Whether you’re heading into what you hope is a work-free weekend or scanning your phone on the morning or evening commute, here’s a topical study for you.
Company bans on workers accessing their emails out of office hours could actually harm employee wellbeing. Hmm. Yes, we raised our eyebrows, too.
The research, led by the University of Sussex, suggests that while blanket bans could help some workers achieve certain goals, they can impede other people’s progress towards their own targets.
In particular, employees with high levels of anxiety might end up feeling more stressed, with an accumulation of emails making them feel overloaded, the study warns.
So, what’s the solution? We asked readers on
Twitter for their thoughts. Some are understandably keen to protect themselves from “always on” culture.This is interesting, but the thing that helps my mental health and stops me burning out is setting my out of office. I know if it's an urgent email the person has a contact, otherwise they know when they can expect a reply. I can't deal with the pressure to be 'on' all the time— Carly-May Kavanagh (@cmkavanagh) October 18, 2019Others say sending emails out of office hours is actually fine, as long as your boss or colleagues don’t expect a reply from you when you’re out at the pub – or simply trying to get an early night.Banning them is a bit extreme! I’m a night owl & work well at night - 🌍 We have clients globally⏰ I pop delayed send on sometimes so it doesn’t look like I’m emailing at 2am! 🙅♀️We shouldn’t expect a response immediately. 📲 I turned off notifications for emails on my phone— Jo Jessop Maloney (@JOannaJessop) October 18, 2019Same here. Sometimes you have a thought and need to do something about it or else it stays on your mind/interrupts sleep trying to remember it for 9am the next day. Definitely need to lose the expectations for replies though, unfair to put that burden on someone else— Claire Collis (@ClaireLCollis) October 18, 2019And what about parents? One mum pointed out that a ban would make it harder for her to work flexibly around childcare. As a mum who fits works around kids, I don't think a blanket ban is the answer. But I would love a simple app that allowed me to schedule emails I send late at night to arrive during more traditional working hours... can anyone do that please? The more who used that the better!— Seasoulblessings (@Seasoulblessing) October 18, 2019Angharad Salazar Llewellyn, founder of the small business collective The Flex Network, suggests a solution if you do need to send emails outside of office hours could be to use the “delay send” function, available on Gmail, Outlook and some other email providers.
“To avoid burnout, the focus should be on respect, trust and collaboration. Having the support to feel on top of your workload in a manner that suits the individual’s circumstances, enabled by advancements in technology, is all part of a positive working future,” she tells HuffPost UK.
It’s a sentiment echoed by the study’s lead author Dr Emma Russell, who says organisations should personalise work email recommendations according to the different goals that different people value.Related... When Living For The Weekend Becomes A Sign Of
Job Burnout This comes after Volkswagen configured servers so emails are only sent to employees’ phones half an hour before the start and after the end of the working day – and not during weekends.
Meanwhile, Lidl bosses in
Belgium banned all internal email traffic between 6pm and 7am the following day to help staff enjoy their time off.
“The take-away for the public from our research is that ‘one size fits all’ solutions for dealing with work email are unlikely to work,” Dr Russell said.
“People need to deal with email in the way that suits their personality and their goal priorities in order to feel like they are adequately managing their workload. When people do this, these actions can become relatively habitual, which is more efficient for their work practices.”READ MORE: Need A Digital Detox? Sign Up To HuffPost UK's 28-Day
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