Surface Ripples

Email’s Impact on Presenteeism

My last article about presenteeism got me thinking after my final conclusion about policies to “disconnect” from work.

It struck me that one of the main causes of people checking their email late into the night at home was also an effort to ensure that things remained manageable the following day.

It’s easy enough to implement a “no email policy” for the hours between (say) 6 pm to 7:59 am, but this doesn’t address the situation where an external client may email during those hours. The employee’s dilemma is then whether to respond (and be seen to be providing “good service”) or wait until the next day.

Some organisations get around this by having, as part of their email signatures, a line stating that the recipient will not check emails received between certain times of day. Another way around it is to have an automatic cut-off in the email system which sends out an automated response between certain times of day, advising senders of emails (and don’t forget, they may be overseas and not appreciate that they operate in a time zone different to that of the recipient) that the recipient works for a company with a No Email Outside Office Hours policy and that they will respond during office opening hours.

Others operate a “shift system” – this is typical in the IT sector. 

Some may say that No Email Outside Office Hours policies suggests a poor service ethic. That’s one way of looking at it.  The other way is that the employer cares enough about their people to make sure that they’re well rested and therefore likely to be more productive during working hours. The concept of “burnout” is well known and documented.  Emails outside office hours no doubt make a significant contribution.

That said, emergencies can and do arise. These are best handled according to industry practice. Either by having a dedicated “night team” or some other method whereby a designated employee is “on duty” at certain times of day (or, rather, night!) to handle those vital few emails.  If it’s real emergency, there’s always the phone…

As someone who’s worked in many countries and therefore many time zones, I’ve often encountered situations where I communicate with people who may be working several hours behind or ahead of me.  In my current location, people in Vancouver are 15 hours behind me; if I decide to call them at (say) 1 pm on a Saturday morning my time, it will be 11am on the Friday in Vancouver - plenty of time (for them) to get the job done!

Equally though, my colleague in Vancouver calling me at 11 am Vancouver time on a Friday morning will find that I am not available as my weekend will have already commenced. Such are the challenges that “globalisation” presents.

How can we as leaders ensure that our staff are well rested, and yet provide effective client service? This is a conundrum with which we will all continue to wrestle. I suspect the answer lies in a mix of the policies and solutions already outlined above.

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  

Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 10:44