It’s Okay to Clock Out! Stop Answering Work E-mails at Home

Raise your hand if you check your work e-mail at home! Yup, mine goes way up. I am extremely guilty about this and will be the first to admit it. I’m one of those people who, if I don’t answer your e-mail right away, not only will I get anxious about not answering it, but I will also most likely just forget to answer it entirely. In fact, last week I was away on vacation in Cancun and made the mistake of checking my work e-mail. I nearly had a panic attack when I saw 200 unread e-mails, but then I calmly reminded myself that my out-of-office message was on, and all was right in the world.

According to a new article in the New York Post, I’m not alone in having this mindset. Fifty-five percent of Americans not only check e-mails after work hours, but believe that it’s necessary to do so. A mere 38% believe the opposite, that not only is it not necessary but it is in fact putting in more work than you’re supposed to be doing. This number changes drastically once you look at those above the age of thirty, and below the age of thirty (hey there we are millennials!). Sixty-eight percent of employees under the age of thirty believe that you do have to check e-mail even if you’re off the clock. Only 41% of workers over the age of thirty had the same mindset. That’s quite a difference if I do say so myself. Hey millennials, maybe we can learn something from older generations….

What if we weren’t glued to our e-mails 24/7? I’m not going to lie; I just cringed a bit while writing that. But let’s explore that idea for a second. It’s not like we’re getting paid overtime or getting a bonus for answering our boss’s e-mails within three seconds of receiving it. An e-mail isn’t the same as a phone call, or even a text message. It’s not meant to be answered right away. If there’s an emergency, I guarantee your phone would be ringing, rather than only receiving an e-mail.

There’s an unwritten rule that you have 24 – 48 hours to answer an e-mail. That’s a long time ladies and gentlemen! According to that rule, there is no reason we should be answering e-mails when we’re considered off the clock; it can easily wait until the next morning. Why are we in such a rush to answer? Why can’t we just enjoy our time off from work?

Let’s be smart about this though. I’m not saying that if you have a deadline at 8 AM the next morning to completely ignore your e-mail the night before; that’s just being irresponsible. What I am saying is that for those of you like me, constantly checking and answering work e-mail while commuting, out to dinner, and so on, to stop. We slave away eight hours a day as it is. We deserve a break at night. We deserve a delicious dinner with good company, wine, and no interaction with work.

There are so many times I’ll answer my boss right away post work hours, and I won’t hear back until the next day. It’s okay to not answer an e-mail you receive at 7 PM on a Wednesday evening until 10 AM on a Thursday morning. I’ll take the plunge if you come with me. Let’s vow together to not check work e-mails when we’re off the clock. Let’s prove ourselves and our work ethic while we’re at the office 40 hours a week. As the saying goes, work hard, play harder.