• by Jess Nelson , May 15, 2017

A majority of Americans do not consider email outside of working hours to be burdensome, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Almost 60% of Americans check their email outside of working hours, according to a poll of 812 working adults -- but 91% of those who do think that the amount is reasonable.

Furthermore, the majority of email users who use email after hours say it does not impact their well-being or family life. Only 15% of respondents said email after-hours negatively influenced their well-being, while 12% of respondents thought checking email outside of normal hours affected their family relationships.

Gallup’s poll surveyed 812 working adults, employed either full-time or part-time. It would be interesting to see the same study conducted for full-time employees in industries with a heavy volume of email communication. Twenty-one percent of respondents said it was extremely important to check their email outside of normal hours in order to advance in their company, a demographic that likely finds email much more stressful.

Email inbox overload is a real concern, and email marketers need to grapple with sending promotional material through a channel that can cause negative mental health effects. A 2015 study by the London-based Future Work Centre advised consumers to turn off their phone’s automatic email notifications to reduce anxiety.

France recently passed a labor reform bill that limits email after work hours in French companies with 50 or more employees. Six out of ten Americans would favor similar legislation in the United States, according to Gallup, but workers who already use email after-hours were less likely to favor a law restricting digital communication outside of working hours.