Being a subscriber to WSJ.com I came across a blog post on The Juggle. It's a blog dedicated to work and family balance. This post touched on the impact and interpretation of sending emails after traditional work hours.
There is some interesting context provided by Google employees as well as other executives.
What struck me about this email is that it brings back my 360 feedback sessions with my direct and second level direct reports. I was guilty of sending emails at all times as well as being online at all times.
While I'd like to report that I don't send late night emails any more, I still do. I have explained to my directs and second level directs that they don't need to respond in the same time frame. Although I think the precedent I'm setting is still problematic. "Do as I say, not as I do."
Of course sometimes there are emergencies as my role is in advertising operations and the Internet advertising runs 24x7. In these cases I might drop a SMS message to a report's cell phone to check email asap.
I'm also starting to leverage the delayed send feature in Outlook that allows you to set the delivery time.
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