Sleeping through work emails

[szympli]

If a more senior colleague was working on a project and you got asked to help on it… you worked 9am-11:30pm after waking up at 6am for school run. The senior colleague told you to go home. 45 minute journey home. You get into bed at 12:30 and fall fast asleep.

Woke up at 6am for school run to a barrage of missed emails about the work I did. Colleague would have been able to figure it out but obviously would take time. Some of the stuff I told him before I left. I work in finance btw.
Will I be in trouble for missing the emails?

I definitely concur that most people do not expect emails to be answered outside of standard hours. Even if your industry or specific office is not a crazy 24/7 type business, many allow informal flexible working these days. That means people are going to be working outside of normal hours as part of managing their own work-life balance.

Just because it is convenient for me to work on a random evening instead of during the work day does not mean I expect someone to be there to get any messages I may send.

Exactly. People go into these roles with their eyes wide open.

Similarly, to climb the senior rungs career ladder in any organisation it's likely you are going to have to prioritise getting things done over checking whether you are legally entitled to a rest break.

But the flip side is the high pay and also the buzz from working on something urgent.

I worked on something crazy and round the clock for a chunk of time that is undoubtedly the reason I got a big promotion a few months later (for instance) - and I knew in doing it that it was something in the media spotlight and so even if I didn't get an internal promotion it would be a massive CV boost.

Totally different in an entry level job with no aspirations to progress and there I think it is entirely reasonable that people are protected by legislation.

OP?

I assume that even in a high paid high pressure job, people need to sleep occasionally?

Well of course. No one is suggesting otherwise.

I’m guessing OP is quite busy?!

My email signature
'Your working hours may be different to mine. Please do not feel you need to respond outside of your working hours'

Anyone who thinks email is a suitable mode of communication in an emergency is a moron. And I doubt there is anything that is so urgent after 11pm it can't wait til 8am.

Well, actually, they are.
Numerous comments about being well paid, or a bit of inconvenience.
OP would have max 6 hrs sleep ( and who falls asleep immediately and solidly until the alarm clock goes off?)

Well yes, for bursts of time you do crazy hours, and only get a few hours sleep at a time. It's perfectly survivable. Eventually things dip and life resumes a more normal routine . I don't know why people are surprised to think some jobs involve working like this.

Clearly 😁

That might apply to your work and it certainly applies to mine but it doesn't apply to everyone. I mentioned my M&A solicitor friend above. If she's working on a multi million dollar deal and one party is in the US then they absolutely do expect a 24 hour service including responses during the night our time. Friend accepts that without complaint - she loves her job and is no doubt handsomely compensated. It wouldn't be for me but she went in with her eyes open and there are countless who can say the same.

To be clear, even in a deal situation it would be expected that you would sleep for a few hours! Deals last several weeks/months in the active phase so it's not something you can just push through.

However, the on-call arrangements would usually be made explicit to you. And in my experience would involve saying "keep your phone on and stay close to your laptop in case I call" for midnight - 6am, not expecting you to stay awake eyes glued to your email inbox! Once you've logged off (as OP explicitly did with her supervisor) the expectation would shift to something more like this.

That’s 13 hours…
If they finish at 11:30pm, then they can start at 10:30am if they have not opted out of the working time directive.

Yea well I realised my mistake and corrected it a few posts further down (should have edited it), thanks for reminding me @good96

Will you get in trouble for not working between 12:30am and 6am? Seriously? 😂 obviously no you shouldn't get in trouble. The getting in trouble bit aside you are going to burn out and regret working this much. When do you see your kids?