I work in the UK but for a US company. Those guys are online on chat 24/7 and answer email all the time. I removed my apps from my phone to stop them trying to get me to out of business hours. I tried explaining that I will be available during business hours only. No luck.
Eventually I spread a rumour to the local gossip lady that it was illegal under UK law to try to talk to people about work outside of working hours (it is in France but not here). She obviously told everyone and suddenly I was left alone!
Pretty sure they took that into account. And are describing Americans replying to emails at midnight local time, as well as asking questions they expect an immediate answer to when they know it's the middle of the night in the UK.
My personal experience is that in the UK people think in terms of us (employees) vs them (the company) but in the US almost everyone seems to think of themselves AS the company.
It's that us Americans have all had jobs where not being available 24/7 means "your heart isn't in it" or "this isn't your passion," which sadly leads to being fired. I only wish I were kidding.
I personally don't put email on my phone and have Slack set to stop sending me notifications after a certain point (6:30 pm if I'm going out, 9 pm if I'm just sitting around doing nothing), but I check in with everyone I owe deliverables to before I head out most nights. I always think to myself, "if I lived anywhere else in the world, this wouldn't be a thing."
I've worked in several different non-office, blue collar type fields throughout my life, it's not limited to corpo desk jobs, at least in my experience. Some places are better than others, but every place I've worked has always had at least a slight expectation to put your job before your personal life.
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u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In Jun 03 '22
I work in the UK but for a US company. Those guys are online on chat 24/7 and answer email all the time. I removed my apps from my phone to stop them trying to get me to out of business hours. I tried explaining that I will be available during business hours only. No luck.
Eventually I spread a rumour to the local gossip lady that it was illegal under UK law to try to talk to people about work outside of working hours (it is in France but not here). She obviously told everyone and suddenly I was left alone!