While digital technology has kept us safe during the pandemic, for millions of people, working from home has felt more like sleeping in the office, making it harder to fully switch off.
The right to disconnect has been law for six years in France, where companies are asked to set agreed “specific hours” for “teleworkers”. Ireland also brought in a code of practice last year, under which employers should include reminders in their emails to employees which indicate that there is no requirement to reply to emails out of their contracted working hours. In late 2021 Portugal also passed a law prohibiting employers from contacting workers outside of their regular hours by phone, message or email.
To figure out how many Brits do actually switch off after work, Fasthosts undertook a poll to reveal the number of emails received on average and how this affects them in their lives. As seen from the responses, seven in 10 Brits receive one to 10 work emails outside of working hours per day.
1 in 2 Brits receive up to 4 work emails outside their working hours
Based on the research, 49.2 per cent of respondents receive 1 to 5 work-related emails outside of their office hours. What’s more, one in seven Brits receives up to 10 after-hours work emails per day, with 67 per cent generally replying to after-work emails, while 16 per cent say they always reply no matter what.
What’s more, 1 in 2 Brits admits that receiving after-hours work emails has a negative impact on their lives. This is not surprising as almost one in eight Brits spend up to three hours replying to these. 46 per cent of people in the UK experienced or felt on the verge of burnout in 2021, based on a Statista study.
Specifically, Brits voted that the after-work emails make them feel like they’re always at work (19.4 per cent), like they have no time for themselves (17.6 per cent) and their family (15.1 per cent) and are worried that if they don’t reply this would affect their career (11.3 per cent). What’s more, one in 25 respondents experience fear of missing out (FOMO) when they don’t receive after-hours emails and they feel left out of the loop if they’re not included. Some respondents admitted that they feel like they are not important enough if they don’t receive emails after work. Even though only 1 in 25 feels this way this is a symptom of a culture based on this type of behaviour.
Interestingly, when asked if there should be a law in the UK restricting after-hours work emails, over four in ten (43.5 per cent) agreed that there should be one in place, with most of them being women
Millennials are the most affected and women receive more emails compared to men
Based on the findings, women receive more work-related emails after work, compared to men (51.3 per cent and 47.1 per cent respectively). Despite this, both genders feel like they were always at work whereas men feel they are more likely to have no time for themselves or family, while women feel the pressure to work all the time or that not replying could affect their career. While all these show the negative effects of answering emails outside of work, it also shows an unfortunate perception that women feel they must work harder at their roles.
The study also highlights that compared to other age groups, millennials spend the most amount of time replying to work emails outside their contracted hours and Brits aged 18-24 years old are affected the most from this, with 75 per cent stating they receive up to 10 emails per day
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