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What's your personal attitude/policy towards answering work-related phone calls or emails outside of your normal working hours?
Assume these are non-emergency calls/emails and answering them around the clock isn't an essential function of your job.
Some people will answer anything related work promptly.. others keep private and personal lives strictly separate. I personally pick the middle ground: I'm not opposed to answering them outside of work and I will do so on a discretionary basis but it generally isn't a high priority unless an emergency.
Rarely, unless it is something that a) cannot wait and b) I am actually capable of doing while not in the office. However, I receive very little email about things that can't wait until the next morning.
Depends what I am doing. I have remote access to work, so if I am bored or not doing anything, sometimes I will check my work email. But in the same way that I check facebook or come on here...to kill time.
I rarely do receive any calls while I am working. The person has to have a good/emergency reason to call me. I don't have time to socialize on the job. Same goes for email, I do not give my work email address out for anything unrelated to business. If I have to, it is extremely rare.
Since I have been working, I know to keep my personal business out of employee email as much as possible.
I rarely do receive any calls while I am working. The person has to have a good/emergency reason to call me. I don't have time to socialize on the job. Same goes for email, I do not give my work email address out for anything unrelated to business. If I have to, it is extremely rare.
Since I have been working, I know to keep my personal business out of employee email as much as possible.
Ummmm...this thread is about work related things on personal time...not the other way around.
Sometimes. I deal with offices all around the world. It can make a big difference answering a question from someone in Australia at night. Otherwise they won't have an answer until the next day for them. Or it could be that I need information from them and if I don't respond at night then I have to wait another day. I don't get too many emails at night from the US and if I do they usually aren't urgent. I may or may not answer them depending on what I'm doing.
Ummmm...this thread is about work related things on personal time...not the other way around.
OK, that's very quick of you to point that out, thebunny.
Well, I check email on occasion outside of my normal hours because I work with staff in many different time zones in different continents. I will answer my phone too, because usually if my co-workers call, there is a problem at work that needs to be addressed.
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I have answered two text messages from work just in the last 10 minutes. As a manager with 5 direct reports that work staggered start times, I have to react to urgent problems at times. Also, I may get involved with the IT people on system upgrades after hours. No problem, I can make up for it by leaving early another day.
rarely. by the way, if you are hourly, you legally have to be paid for any time you spend doing this. you can't choose to do it for free - if you are working, you have to be paid for that. if you're salaried/exempt that's not the case, though.
at my current job, really the only time i do work stuff outside of work hours is if i am calling in sick and i have to send e-mails asking people to do things or letting them know things to lessen the impact of being out. verrrry rarely one of my bosses will e-mail me with a question, but it really barely ever happens.
at my old job i was basically on call 24/7 (well, close to that) for several months out of the year. that sucked!
I work the overnight shift and sleep from 7 AM to 3 PM (or later, if I get woken up). I used to have a boss who would call me for clarifications of things whenever he felt the urge, and it ruined my sleeping patterns because he'd usually do it when he got to work at 8 or 9 AM.
Now with a new boss I have a compromise: my phone stays off until 2 PM every day. I'll concede one hour of sleep if there's an emergency, but no more than that.
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