Does any one have a way to manage work hours. I start getting messages around 3 am from international coworkers or clients. Phone calls start around 6-8 am. And then I'm usually okay if it's after 9pm. I rarely respond before 6am but I need to find a way to manage this a bit.

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Any international practice will be getting emails 24 hours a day. We do a lot of work with Japanese, Chinese, and European clients (local counsel), and they email us during their normal work ours. We never expect a response outside of their working hours, and they never expect a response outside of ours.

I usually get to work around 8 and just work through the overnight emails. Our admins will confirm receipt when they get in, if anything is outstanding. If we need to jump on a call, we'll schedule it in advance, or I'll call back when I get in.

In almost 10 years of practice, I have never had a single complaint from a client or local counsel for not returning an international call outside of working hours. You just need to set your own boundaries and stick to them.

likehelpful

Yup, this. I once was up late working on an emergency motion (in Toronto) and answered an email to a Chinese client shortly after I finished. She replied that she was worried I was staying up late to deal with her firm’s work and told me sleep is more important!

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This is really quite simple.

I do not check email from 10pm to 6am. I glance at email at 6am and quickly respond to anything that would be malpractice not to respond to—rare. I log onto work at around 8:30am of 9am and log off at 6pm. If necessary—not rare—I log back on between 8pm and 10pm.

I do not accept calendar invites for domestic matters except during my working frames absent extraordinary circumstances. Cross-border is more negotiable, but that doesn’t mean I automatically agree to some Londoner’s opening bid of 6am NY.
I reject unexpected phone calls outside of my working frames if I happen to notice them (my cellphone is always set to silent) and attended to when I become free.

Believe it or not, nobody has died of waiting until 8:30am NY for an email response or from not chatting about whatever-took-ten-business-hours-to-pop-into-their-head-that-day during family dinner. I solve problems, I close deals, I write good briefs, it all works out.

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The last sentence here is the key. It is what I tell me myself every time I get it in my head that I’m not doing enough.

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Do not disturb function on your phone. I have mine set for midnight to usually 7:30am or so. I added some exceptions. If I'm awake anyway and see it, I'll usually respond. Leave it off if you're working on something that may actually require immediate responses. If it's unexpectedly urgent, they'll call. If they aren't willing to call you at 3am, they shouldn't expect an email response at 3am.

likesmart

Set your boundaries and keep them. I worked at a company that was headquartered overseas for years. I got emails 24 hours a day, and it is hard to turn off when you know you could be working any time of day or night. My advice is don't answer when they call that early. Tell them your work hours begin at 8:30 or 9 or whatever it is, and stick to it, unless there's an agreed to meeting that must be early for some reason. Same with the evening hours.

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I keep my work and personal lines separate. Work line has some routing features so I send everything to voicemail after-hours with a custom message telling them the hours I keep and that I’ll review messages during hours. This is the only line they get. I also have a direct line I give for after hours but advise them if it’s very late or very early I will not pick up and they’ll need to leave a voicemail.

Personal line I offer for extremely urgent matters (ie, situations like a client on hospice with unresolved matters and their direct caretaker) and only for special situations related to why I give them my personal number. I make it very crystal clear to those with my personal number when and why to use it, and even then, I use Do Not Disturb features to ensure sleep time is sleep time and let them know that.

If I could figure out a system, you can figure out a system.

likesmart

If you are awake, respond.
You can sleep any time, good clients are much harder to come by.

funny

Yes agree, different practice areas dictate different client needs. You clearly have developed a good book of business and the clients know you are there for them 24/7. Hope you do take time off to recharge, read a book, or what ever is your getaway.

I get emails throughout the night as I work with UK, India and China, but recently my UK colleagues have started calling my home line unreasonably early (5:30 am). They know I’m in NY and still do it. I’ve been pushing back, but just want to say I feel your pain.

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COVID means odd working hours. Mute your phone and tell them that you won’t be answering until at least ___. If you have an excuse like a pet or child or SO who is a light sleeper, you can always use that.

A good rule of thumb, unless it’s explicitly noted otherwise, is that during normal working hours, an email acknowledging receipt of message should be made (although a substantive response shouldn’t be expected) within an hour. That way you can manage expectations (i.e. I’ll get back to you [at certain time period] and will follow up with questions). Block out the first hour of your day for late-night/early morning emails.

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Really? I guess you could set an out of office for that situation.

Is there a certain timeframe when you're expected to get back to them by? Maybe let them know you'll be responding after a certain time because you're in x timezone.

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Quit and find a new job?

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I set alarms. It’s rudimentary, but works for me. I set one for waking up, starting work, a few short breaks (I don’t do the typical lunch hour), and scheduled email checking. It sounds like a lot, but I’ve found it makes me more productive.

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Clearly, you need to establish boundaries. Personally, I think the best way to manage is to discuss the issue with the people to whom you report. If they are unreasonable, it is time to assess your priorities: high compensation from a firm that expects you regularly to be available 18+ hours a day versus more reasonable compensation from a firm that seeks to position employees to be productive professionally and to have happy, balanced lives. Ultimately, the choice is yours.

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I turn off push notifications. It helps a lot. I can look when I need to but don't see it all the time.

Also I will sometimes go "off grid" for a vacation day by having an auto reply with out of office explanation but my phone number on it. I've only ever gotten one call from those and it really was an "emergency" issue.

You'd be surprised how willing people are to wait to speak with you if their only alternative is actually talking on the phone! It puts the onus on them to decide how badly they need a response. It might not work with everyone but my contacts hate the phone.

smart

Bear in mind that different practices (and clients, partners you work with, etc.) may have their own expectations, too. I have practiced in cities in multiple time zones and have a busy practice in an area in which responses are expected very quickly almost all the time. When I have worked on the west coast, I have had clients / deals on the east coast with no problem emailing me at 4am my time and wanting me to “hop on a call” at 5am my time (8am ET), even as I was up until 2am getting out docs for a west coast or Asia-based client who was sending me things at 9pm local time and wanting a turn (which would take a couple hours) that same night. I have been on the east coast and have had west coast clients and internal attorneys who, similarly, would keep emailing me and wanting responses until 3 or 4am local time, with the east coast people then showing up a few hours later and wanting responses. That kind of thing is the norm, honestly. Then there are some others with largely local practices who just don’t have to deal with any of that and who do things like people are describing here. Something like an autoresponder just wouldn’t work in most situations.

What I do isn’t recommended and is pretty extreme, but my point stands: what works for a local, regional, or even national practice (not a firm, but a practice or client) may not apply to you, and the crazy things I have had to do hopefully doesn’t apply but, subject to us trying to improve the lifestyle, might. Know what you are doing and who you are dealing with, as always, when taking advice here, even if much of it is good and worth considering across a variety of circumstances.

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Spot on comment!

That's a long day, I hope you are well compensated.

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That is a tough one as international work requires some time zone management. I notes 7 am dc.nyc was good for many. Perhaps strive to have Windows of time to communicate? Build healthy boundaries like that, which can help.

Why not hire an answering service? And/or have staff assigned to handle global cases in International timezones on those schedules while you work your preferred schedule?

A few associates in my group have made it a point that unless they are expected to stay up for something, past 1030, they will basically be “asleep” for purposes of work emails and won’t pick them back up until the morning (exception to any emergency). This practice has started passing around with the associates who now have an unspoken rule in our group that respects this policy. There’s strength in numbers. Check with your colleagues to try and address this.

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