Forget 996. The work inbox never sleeps

According to a new survey, there’s a high chance that work email you just received may have been written from the bathroom, bed, or a funeral.

[Photo: Tobias/Adobe Stock]

The steady encroachment of email into all moments of life has been quiet but formidable. A quick glance during a first date. Surreptitiously tapping out a reply during a wedding ceremony. Some even admit to refreshing their inbox at a funeral.

Often it’s not the infinite scroll on social media that triggers the nervous phone-glancing. It’s the inbox. 

More than half of professionals check work email outside regular working hours, according to a recent study published by ZeroBounce, surveying 1,157 professionals in the United States and Europe last month. 

Nearly 3 in 4 professionals feel pressure to respond to emails off the clock, with that pressure intensifying among top earners. The creep of off-the-clock email is unsurprising given the average knowledge worker gets hit with 117 emails and 153 chat messages a day. And they check email on average 15 times daily. 

Roughly 80% of respondents admit to checking work email in at least one personal moment. If you receive a reply out of hours, there is a high likelihood it was typed out on the toilet. More than half of respondents, 53%, say they’ve checked their work email in the bathroom. Over a third report, 38%, checking email in bed next to their partner or 33% admit refreshing their inbox during important personal events.

Nearly one in five respondents, 18%, admit to checking work email at a funeral, while others have done so at a wedding or, worse, while driving. High earners are the worst culprits. 

Men are also more likely than women to be distracted by their inbox in public settings, for example while attending a funeral or during a romantic dinner. Women, on the other hand, are more likely to check their email in personal moments, including whilst lying next to a partner in bed or in the car driving. 

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