There are quite a few “email enhancement” products out there that do things like add read receipts and snooze emails. Another common feature is the ability to send emails later. A little perplexing, isn’t it? Like email is super asynchronous already. People assume and expect that email isn’t an instant medium. If you can’t wait on a reply, people move up the immediacy chain to texting/messaging, calling, or tapping on the shoulder. So why the hell would it matter when I send an email? Might as well just send it when my fingers are done.

Yet.

Certainly there are better times of day than others to send marketing emails. People think hard about that and email sending services allow you to set those times and help you optimize it. Social media posting has a timely nature to it, hence the need for tools like Buffer.

Then I saw this:

Sending emails all hours of the day and night is not a good cultural feel. It can make people feel like they need to be working 24/7.

I’m going to try and cut off all emails on off hours myself, as I am sure I’ve done it too.

Work life balance is important.

— John Papa (@John_Papa) October 17, 2018

I can see that. I think at the places I work we’ve built a culture such that nobody would assume they need to jump on an email from me if I happen to send it at 10pm, but I understand that’s not necessarily the case everywhere. 

What’s the culture like where you work? Do you get emails at all hours? Do you feel the need to jump on them at any hour? Is it you doing that to others?