FabSwingers.com forum: Lidl bans work emails outside working hours

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"Lidl has banned staff from sending emails to each other after work in a move that has been praised by experts.

The retail giant has decided to ban all internal email traffic between 6pm in the evening and 7am the following day.

It says this will help staff 'clear their minds' and enjoy their time off.

Any internal emails which are sent after 6pm will be automatically put on hold and will now only be delivered into employees' inboxes the following day."

Do you think this is a good idea?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Great idea but some places are 24/7

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I can only access my emails at work, and it'll stay that way for as long as I can manage it

Great idea though

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By *anana JoeMan
over a year ago

Sheffield

They will just ring them up instead! Its a B/S public relations stunt nothing more they are well known for lying anyway.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It has both benefits and flaws. We live in a global world now with things happening that you may need to know about from colleagues in different time zones.

On the flip side. I’d love to not get emails outside of 9-5

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By *iamondsmiles.Woman
over a year ago

little house on the praire

Is that all emails. Including work collegues that are personal friends or just work related ones? If its work related shouldnt be sending them in the first place

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"Is that all emails. Including work collegues that are personal friends or just work related ones? If its work related shouldnt be sending them in the first place"

Work emails. Like people that go home then do work and send work emails at 9pm.

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"It has both benefits and flaws. We live in a global world now with things happening that you may need to know about from colleagues in different time zones.

On the flip side. I’d love to not get emails outside of 9-5"

Yeah good point about time zones.

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"I can only access my emails at work, and it'll stay that way for as long as I can manage it

Great idea though"

It's mad how many people at my work have work email on their phones. Sod that!!

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By *ittleAcornMan
over a year ago

visiting the beach

If its work related shouldnt be sending them in the first place

It really depends on your business and company.

I am reading and sending emails pretty much when ever I'm awake!

I was on a call to an Australian customer this morning at 06:00, and will be chatting to Product Management in an hours time.

The flip side, I had a 2 hour lunch walking along the beach (and get paid pretty well).

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By *horecruxCouple
over a year ago

SE4

Beat close down all he Lidl staff Facebook pages then

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Is that all emails. Including work collegues that are personal friends or just work related ones? If its work related shouldnt be sending them in the first place

Work emails. Like people that go home then do work and send work emails at 9pm. "

We have engineers at our place who have to send their emails after working hours and order their parts so it could be a bloody nightmare for our company.

Although I believe that a lot of unnecessary emails could be stopped.

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By *s_macWoman
over a year ago

Traffic land

Lidl isn’t a 7am-6pm operation though is it?

Just because an email is received, doesn’t mean it has to be read (outside of your working hours).

But then I’m the type of person that answers my phone if I feel like it, same for answering the door if I’m not expecting anyone.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

""Lidl has banned staff from sending emails to each other after work in a move that has been praised by experts.

The retail giant has decided to ban all internal email traffic between 6pm in the evening and 7am the following day.

It says this will help staff 'clear their minds' and enjoy their time off.

Any internal emails which are sent after 6pm will be automatically put on hold and will now only be delivered into employees' inboxes the following day."

Do you think this is a good idea? "

Yep! In my old work (a private nursery) we used to get emailed all the bloody time, no matter the hour. It was ridiculous!

And then at this job my senior would send me messages at about midnight saying ‘oh we’re having a meeting at 9am tomorrow morning’ erm nope hun I’m sleeping! Then she would moan that I ignored her. I get up at 6am for work, I’m not on Facebook at midnight!!!! My manager had to give her a warning for it cause she would phone people at all hours of the night to discuss work

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Is that all emails. Including work collegues that are personal friends or just work related ones? If its work related shouldnt be sending them in the first place

Work emails. Like people that go home then do work and send work emails at 9pm. "

It's quite heartening to think that Lidl employees love their work so much that they take it home with them.

I see that company in a whole new light.

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By *ittle_brat_evie!!Woman
over a year ago

evesham

It is a bit of a stint really though. All it says is they won't be delivered until the next day. so someone can sit up till 10pm merrily sending emails knowing they won't be sent till the next day but it hasn't stopped them working through the evening.

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By *ara JTV/TS
over a year ago

Bristol East

Always amazes me when you email someone, you get an out-of-office reply they are on annual leave, but will be checking email.

Sorry, if you are checking in to your work you are not on annual leave.

Well done to Lidl.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Germany companies encourage face to face interaction. With rules regarding emails, like if you feel the need to copy someone in, then you probably need to either phone the person or set up a meeting.

I never copy anyone into me emails and do not send them if I don't need to in the first place.

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By *abs..Woman
over a year ago

Yes I think it’s a good idea. If you’re a person that sets yourself a limit of what time you work until, it’s a bit frustrating when you open your emails in the morning to find that Rita, Sue and Bob too worked until midnight and consequently you have 60 emails just from them before you can even start your day.

*might have exaggerated slightly there ^

The most annoying emails: ‘I’m just emailing this now because I might forget when I see you’. Translation here is. ... I’m going to offload on you so I can switch off to it.

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By *ittle_brat_evie!!Woman
over a year ago

evesham

"Beat close down all he Lidl staff Facebook pages then

Why? Do they do work on Facebook too?

