Checking emails outside work is damaging to you and your relationship
Study reflects negative impact of checking emails after hours
Study reflects negative impact of checking emails after hours
Study reflects negative impact of checking emails after hours
The negative effects of checking your email outside of working hours extends to your partner, as well as you.
Although those who regularly check their inboxes when out of the office don't believe it takes its toll on their relationship, spouses say it tests their patience and makes them feel stressed, according to a survey published by The in 2018. Researchers at Lehigh and Colorado State universities found employees who read their emails at home had worse health and greater anxiety levels, as did their partners. William Becker, who studies workforce emotions at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, said the always-on culture “may be at least partly to blame for the national epidemic of stress and anxiety.”
The study looked at the habits of full-time workers in various areas, from government and teaching to banking and finance, and discovered people who regularly read their emails after work had lower well-being scores. Becker says employers need to do more to help employees switch off, with suggestions such as a 7 p.m. cutoff time for emails and imposed message-free periods.
However, employees can do more by questioning how necessary it is to reply to a specific email.
“If we drop what we’re doing with our families to check our phones it sends out a message that they’re not as important,” Becker said. “If we don’t address this, it will only get worse and people will start to burn out, leave organizations and have a lot more relationship problems.”