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 work for a US employer where the absolute expectation for even the lowest paid US based employee is that they’d be checking their emails. Not officially obviously.
They think we European based workers are a bunch of feckless wasters with too many vacation days! They actually have ‘unlimited’ PTO whereas we have a start of 30 days off, plus public holidays but as they’re all too scared to take anywhere near the same amount of time off the ‘unlimited’ aspect is pure bullcrap.

Nobody at my work would. Nor would my dh who earns six fix figures but is actually not particularly senior or important

at our employers the actual Executive Board probably keep an eye on emails when away, but nobody else including pretty well paid colleagues

I am middle management in an international bank with big salary. Never check emails on holidays. I work 9-5 and occasionally log on at weekend but if I send emails to my teams I always send delayed delivery so they receive it within working hours.

My DH had to take 2 weeks block leave once a year and he wasn’t allowed to log on. Other than that he’d check every day including weekends. He was an IT boss with 180 staff working all around the world.

I think this is true. I certainly used to work adhoc (checking emails etc) much more on holiday than I do now as I board level director. There is a company full of competent people who can manage perfectly well in my absence and so I only need to jump in now if someone calls me (which is rare, thankfully).

I have had to cancel some holiday time due to having to properly work. But in those cases I’ve still flown away with my family but based myself in the business centre of the hotel during the daytime. I never had to do that when I was more junior.

As for PP’s saying that the culture of working on holiday trickles down to the wider team, I don’t think that’s always true. I am very strict about all our employees taking proper holiday. Only board directors are expected to be available 24/7 as that’s what we’re remunerated for.

Thanks for all the replies! Sorry to go MIA, my job can be quite demanding on my time, hence the reason I posted this morning, just left now.

for reference I’m paid well (~£100k), in a manager role but not business owner. I’m expected to be available 24/7 on holiday and at weekends. I never can switch off - and I do wonder if I need to just accept that this is how it is.
i struggle to juggle sometimes (2 young kids), but also have some flexibility. E.g. I can go to sports day for example (as long as I keep an eye on emails), parents evenings etc I rarely miss.

Nope. Not in my sector. Nobody is expected to check emails outside of working hours or whilst on holiday, even The Big Cheese.

Edited as OP just posted update. No, people in my organisation earning over £100k aren’t expected to slog like you are.

What would happen if you didn’t do it? Have you tried?