“Just 5 minutes”: Do you answer emails outside work hours?

From the moment Asger Damtoft opens his eyes in the morning until he goes to bed, his phone could ring at any time.

He is Technical Manager at a start-up company that produces cement using microorganisms, and if there are any challenges or queries from the factory, he is often the one they call. 

'Last Sunday, I got a call at 5.45 am from the production team, so it’s not always that much fun,' he says. 

His employer is also American-owned, so even when production in Denmark has shut down, he can expect a constant stream of emails and Teams messages late in the afternoon and in the evening, when his US colleagues are in the office. 

For Asger Damtoft, it’s not unusual to work long hours or have late meetings, but the unpredictable calls drain him in a different way and can make it difficult for him to relax in the evening. 

'The advantage of a scheduled meeting is that I can prepare myself and get mentally ready for it. But if it’s a call that comes out of the blue, I spend far more energy on it.' 

'It can be something as simple as when I got a call yesterday because a lorry was due to deliver something to our factory. It took three minutes at most, but afterwards my mind kept going because I was wondering if I’d forgotten anything and whether I needed to pass on a message to my colleagues,' explains Asger Damtoft. 

He therefore feels that these unexpected calls and messages affect his day-to-day wellbeing. 

'If a message pops up at half past eight in the evening, it can be difficult to put it out of my mind if I either have some input to offer or if the message triggers some frustration.'

Your well-being depends on whether you choose to be available

As working life has become increasingly digitalised, the boundaries between work and leisure have become blurred. 

In a questionnaire survey of IDA members, 38 per cent said that their workplace occasionally expects them to be available outside working hours, whilst 4 per cent said that they are often expected to be available outside working hours.

Among those who ‘often’ find that their employer expects them to be available, 43 per cent said that this practice has a negative impact on their well-being, whilst the proportion whose well-being is negatively affected stands at 17 per cent among those who feel they are expected to be available ‘occasionally’. 

Raluca Stana is a senior lecturer at the Department of People and Technology at RUC and conducts research into how digital technologies contribute to increased stress levels in the workplace. She is currently on maternity leave. 

Nevertheless, it takes less than ten minutes from the moment she receives the interview request in her email until she replies.

'I’d be delighted to. Shall we speak tomorrow at 9 or 10?'

On the phone, she laughs at the fact that she herself apparently finds it so difficult to switch off. But she emphasises that she has made an active choice to remain available to journalists whilst on maternity leave, and this is the key factor when assessing whether being available in one’s free time is detrimental to one’s well-being.  

Essentially, it comes down to whether or not you have chosen to be available.

'A study carried out in Norway shows that if you choose to work outside your normal working hours – for example, in the evening – this is not linked to lower well-being. But if you feel compelled to do so, or feel that your employer expects you to be available, this increases the risk of burnout and stress,' explains Raluca Stana.

According to her, it is therefore not possible to make a definitive statement about whether or not being available outside working hours is stressful. It depends to a large extent on the individual employee, the type of emails, and how often they arrive in the inbox. 

For some, it is appealing to be able to pick up the children early and catch up on the rest of their work in the evening, or simply to organise their working day so that it better suits their daily rhythm. For others, it is stressful not to have clear boundaries between work and leisure time. 

One thing that most people underestimate, however, according to Raluca Stana, is just how taxing it is on the brain to reply to what might just be a simple email.

'It takes a cognitive effort just to open your computer, remember your password and process what’s in your email. Afterwards, it can also take quite a long time before you’ve settled down again.'

'An email can cause both worry and excitement, and although one is more pleasant than the other, our bodies can’t really tell the difference because both are stimulating and trigger our stress hormones,' explains Raluca Stana. 

One in two people lack clear guidelines

At Asger Damtoft’s workplace, there are no clear guidelines on when he is expected to be available. In principle, he doesn’t have to answer the phone when he gets a call from the factory, but he chooses to do so anyway. 

'It may well be that it disturbs me and means I have to spend some time switching off from work, but if it can save my colleagues from struggling with a problem for several hours, then of course I’ll do it,' he says. 

When it comes to late-night messages from colleagues in the US, he has to constantly try to judge whether he can wait to reply or not. 

'I’m always trying to set some rules for myself. Then I look at who’s written to me. Is it someone I need to reply to straight away, or can it wait until tomorrow? But whatever I end up doing, I’m still spending energy on those considerations,' says Asger Damtoft. 

In IDA’s questionnaire survey, around half of respondents employed in the private sector state that their workplace has clear guidelines on when they are expected to be available outside working hours. Forty-four per cent say they would like clear guidelines, and this desire is particularly strong amongst those who are often expected to be available and those who already work in workplaces with clear rules.

In countries such as France, Belgium and Portugal, legislation has been introduced to protect employees from being required to be available during their free time, and the EU is currently working on a directive with the same aim. 

According to Raluca Stana, however, it is important not to impose the same set of rules on everyone. Ideally, all departments and teams should discuss their needs and expectations regarding how they can get in touch with one another. 

'I once interviewed a senior consultant at a hospital for my book, and he had an auto-reply in his email that actually sums it up perfectly. It said: ‘I’ll reply when I can, and you’re not obliged to reply straight away. We all have different working hours’.'