School Expects Emails during Business Hours Only

cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 10:06
Last edited 03/02/2025 - 14:57 by 1 other user

This one is quite baffling to me - our daughter's high school just sent an email to all parents and students, basically instructing everyone that emails should only be sent to staff members during work hours (8.20-4.20pm Monday to Friday). At first, I thought they meant that staff are only expected to respond to emails during work hours which is a fair and reasonable request. But no, they literally say "if you email a staff member, please ensure you schedule send it, so they receive it during work hours."

I remember last year when my daughter sent an email request for assistance to her maths teacher over the weekend, she was received a stern reply in the email to the same effect as above. That time I gave the teacher the benefit of the doubt (maybe she was having a bad weekend or whatever) but it looks like this is their policy.

I am all for work life balance, nor do I expect teachers or staff to be working outside of hours. But working in corporate where people work in different time zones, or basically fire off emails from their phones at all hours, or those night owls that squeeze in an hour of work at night so they can leave an hour early for school pickups etc. - the usual expectation is that email is an "offline" medium and the recipients are free to respond during their usual working hours. It would be ludicrous to inform my customers and suppliers to please schedule emails so I receive them during MY working hours.

Anyway, just wanted everyone's thoughts… has the world gone mad?

Edit: has anyone seen this kind of policy in other schools or unis?

I've pasted the communication below.

Communication guidelines for parents
Dear Parents/Guardians,

We value open communication between our staff and families within our School community.

The demands on schools are ever increasing and it can be difficult at times to put in place work boundaries. We have developed communication guidelines for our school community in an attempt to find ways to support staff wellbeing and sustainable work practices. We are seeking your support with the following guidelines:

If you email a staff member, please ensure you schedule send it, so they receive it during work hours (8:20 - 4:20 pm Monday - Friday). Staff may choose to respond to your emails outside of their work hours, but you should not expect them to do so.
A response within 2 working days (if a staff member is not absent) is the expected time frame. Staff members will activate an ‘Out of Office’ message if they are absent from work, so that you are aware their response may be delayed and it will direct you to where you can seek assistance for urgent matters.

We have also communicated this to students.
A copy of these guidelines will be on the parent portal for future reference.
Thank you for your assistance with this.
Kind Regards,
xxx xxxxx
Acting Principal.

Poll Options

  • 279
    Emails should be able to be sent/received any time
  • 8
    Emails should only be sent during working hours
  • 2
    I have misunderstood/misinterpreted the guidelines
  • 3
    Yawn, where's the bargain?
Education & Work

Comments

  • Duckie2hh on 03/02/2025 - 10:09
    +21

    I support the fact that you shouldn't expect to work/respond to emails outside of working hours, but sending emails are completely different.

    Perhaps you should send an email reminding them the world works in more time zones than wherever the school is situated in.

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 10:21
      +6

      Haha I will make sure to send them one at 4.30 pm (woooooo)

      • boomramada on 03/02/2025 - 10:31

        It's time to change schools as schools don't know how the Internet/emails works!

        BTW, why do they still use emails? I thought they are using apps now?

      • RealUltimatePapo on 03/02/2025 - 18:30
        +3

        Make it 4:30am

        Show them who has the power here

    • DashCam AKA Rolts on 03/02/2025 - 12:55

      Perhaps you should send an email reminding them the world works in more time zones than wherever the school is situated in.

      The majority of students are attending a school in the same time zone as their parents/care-givers are residing/working in.

  • Danstar on 03/02/2025 - 10:14
    +2

    Yes, the world has gone mad.

  • jv on 03/02/2025 - 10:15
    +28

    Principal doesn't understand how emails work.

    • Pussqunt on 03/02/2025 - 19:01
      +1

      Na, probs mandated teaches have email on their personal phone.

      Doubt the principal understands muting and is dictating this instead.

    • jv on 03/02/2025 - 10:18
      +8

      Yes, depending on your email client.

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 10:35
      +9

      Probably not, but I would hate for my kids to develop a skewed sense of how communication or emails work in the real world, or have a fear of reaching out for assistance.

      Side note: tried looking for the send later option on my mail client but I think my mac/mail client is too old and doesn't have that feature. (Older mac running Monterey)

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 03/02/2025 - 10:41
      +2

      I wouldn’t even know without digging around Gmail app… I’m not even sure it can? Weirdly even Instagram these days comes with a reminder it’s late, do you want to schedule message? To which I of course ignore and I must send my bestie random reels at 3am.

      • askbargain on 03/02/2025 - 11:19
        +2

        I would assume it’s next to the send button? Usually a drop down or right click

        • Jimothy Wongingtons on 03/02/2025 - 11:23
          +1

          Lmao it was under the three dot button… which honestly I musta been tunnel visioning the whole time. Never noticed it before. Cheers brah

    • CommuterPolluter on 03/02/2025 - 20:45

      Desktop clients can only schedule send which they’re turned on, so yea.

      • Daabido on 03/02/2025 - 22:22

        It actually depends on what's happening on the back end, so sometimes you are right.

  • jv on 03/02/2025 - 10:17

    I remember last year when my daughter sent an email request for assistance to her maths teacher over the weekend, she was received a stern reply in the email

    Is this a government school?

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 10:19
      +2

      Yes… girls high school, 1200 students, so pretty sizeable.

