💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 6647.gmi captured on 2023-09-08 at 17:22:55. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2018-09-19 07:22:15
Executive Summary
Dealing with after-hours emails produces anxiety that is damaging not only to
the worker, but to their family. Managing this anxiety isn t only about staying
on top of email it s about managing expectations. In the absence of clear
intentions, employees will make assumptions about what their bosses expect. You
can make your expectations clear doing everyone a favor by being explicit.
Say something like, We believe that downtime is important, and we expect you
to disconnect from work email on evenings, weekends, and vacations. If
something important comes up, we ll communicate via phone or text.
A new study out of Virginia Tech University confirms something that just about
every knowledge worker already knows: Dealing with after-hours emails produces
anxiety that is damaging not only to the worker, but to their family.
One particularly striking finding of this study is that it s not just the
amount of time taken up by reading and answering emails after work that s
stressing out employees (and their partners). In fact, what s creating more
anxiety is
just the expectation that an employee will be available for work outside the
office.
Take this example: A manager does not expect employees to return her emails
during off-hours or while they re on vacation, but she never explicitly says
this. Instead, she assumes they just know, and therefore thinks there is no
harm in
sending messages during these times, because she figures they ll just be
waiting for the employee when he returns. But in fact, the employee doesn t
know, and logs into his email while he s out of the office (perhaps because he
knows
others do it). And when he sees an email from his boss, he interprets this to
mean that she expects him to respond. This feeds the expectation to check email
while he s away, and the belief is reinforced by the fact that the manager
seems
to be working at all hours herself. A lack of intention and differing
assumptions cause an unhealthy culture to take root.
This is all consistent with what I see as a speaker and trainer on productivity
it s bad enough that employees feel tethered to their email during the work
day, making it hard to get more important and more satisfying work done.
When they feel pressure to check even during evenings, weekends and vacations,
the quality of their work suffers because they never get a chance to rest and
recharge their minds. Without mental recovery time, they become less creative,
focused and thoughtful. They feel stressed and out of balance which all set
the stage for burnout.
The problem has three components:
1. Employees habitually check email constantly throughout the day and are
unable to turn off this behavior simply because they ve left the office.
2. Leaders are not immune to #1, and also not intentional about their
expectations for after-hours communication. The unofficial policies and
practices that spread through the organization come about as a result of the
behaviors of
leadership, who are unaware that their habits are molding the culture.
3. Employees assume that if leaders or any other employees in the organization
are sending emails after hours, they should be, too.
Each of these components feed the others, creating a cycle that speeds up the
pace at the company and contributes to a culture where stress and anxiety
thrive. If you re a manager who s troubled by this, you can protect your
employees and
their families from the anxiety caused by the expectation of after-hours
availability. The solution must address all three components.
First, you have to clarify your expectations. What managers expect can differ
greatly from what employees believe their managers expect, as in the example
above.
In the absence of clear expectations, employees will make assumptions about
what you expect. You can make your expectations clear doing everyone a favor
by being explicit. Say something like, We believe that downtime is
important,
and we expect you to disconnect from work email on evenings, weekends, and
vacations. If something important comes up, we ll communicate via phone or
text.
What s important about a statement like that is that it not only clarifies
big-picture expectations about the importance of downtime and disconnecting
it also helps set small-picture expectations about which forms of communication
are
appropriate in which situations.
I would encourage you to get even more granular: create, clearly communicate,
and abide by guidelines for communication even during work hours. Outline which
communication channels are appropriate in which situations. For example, if
it s common during the workday for staff to send emails in the case of urgent
or time-sensitive issues, then they can never feel comfortable closing their
email client in order to get more important work done. They have to keep one
eye on
their email at all times, which pulls their attention away from other tasks.
This constant distraction undermines their focus and prevents them from
practicing attention management, leading to days that feel busy but are not
productive.
Email was never intended for synchronous communication, and although we treat
it that way, it s ultimately a terrible idea.
Instead, tell them that in the case of an urgent or time-sensitive situation,
you want them to send a text or make a phone call (just as during after-hours),
or work it out face-to-face. Make it clear that email should only be for
non-time-sensitive communications and routine requests, regardless of the day
or time. This prevents the habit of constant distraction during work hours, and
minimizes the urge to check after-hours. Importantly, you must model this
behavior yourself. If an employee sends you an email containing an urgent
request, the only way to drive the message home is if you don t see it
immediately, forcing them to use a more appropriate channel.
Your communication guidelines can go beyond email and the urgent vs. the
non-urgent, too you can set expectations on what meetings are for, how best
to use project management tools like Asana, Basecamp, or Trello, and in which
situations employees should use company wikis or messaging tools like Slack or
Twist. This will help cut down on the number of emails your employees have to
respond to.
Clear guidelines will create the space employees need to feel comfortable
closing their email client and otherwise controlling their technology so that
they can apply the full weight of their concentration to important work,
sometimes
called deep work.
This means leaders need to curb their own late-night email habit, and realize
the benefits themselves. And no one, not even the boss, should be required to
check work while on vacation. If that doesn t seem possible at your company,
you
are likely to have bigger problems than losing out on downtime.
As you implement these changes, you should start to see a shift in your
workplace culture. Being always on and connected to email 24-7 may feel like
you re being productive, but, as the Virginia Tech research shows, it s
actually
increasing employees stress and causing conflict within their families,
ultimately leading to lower levels of productivity. This is not a sustainable
situation for hiring and keeping the best employees, and supporting your
organization s
success.
Maura Thomas is an award-winning international speaker and trainer on
individual and corporate productivity, attention management, and work-life
balance. She is a TEDx Speaker, founder of RegainYourTime, and author of
Personal Productivity Secrets and Work Without Walls. She frequently appears in
major business outlets, and was recently named one of the Top Leadership
Speakers of 2018 in Inc. Magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @mnthomas, or sign
up here to be
notified when a new article is published.