On most days, freelance writer Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal rarely goes 20 minutes without checking her inbox.
“My phone is glued to my hand so it’s easy to constantly check and hit refresh,” the Stamford, Conn., resident tells The Post. “As a freelancer, you want editors to know you’re responsive, but you don’t want to set a precedent that you’re reachable 24/7. [But] some stories I am assigned are time-sensitive — if I’m not checking e-mail in a timely manner, the editor could think I’m not interested and assign it to someone else. You snooze, you lose.”
West-Rosenthal is not alone in always being attached to e-mails. A study from 2015 indicated the average American worker spends 6.3 hours a day on e-mail, while France recently went so far as to ban employees from e-mailing after hours and on the weekends.
As it’s unlikely such a law would ever pass in the city that never sleeps, workers in the Big Apple are finding other ways to cope with the constant pressure to open their inboxes.
For West-Rosenthal, this simply means setting boundaries for her phone use, such as never checking messages when she’s with her 17-month-old daughter or her husband — although she admits she’s sneaked a peek at her e-mail when he’s in the bathroom.
“Every time you respond to a late-night or weekend message, you’re implicitly saying this is acceptable.”
- Phil Simon, author of 'Message Not Received'
Tom Patterson, CEO of men’s undergarment company Tommy John, was receiving up to 300 e-mails a day last year when he decided to disconnect. He implemented an auto-response to senders to anticipate a delayed reply, as he’s mostly offline while in the office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In case of emergency, he suggests they call or text.
“I discovered that more than 50 percent of the e-mails I received could be addressed by someone else on the team, 20 percent were FYIs and 10 percent were spam,” Patterson says.
His strategy paid off: He’s delegating more, the team solves problems more independently and his quality of life has improved. “By implementing this e-mail policy, I have been able to enjoy my time out of the office, and not e-mailing and watching [my 1-year-old daughter] at the same time.”
And not only is Patterson’s strategy improving his work-life balance, but it sets a precedent for his employees to follow, too. Gabby Burlacu, human capital management researcher at software company SuccessFactors, says boundaries when it comes to e-mail use should come from the top. “The company has to communicate that it’s OK to take work off your mind when you’re not at work,” Burlacu says.
If you don’t truly unplug, says clinical psychologist Dr. Chloe Carmichael, the around-the-clock accessibility can increase stress levels while productivity and quality of life plummet. Plus, she indicates the endless stream prevents us from feeling like we’ve truly completed something.
“We can grow dependent on e-mail as an external stimulus assuring us we’re needed and valued,” says Carmichael. She suggests using the Flipd app that locks users out of their e-mail for 30 minutes to take a walk in the park or sit on a rooftop deck to think creatively and fully rest.
Whatever method you use to combat the daily fight against inbox overload, the key is to stick with it, says Phil Simon, technology expert and author of “Message Not Received.” In fact, most of our stress over e-mails might be our own doing.
“Nowhere is it written that you have to be available 24/7 [for your job],” says Simon. “Every time you respond to a late-night or weekend message, you’re implicitly saying this is acceptable.”