Rob asked:

My team is complaining about the late-night emails I send to them. I tell them that the company policy says they can wait to answer until the morning, so what’s the big deal?

Anne Loehr, Senior Leadership Consultant responded:

The big deal is that according to a recent New York Times article, “Being constantly on actually undermines productivity,” says Leslie Perlow a professor of leadership at Harvard Business School. While you may not expect your team to reply to your emails in ‘off-hours’, the employee may still be “on” by thinking about the emails, which can undermine productivity.

Daimler, a German automaker, has taken several steps to address similar issues for the sake of their employees and their organization’s future success. One step was developing a set of guidelines for managers to help employees create balance.

While you don’t have to create management guidelines, I’d encourage you to consider some simple steps like only sending emails between 7am-7pm on weekdays (you can always queue your emails in your draft folder) and only sending urgent emails after hours. This will help you and your team be more balanced, focused and productive. Now that IS a big deal!

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