calls/respond to some emails when I'm away. It might be 20 minutes in a whole day.
It doesn't stress me out and means I wont have to play catch up on my return. Some ski trips and at Christmas - I wont speak to anyone the whole time.
When I worked in a company I had a team that could pick up anything when I was away - they'd end up texting me feedback etc. anyway so really it wasn't much benefit anyway.

In education, designated safeguarding leads should technically be contactable at all times in case of an urgent disclosure, as in 24/7 365 days a year. That might be a deputy in a large secondary on £60k, a head of a small primary on £50k or even a non-teaching safeguarding lead on £23k. I certainly wouldn't agree to it for £23k.

I agree with this. I am director level and don't check emails or listen to voicemails, however, my deputy has my personal number and if she phoned me I would answer. That's only because she is an excellent judge of when that would actually be necessary (it never has been in 15 years).

As an academic I worked on international projects where I travelled and had to be available. However this did not apply to annual leave or weekends. Someone on a higher paygrade was there to pick up. Threre were no smart phones then, but there were mobiles.

I now run a small business selling antiques and I close my stores when I am away. I do look at some emails but mostly send a "holding" message to the effect that I will be back on XX date. I dont keep a phone in the bedroom (but there is one in the office next door).

I lead a team and earn £78k (which is a high salary where I live). I've never once logged on after 5.30pm or at the weekend, and rejected the offer of a work phone. I'm uncontactable outside of working hours.

I think it is quite normal in the private sector. One of the (many) reasons why I am not a senior manager!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.