Why you should stop emailing people about work on weekends
We talk to Laura Giurge about why we assume things are more urgent than they are
Hey!
How are you doing today?
We are hurtling through this season of the podcast and we’re almost through! This week’s episode is with the incredible Charlie Moult, who is the founder of Source - a Breathwork membership. If you’re interested in spirituality, emotional release or how to build a wellness business - this one is for you.
Podcasting takes a long time - there’s a reason there are so many podcasts with just one episode. But every now and then you get a message that reminds you that it is reaching people. I got this message the other day, and it reminded me of how meaningful it is to tell people when you’re enjoying their work:
Hi Georgia! Just wanted to say, I'm very happy the third series of Out of Hours is back, I was worried it was over! Cafe Du Cycliste I have listened over twenty times!
I was so happy to read this!
It’s a good reminder that if you’re enjoying someone’s work - make sure to reach out and tell them! It will probably make their day. Most creators are close to quitting and people are simply enjoying their work in silence - tell them!
And now from Laura…
In this newsletter, I wanted to share the work of Laura Giurge - an organisational scholar and behavioural scientist. She is an Assistant Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) - and also has a Ph.D. in Management. She’s also been a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Cornell University and at London Business School, as well as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School.
Laura’s research has similar goals as Out of Hours: to make work better and enable all individuals to thrive and achieve their potential. She also has a side project! She takes photos, to connect us to our planet and inner happiness. She explains why we need to be better at sending off-hours emails…
Sweating the small stuff matters at work
“Small, trivial things that we take for granted” says Laura, “can have a big influence on others.”
This includes how we email people. “We might empty our inbox on the weekend because that’s the only time we can do it. But such digital footprints can have a huge impact on those who receive our off-hour emails.”
Laura’s recent research, with over 4,000 employees, found that people thought they needed to respond to off-hour emails 36% faster than the senders actually intended, a phenomenon they labelled the email urgency bias.
Why? It lies in something called egocentric biases.
Laura explains: “We mistakenly assume others know what we mean or what our intentions are. We also feel overly confident in our own abilities to judge others’ feelings and intentions. As senders we underestimate how stressful those non-urgent off-hour emails are for those who receive them. In turn, the increased stress harms recipients’ well-being, work-life balance, and even their work performance.”
How can people apply this to their own lives today?
People tend to already signal when something is urgent - by using the red exclamation mark or writing in capitals - but they need to make sure they signal it’s NOT urgent too.
Laura suggests: “Make the implicit explicit by clearly signalling when a request is of low urgency… In our research we found that if senders add a simple note in their email saying, “This is not an urgent matter so you can get to it whenever you can”, the email urgency bias disappears.”
This is a simple way to help others disconnect from work on off-days, and help them maintain work-life boundaries.
Another option is to set clear deadlines.
This signals to others when we expect them to respond or do the task, and i reduces unnecessary pressure: “We might be worried about setting deadlines for others but doing so allows them to organize their workload according to their priorities and other projects... And if you happen to work with someone who isn’t in the habit of setting deadlines, push back and ask for one. This minor change in my own behaviour has done wonders in helping me prioritise and achieve things on time”
What is something you do personally to help yourself be creative and put things out in the world?
“One is making time for my hobbies, which are photography, drawing, and travel. They all help me train my eye and notice unusual but intriguing patterns, get out of my comfort zone, and simply observe human behaviour.”
“On a more practical level, I’m trying to live my research and make changes in how I spend and organise my time. For example, I try to book meetings on specific days and only in the afternoon. That way I have my mornings free for tasks that require uninterrupted, focused time such as writing.”
“I also try to completely disconnect from work and digital devices one day a week, which is often Saturday. I try to set some goals for my weekends so that I don’t end up seating on the coach all day. In fact, some of my data suggests that being intentional with how we spend our time off is beneficial for our well-being and even for our job satisfaction. Recent research has shown that time management is a key ingredient for our happiness.”
“I try as much as possible to make my research accessible to those who might benefit the most from applying it. I do this by writing op-eds and business articles, most often in Harvard Business Review and recently also in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. I also engage in podcasts and various media interviews. And finally, I work with companies either as a consultant or academic partner so that we can address ongoing challenges together.”
To connect with Laura, follow her on LinkedIn or check out her website here.
Listen to the latest Out of Hours podcast here (and let me know if you leave a review!)