5 Tips for Handling After-hours Email

Email is the most powerful tool out there to make other people’s priorities yours.

Does this sound familiar?

Wake up. Roll over. Pick up phone. Scroll through email…notice at least 15 that have been sent since you logged off last night from people in your own time zone. Heart beats a little faster. All of the sudden your day went in the crapper and you haven’t gotten out of bed yet…at 7 AM.

Email sent after 7 PM (no matter what time zone – more on that here) or over the weekend is more often than not about the sender’s schedule and thought process, and often imposes unseen burdens and expectations on the receiver.

As the boss, I know that my emails to my colleagues hold a heavy weight. And by sending emails after 7 PM and before 7 AM I’m sending the message (no pun intended) that I expect everyone else to be reading my emails and doing their own work off hours too. I didn’t mean to – it just happens, because I’m just thinking about my own work load, not about everyone else’s. My colleagues know that my schedule – full of family, travel, author and board commitments means that I often complete my Double Forte work “after hours.” But still.

Last year, after I read Maura Thomas’  “Your Late Night Emails Are Hurting Your Team,” I sent the following email to my staff (at 1:25 PM Pacific) on this topic:

“I know we all have schedules that may mean that we catch up on the weekend or at night given our personal requirements during the week. At the same time our personal flex should not impose on the rest of the team – intentionally or unintentionally. If you are working during “off hours” please remember to set you email delay to the next work day after 7:30 AM.

If it’s an urgent matter, consider whether a phone call is better to make sure the other person/people get the message and can shorten up the time required.”

I do want people to look at their email before they turn in for the night – we work in a 24/7 news cycle where something may impact the next day’s schedule. At the same time I don’t want them to send email or answer email for other people to see unless it’s truly urgent – as in, we need to shift our strategy before the next morning. And that really requires a phone call to ensure that the people who need to know, actually know the situation now.

Another thing to remember is that by sending emails after 7 pm I may be sending the message that I’m out of control and overwhelmed. Who needs to send an email at 2 am? Someone who can’t sleep or who is so far behind that they’re working through the night to catch up. I know that I think this if I get emails from colleagues or clients at all hours. It’s not a position of strength.

So how to handle?

5 tips for handling your after-hours email

1. Use the time delay feature on your emails between 6 PM and 8 AM in your time zone. If you work with people ahead of you, move it back to 6 AM. Set the example for your colleagues.

2.  If you do send an email late at night, articulate when you expect an answer in the first line. For example:
   “I know this is coming in late, please know that I don’t expect an answer until 3 PM (Pacific) on Monday.

3. Look at your email and read the subject headers only one hour before you go to bed. (Lots of research about quieting your brain before you goes to bed here and here.) Don’t read the emails, just the subject header. Are there any urgent, high priority emails there? If yes, open them. If no, don’t open them.

4. In the morning, look at the email you’re received since the last night. Do NOT reply to anything until you’ve scanned the lot. Often issues presented in email the night before may be resolved by the time you’re looking at it the next morning. Prioritize your emails against each other and your own work load before you start answering them.

5. Set up rules that siphon off your google Alerts, newsletters, and news feeds into other folders, leaving your email as clean as possible for work correspondence. Use unroll me app to manage and unsubscribe from email newsletters and email blasts that you no longer want. (I did this and within 10 minutes had unsubscribed from over 30 email feeds – this saved hours!)

Email is a super productive tool when you use it to your advantage and not to the advantage of everyone who sends you messages. The more you control your email, the more you control your day.