A forum I belong to (non-VA) was discussing whether or not members pay attention to the timestamp on emails sent to them. What they were actually talking about is the fact that many people today send emails at all times of day and night and because of how instant emails are, tend to expect instant replies. But what does that do to the recipient, the service provider? Does that now mean they have to be available 24/7?
I mentioned that I’ve had to make a ruling for myself with respect to the receipt and response of emails for my Virtual Assistant business. I’ve had to restrain myself to only deal with emails between 8am and 6pm for clients so I don’t develop an expectation on their behalf that I’m available on demand. I will respond outside of those hours if we have a special arrangement. For example if they have an urgent need and we’ve already agreed that they might be sending items to me at 7.30pm or later. But that isn’t an every day event.
There is a saying ‘all work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (or girl)’. And the reality is we cannot stay at our computers all day long, every day – we need to be able to go out and meet people, get exercise, live the rest of our lives.
A week ago I had 3 emails in quick succession sent to me from someone in the northern hemisphere. I was in bed and of course, never saw them and when I did reply to that person the following morning reminded them that I was in bed at the time they sent their emails which is why I did not reply straight away.
I had always been mindful of responding quickly to requests via email, feeling it was important to develop a reputation for quick responses as I built my business but now wonder if perhaps that has pushed things the other way and clients and others get frustrated if they don’t hear from someone quickly. What do you think?
by Kathie M. Thomas
timestamp, emails, on duty, 24/7
Kathie is the former owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.
Diane Coville says
I have thought of this in the past and I am very guilty of being prompt in answering emails from clients, even when they have sent them in “off hours” (even if they are in my time zone).
I “have” made myself available almost 24/7 and I have had clients who sent emails at 10:00 pm or later and expected a reply before morning…
However, I am beginning to realize that since I do work long hours and sometimes don’t have time to answer emails until the evening when they have been sent through the day, that I am guilty (by way of the time stamp) of indicating I work late hours and on weekends.
Perhaps, I should defer those late nite emails until the next morning during regularly scheduled hours. As well, I may clarify with clients that I am only working during scheduled hours (like you do) and then they won’t have expectations of immediate replys if they send them after hours.
I haven’t heard this discussed in any of my groups, however, you have brought up an important part of operating a virtual assistance service and setting up boundaries around “working from home”…
Claire Dening says
Hi Kathie,
This is something I have been giving some thought to lately as well and the term “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” certainly does ring true. I found that working long hours and countless weekends was making me “not feel the love” when it came to ‘my business’ so now I try to not work on weekends and find myself recharged and ready to dive in on a Monday morning! And you know what, I think you work far more productively and effectively when you are feeling this way! Thanks for the great blog Kathie!
Diana says
Hi Kathie,
Great Topic!
My clients know that I work before and after hours “normal” hours because that’s me. I use my off-hours as catch-up time or to complete tasks that require fewer interruptions. Clients send me e-mails at all hours however, they never expect me to answer their e-mails (or phone calls) after hours – but I do when the situation warrants it.
We all need our away time and we should take it but one of the benefits of having a virtual assistant is that we don’t have the same limitations as our in-office counterparts. We do have the capability to work when a task needs to be completed or responded to. For me, when an e-mail comes in that I think the client would prefer I respond to tonight versus in the moring – I do. If it can wait, it does.
One other note is that I do have clients that receive calls at ‘all hours’. When they (or the caller) asks why I answer the phone late at night I simply explain that we never know if the caller is our clients next big contract or sale making a call to sign – tonight. Am I inconvenienced? Sometimes. Am I more appreciated and compensated for this? Always. Now, there’s the other side of the coin where I could read an e-mail or hear the telephone ring and go to voicemail. Getting a jump start on tomorrow is great versus thinking about that call or e-mails stacking up in my in-box.
No client has ever abused my willingness to take calls after hours or answer e-mails late at night. It’s a fine line but I’d never let anything even remotely urgent or with a timeline on it go undone because it was after hours.
Just one other note…I am very aware of my timestamps and according to my clients, they are too.
Terence Kierans says
I have a client in the Eastern states who tends to do some of his work from home – at 10 o’clock at night – and then send me the email message with an attachment.
They are always either urgent, very urgent, or very, very urgent.
However, I tend to leave my home office around 5pm WA summer time so they don’t get actioned until around 6am the next day. They get a 50% loading too for work required in under 24 hours.
Many VAs advertise the fact that they are available outside “normal” business hours, so I guess they have to wear the inconvenience. But my US clients don’t expect immediate response to email messages
Monika says
Hi Kathie
I don’t mind working until late at night. If clients send me emails I will action them if I can. If not, it has to wait and my clients don’t expect it to be actioned straight away. One client regularly sends me emails at 12am – 1am at night. (No, I’m not always up that late – I see the timestamp on the email the next morning ;-).
I have personal things I need to attend to during the day and catch up with work in the evenings so it balances out in the end.
A habit of mine is to send emails straight away when I need to action something so I don’t get distracted and am less likely to forget to action later on and therefore the task is completed in a timely manner. But I don’t expect an immediate response from clients/recipients.
Kind regards
Monika
Karen Swim says
Kathie, this is a very timely and interesting discussion! I have had recent discussions about this very topic. I think in some ways “we” have assigned unnecessary expectations to email. The ease of communication has set up the false belief that we must respond immediately. I think this is a horrible precedent to set. I used to respond to emails in off hours and weekends but I no longer do that. If an email comes in on a weekend, I respond on Monday (unless a prior arrangement has been made). I try to respond within the same day or at least 24 hours and expect the same in return. If I have an urgent situation I reach out by voice to someone. I realize that with iphones, and mobile email we can always be accessible but it does not mean we have to be.
Pam Sargant says
Hi Kathy
What a great article! And a good reminder to all of us. I find myself going back to the 24/7 availability set up whenever business gets slow and that’s not the image I want to present to my clients.
Pam
Tracey says
Kathie,
This is a great topic. I had to implement the same rule for myself last year.
It can be very easy to answer an email as soon as it is sent, but it does present a problem when you are unable to answer immediately, perhaps down the road.
I tell my clients that I am available during EST office hours, and some of them still send emails outside of those times, but never worry if I don’t respond until the next business day.
On occasion I will make myself available for a phone call or email exchange outside of office hours, but it is always scheduled, and if it is required, then it is a small sacrifice to make for the relationship with the client.
Great question!
Lisa Olinda says
The fun of working with people between US and Australia is a 12 hour give or take time difference. I sometimes forget that when I send a message it may be 12 hours before I receive a response. I usually remember a little while later and appreciate it when someone reminds me. I appreciate timely responses to my emails and try to provide that to clients. I don’t really care what time clients email me as long as they respect that I have a scheduled work day and will get back with them as quickly as possible during the work day.
Tana Woodward says
I received good advice on this topic and use it daily. I sometimes work in the evenings because it’s often a quieter time for me to work on projects. However,I don’t want to give clients the impression that I’m willing to work all hours of the day, so I’ve made it a policy to always set a timer on my emails so they don’t actually go out until first thing the next morning.