Managers should set clear expectations surrounding responses
One-in-three employees often get emails from their boss over the weekend and they are expected to reply, according to a new survey by Right Management.
“So we were not talking about broadcast emails or purely informational communications, but those intended for a particular person and looking for a response. It’s now taken for granted that everyone has to check their work email during the weekend,” said Bram Lowsky, general manager at Right Management.
An additional one-third of the 569 survey respondents across North America also reported getting emails from their boss on the weekend, not often, but just from time to time.
The survey findings are another indication of an increasingly 24-7 workplace, said Lowsky.
“Everybody once thought technology would reduce the drudgery and make the workplace more efficient. Sure, technology has delivered great benefits to employees but it also crosses the boundary between the workplace and the worker’s own private space,” said Lowsky. “It seems one can no longer get away at all from work or responsibility.”
Managers should set clear expectations about what really needs to be addressed over the weekend, he said. “And if stuff might just as easily wait until Monday, say so.”
And 37 per cent of survey respondents said they never receive work-related emails from their boss over the weekend.
