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Depends on culture. At my job, i schedule emails to go out first thing in the morning. But I’m in house and we’re encouraged to stick to regular business hours. I emailed the CEO at 9pm recently and my boss sent me an email right away telling me to keep it to business hours to avoid setting any expectations of late work. It was the same at my last in house role. It’s a courtesy to not send after hours emails.
Pro
This is actually a problem for some like because I get most of my creative energy and clear headedness after the sun goes down and I almost always get a second wind around 10pm. Working efficiently between 9 to 5 is often a real struggle.
When I was junior, I was applauded for working late but as I progressed to partnership and beyond, it can create a perception of being too busy or expecting responses from others at that hour as mentioned. Really I just want the work to be in their inboxes when they get started in the morning and then they have time to review/react/respond and I can hit the ground running when I get started a little later.
Delayed send not being reliable is truly disappointing if you are a night owl.
Delayed delivery is always an option
Delayed delivery is the worst. It will likely get stuck in your outbox
I do this often. For client facing stuff, I love to schedule send for 8am—not to avoid annoying anyone with a late night delivery, but to set an expectation for appropriate working hours during which I’ll be available. I don’t want people to learn that my late nights are up for grabs when they feel something is urgent. Keeps some control over my availability; if I ever do work late, then it’s because I decided to, and not because someone unreasonably expected it based on previous correspondence patterns
I have a toddler so I work late often, including sending emails. It’s no big deal.
I send emails around the clock. If I'm done at 2am, it's going out at 2am.
I send late night emails frequently to my own team/other people at my firm. However, for clients, I try to schedule send early the next morning or line it up in my drafts for me to hit send on unless it’s urgent or expected that night.
If I’m working late, I want my attorneys to know!
What’s worse is not getting your assignment in. Send that email when you are finished.
Send when it’s ready. Never bad to send late. Issues arise when they are sent too early / not checked. Do it right and send on your schedule
Pro
Exactly C1- you’ve heard it a lot. I think it is bs, too, but for many law firm partners, esp Biglaw, it is a VERY BIG DEAL.
Too many partners are so palpably paranoid about losing clients that they over emphasize optics vs the actual work. Sad but true and it’s systemic.
I don’t think most clients actually care, but the optics are something that persists for many partners unfortunately.
When I was an associate, I worked with a partner who was adamantly against sending late night emails to clients. I’ve had issues with delayed send so, if I finished something for her clients at midnight, I just put a reminder to send the email on my calendar for 8 am next day.
Just employ scheduled send for 8 a.m. the next business day. Don't do the weird flex of emailing at midnight.
It’s not a flex at some places.
Send it at 8 am
When I send emails outside of business hours, sometimes I’ll say something like “apologies for the weekend disruption” or “apologies for the late night email.”
But, it totally depends on the recipient.
No. As soon as you finish whatever, send it away. Just make sure you have proofed it for any errors/typos.
I like to clean my computer before I log off. Any worked I have not done, a folder is created for it and all work is put in that folder; emails and work.
I dont think it's bad. If anyone else is like myself, I dont even get notifications from my firm email until I check it manually. So it should "disturb their evening" .. But if it makes you feel weird, one thing I do is schedule send. Im not sure about other systems but with gmail, this feature is available and you can pick a day and time for your message to be sent. It helps me out alot because I like to give updates during times ik my superior is at his desk but its usually during times im not at mine and I don't want them to be overlooked lol
I'd say it depends on the content of the email, if it's an urgent matter or not, and who the recipient (s) is/are. I tend to work late, probably too much, and have a habit of sending emails late night, not because I expect a reply, but as you stated, so that I dont forget the next day. I found it helpful to indicate what my expectation is in the subject line. This way colleagues who might check their emails after hours know if a response is needed immediately, requested first thing in the morning or just an FYI (no imposed deadline for a response). If you've been with a company for sometime, safe to say your colleagues/superiors know you well enough to know you are not 'crazy' and expect others to share your enthusiasm about late night working; it's just how you work. In other words, dont spend too much time overthinking, just go with your gut, reaasure the recipient of the email what your expectation is, and go about your day.
I routinely send emails at all hours of the night (I’m a night owl and work better between 12-3 am). Idc what anyone thinks about the timing of my emails. They can read it whenever they so choose so whatever
Schedule send for first thing the next morning at 8:12am. 👍
I used to send at all hours but many of my bosses started to admonish me. The only issue I have with delay send is you have to be logged on for it to work as far as I know. So the computer has to be on in order to send that next day at 8am or whenever. That has bit me in the butt sometimes too.