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By *ittle_brat_evie!!Woman
over a year ago

evesham

"I can only access my emails at work, and it'll stay that way for as long as I can manage it

Great idea though"

Me too and long may it continue!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It's a German initiative that has been going on at big companies there for years.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I can only access my emails at work, and it'll stay that way for as long as I can manage it

Great idea though

Me too and long may it continue! "

It's a great plan and all companies should do the same, doesn't stop out of hours engineers ordering parts, or globalised companies sending during their working hours. Just sends the corporate message that they can't expect staff to respond out of their working hours.

Well done Lidl, hope the idea gets picked up by many others.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I’d imagine that the vast majority of Lidl staff are shop workers. How many out of hours emails are they going to need to send?

As others have said, it stops them being delivered but doesn’t stop them being written so might save a bit of time but not a great deal

It also doesn’t work if you work with people cross continents.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I’d imagine that the vast majority of Lidl staff are shop workers. How many out of hours emails are they going to need to send?

As others have said, it stops them being delivered but doesn’t stop them being written so might save a bit of time but not a great deal

It also doesn’t work if you work with people cross continents."

Why doesn't it work cross continents? It only stops them being received outside the recipients working hours.

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By *hoenixAdAstraWoman
over a year ago

Hiding in the shadows

Sounds like a good idea as long as it comes with a disclaimer!

I've had too many emails sent to me late at night, about something the next morning.

I've woke up at my usual time got ready not checked mails as do that once at work, then discover when there I've not prepared for something somebody hasn't told me about til too late, or worse driven miles for a meeting that had been cancelled at 1am.

I hope the staff aren't penalised for not receiving mails & getting things wrong as a result.

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By *athnBobCouple
over a year ago

sandwell

I worked some where for 14 years and every 6 months had to fill in a contact form.

Mobile number: N/A

Home email: N/A

They moaned every time but still got nothing.

The boss once even tried ringing the emergency contact number (Caths mobile) at 10pm. She told him to do one and tell me in the morning. Never did it again.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

[Removed by poster at 04/09/18 10:54:15]

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I had a boss who would regularly call late at night. As I was a contractor I solved the problem with 2 extra paragraphs. First I put in a minimum conteact term of one week, then in a separate section I added that calls outside contracted hours were treated as a new contract.

Once I started billing a weeks pay per call, suddenly it wasnt necessary to call me after 6pm

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It's the right thing to do, restore some work life balance.

Well done Lidl

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It's a great idea, the working week is long enough.

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By *ce WingerMan
over a year ago

P.O. Box DE1 0NQ

[Removed by poster at 04/09/18 11:05:29]

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By *ce WingerMan
over a year ago

P.O. Box DE1 0NQ

I don't send e-mails, but I will do ALL of ma shopping at Aldi from now on

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I can only access my emails at work, and it'll stay that way for as long as I can manage it

Great idea though"

Same here. I'm quite glad I don't get bugged by work emails when I'm not at work, unlike a lot of management I know. Sounds like a good idea to me

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By *ce WingerMan
over a year ago

P.O. Box DE1 0NQ

"I can only access my emails at work, and it'll stay that way for as long as I can manage it

Great idea though

Same here. I'm quite glad I don't get bugged by work emails when I'm not at work, unlike a lot of management I know. Sounds like a good idea to me

How can you police what people do in their private lives though?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I can only access my emails at work, and it'll stay that way for as long as I can manage it

Great idea though

Same here. I'm quite glad I don't get bugged by work emails when I'm not at work, unlike a lot of management I know. Sounds like a good idea to me

How can you police what people do in their private lives though? "

There are some matters that can't wait for the management to be in office hours, that's why they get paid the big bucks

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By *ce WingerMan
over a year ago

P.O. Box DE1 0NQ

"I can only access my emails at work, and it'll stay that way for as long as I can manage it

Great idea though

Same here. I'm quite glad I don't get bugged by work emails when I'm not at work, unlike a lot of management I know. Sounds like a good idea to me

How can you police what people do in their private lives though?

There are some matters that can't wait for the management to be in office hours, that's why they get paid the big bucks

So if I gave you my e-mail address, who's to say that I haven't got another one?

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"I had a boss who would regularly call late at night. As I was a contractor I solved the problem with 2 extra paragraphs. First I put in a minimum conteact term of one week, then in a separate section I added that calls outside contracted hours were treated as a new contract.

Once I started billing a weeks pay per call, suddenly it wasnt necessary to call me after 6pm

Brilliant!

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"Sounds like a good idea as long as it comes with a disclaimer!

I've had too many emails sent to me late at night, about something the next morning.

I hope the staff aren't penalised for not receiving mails & getting things wrong as a result. "

It's shit. I've had people put meetings in for the exact time I start work but they only sent the info at 7pm the night before. Tough shit, I turn up to the meeting when I've got to that mail.

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By *tingly ByronMan
over a year ago

In a town Fab forgot

My old boss used to send emails at 11pm, then give people a bollocking for not reading them.

As a contractor I was hourly paid so I billed from when I hit the office at 8am until the time of his email.

The MD called me in to ask why I was billing them for 15 and 16 hour days, so I showed him my inbox and the bollocking emails.

No idea why but from that day forward I didn't get any more out of hours email.

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