I get emails at all sorts of times. We have offices across the country. And not set hours for everyone. One of my contracts people works a second shift type schedule so she sends things at 9-10 a lot. I do not respond until my actual work time. People know to text my work phone in an emergency and that has a sound on. I have it set where emails don't make a sound. I try very hard to delay send to anyone junior than me to not bother their time off. For my management tho, I don't care as much. They make the big $& and are always working anyway.

Everyone? It's extremely common. You are NOT expected to answer right away, or even notice them, unless your job specifically requires you to be on all the time, with commensurate pay.

Most people aren't paid enough to be on 24/7, BUT the reason people send emails after biz hours is that otherwise they forget. It happens to me. It's too much of a hassle to fiddle around with the delivery delay. Just shelve the email until you get back to work, OP. It's not hard.

F500 consulting. Very normal to send and receive emails after hours. But no one is keeping track or care if you don't look/respond till the morning. Exception would be if you're working late with your team over a deliverable then yes, you need to be available.

Anonymous wrote:OP, time to realize HR policies do not run your company unless it’s about something the company could get sued for.

Many of us use email to collaborate across time zones. The idea of colleagues in Sydney or Seoul or even London or LA being able to send/receive at the same time as I can is ludicrous.

This. I don’t expect my colleague in CA to not send an email because he’s still working at 6pm. He sends it at the end of his workday, and I respond at the beginning of mine. Why would I panic over an email?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the panic over receiving an email in off hours. It’s inherently asynchronous communication. You’re expected to respond when you’re available.

Op here. No, it’s not clear. We are not supposed to send emails outside normal hours (with unwritten rule about an hour or so before work and an hour or so after- basically 8 to 7:30 is fair game) so an email at midnight implies urgency. Understand now?

If it was urgent, it wouldn’t have been sent as an email.

OP, time to realize HR policies do not run your company unless it’s about something the company could get sued for.

Many of us use email to collaborate across time zones. The idea of colleagues in Sydney or Seoul or even London or LA being able to send/receive at the same time as I can is ludicrous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the panic over receiving an email in off hours. It’s inherently asynchronous communication. You’re expected to respond when you’re available.

Op here. No, it’s not clear. We are not supposed to send emails outside normal hours (with unwritten rule about an hour or so before work and an hour or so after- basically 8 to 7:30 is fair game) so an email at midnight implies urgency. Understand now?

Are you Gen Z?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg turn on DND.

It’s 2025, it’s not my job to make sure your email is not arriving during dinner time. E-mail. It’s not a phone call. It’s not even a text. It’s the most non urgent communication imaginable. People work all hours now, for flexibility not necessarily urgency or long hours.

Op. This is why we have tools to delay delivery. Look, it it’s the old guy in finance who still has his admin help set up his meetings, fine. But these are tech guys who have every tool imaginable to streamline their work. They shouldn’t need to send emails at midnight.

Good lord, op. You can’t control other people only your response to them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg turn on DND.

It’s 2025, it’s not my job to make sure your email is not arriving during dinner time. E-mail. It’s not a phone call. It’s not even a text. It’s the most non urgent communication imaginable. People work all hours now, for flexibility not necessarily urgency or long hours.

Op. This is why we have tools to delay delivery. Look, it it’s the old guy in finance who still has his admin help set up his meetings, fine. But these are tech guys who have every tool imaginable to streamline their work. They shouldn’t need to send emails at midnight.

Manually setting each email to delay delivery is not "streamlining work."

OP, if you really want to die on this hill and think it's a violation of HR policy, then go to HR and ask them to clarify the rules and/or take action to counsel these "tech guys." Or you could just use your judgement on a) when you're checking your email and b) what is and isn't urgent.

Anonymous wrote:Omg turn on DND.

It’s 2025, it’s not my job to make sure your email is not arriving during dinner time. E-mail. It’s not a phone call. It’s not even a text. It’s the most non urgent communication imaginable. People work all hours now, for flexibility not necessarily urgency or long hours.

This, op. Yes, I get emails at all hours. I reply either if it’s convenient for me to or it waits until I get online. If it’s important enough, people call.

Our firm encourages flexibility. So sometimes working parent needs to be offline for a few hours after school, then they get back online and finish up their days.

Set your boundaries.

Anonymous wrote:this even though our HR gives regular updates about not doing this.

Ironically the people who do this most often are the men who work in technology, and who therefore should know how to delay delivery of an email so it arrives during regular hours instead of at midnight.

Fwiw these are never urgent emails, and very often any minimal urgency is caused by their delay.

How would you handle?

I don’t always respond right away, but if I see an email from work pop up, I’m going to end up thinking about it.

Why are you even checking your email?

I am in one of those companies where we are having a "let's see who can send an email at the craziest hour to prove they have blind loyalty to the firm" contests. Really, unless it is about a critical issue, why do it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the panic over receiving an email in off hours. It’s inherently asynchronous communication. You’re expected to respond when you’re available.

Op here. No, it’s not clear. We are not supposed to send emails outside normal hours (with unwritten rule about an hour or so before work and an hour or so after- basically 8 to 7:30 is fair game) so an email at midnight implies urgency. Understand now?

If I got an email (work or otherwise) at midnight, I wouldn't know about it until the next morning because my phone is on DND. This is on you. Understand now?

Anonymous wrote:Omg turn on DND.

It’s 2025, it’s not my job to make sure your email is not arriving during dinner time. E-mail. It’s not a phone call. It’s not even a text. It’s the most non urgent communication imaginable. People work all hours now, for flexibility not necessarily urgency or long hours.

Op. This is why we have tools to delay delivery. Look, it it’s the old guy in finance who still has his admin help set up his meetings, fine. But these are tech guys who have every tool imaginable to streamline their work. They shouldn’t need to send emails at midnight.

Yup, many emails after hours and on weekends in my company (management consulting). Generally do not expect responses over the weekend or late at night and others know that.