  • CaptainJack on 03/02/2025 - 10:18
    +2

    Yeah that seems an odd policy, but it also wouldn't bother me to use schedule send - it doesn't take much effort.

  • CheapandUsed on 03/02/2025 - 10:18
    +6

    I am sure almost every corporate has a variation of this for their email signatures (or a default assumption).
    "I work flexibly. Unless it suits you, I don't expect you to read or respond to my email outside of your normal work hours."

    I would suspect there is a problem at this school they are trying to force a work-around for.. like forcing teachers to use their personal phones/devices for work reasons.

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 10:26
      +3

      I agree with this - I see those signatures all the time, something along the lines of "my working days/hours are X, Y Z". But not "please don't email me outside of "X, Y, Z".

      Probably trying to implement a policy of good work life balance but in a misguided way.

      • fantombloo on 03/02/2025 - 10:36
        +3

        They probably want to eliminate annoying notifications for those that are not savvy enough to do that themselves on their devices.

        Also, some people can't help themselves, might look at their phone later at night and see an issue, then have a restless night thinking about tomorrow's problem.

        • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 10:40

          Thank you… no issue with their intent, just with their implementation.

        • airzone on 03/02/2025 - 18:08

          I have quiet hours defined on my workplaces email policy configuration. Basically business hours -/+ 2 hours. A user needs to intentionally override the quiet hours configuration on a day by day basis.

  • coffeeinmyveins on 03/02/2025 - 10:26
    +12

    she was received a stern reply in the email to the same effect as above.

    a reply that should have just been met with "I had no assumption that you would reply over the weekend. Your inability to manage notifications on your phone are not my problem"

    It sounds like they're trying to prevent teachers from being "pinged" outside of office hours when the solution is simple. They need to teach them how to manage notifications.

    It's a bit silly really.

    Staff may choose to respond to your emails outside of their work hours, but you should not expect them to do so.

    And you should be able to send them an email, but not expect a reply. This reeks of them not knowing basic computer usage.

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 10:38

      Good suggestions, thank you.

    • CaptainJack on 03/02/2025 - 10:59
      +1

      The last part is the funny bit. Shouldn't the teachers also be forced to use schedule send when contacting parents outside of working hours.

      • Benoffie on 03/02/2025 - 11:57

        There doesn't seem to be any acknowledgement that teachers contacting parents outside of work hours means their own time or unpaid overtime 🤔

  • Dollar General on 03/02/2025 - 10:31
    -8

    Just schedule it for work hours and move on

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 10:44
      +1

      Where's the option to schedule my ozbargain email notifications to arrive during my work hours only??? /s

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 03/02/2025 - 10:44
    +2

    Maybe stops the feedback loop of

    A sends email at 3am

    B sees at 330 when they got up to pee, and goes bro… I will reply you in work hours

    A at 8:59am: WHERE IS MY REPLY DID YOU NOT SEE???? I WILL TAKE THIS TO THE SCHOOL BOARD AND OR ALL THE WAY TO THE PRIME MINISTER!!!

    • Benoffie on 03/02/2025 - 11:55
      +2

      Unfortunately this happens a lot.

      Even if someone emails during the day, the expectation of reply is either instant or within hours.

      It then just escalates, and teachers are then forced to waste time on more emails or calls.

      99% of enquiries are either resolvable by front office or through appropriate parent teacher interview procedures.

  • mapax on 03/02/2025 - 10:50
    -1

    I’d guess one of, if not a number of the teachers can’t figure out how to set Focus, or the android equivalent, on their phone.

  • Downvoter on 03/02/2025 - 10:57

    Send whenever you want. But zero expectations of a reply outside of business hours.

  • CodeXD on 03/02/2025 - 11:00
    +8

    I expected better from macrob honestly

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 11:04
      +1

      Haha, good sleuthing!

    • Look Up on 03/02/2025 - 18:15

      Would be funny if it wasn't so serious

      https://sites.google.com/macrob.vic.edu.au/family-portal/ict…

      Have these 2 fine gentlemen been approached re: the obvious technical solutions to address this issue?

      Creating the script(s) in Google Apps and/or Exchange Admin to handle this is not rocket science

  • pegaxs on 03/02/2025 - 11:09
    +4

    Lol… School needs to grow up. It's a school, not a underground nuclear bomb making facility on high alert…

    I would send my email whenever I want. Everyone has a legal right to "disconnect" from work, so, if I send it at 12:03am, I am not expecting an answer then, and they can open the email at their leisure when they get to work at 8:20am.

    What they should have said is; "Emails will only be OPENED and read during the hours of 8:20am to 4:20pm Any correspondence outside these times will not be opened until the next available allotted times."

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 03/02/2025 - 12:21
      +4

      That’s how it does work.. in most places with normal people - but some parents I’ve found even though my kid has only just started prep for a week are absolutely freaking fruit loops and entitled mf’s.

      • pegaxs on 03/02/2025 - 15:26
        +3

        They have to realise that, even with these nut jobs out there, that opening an email is on the onus of the receiver. If you don't want to deal with emails until 8:20am… don't (fropanity) open them at 11:48pm the night before.

        Same with phone calls… you dont tell people "only call be between X and Y" and then leave your phone switched on… you just say "I am ONLY available between X and Y, outside those times, you will have to leave a message" and turn your phone off/silent.

        This policy just stink of some Office Jan having a Karen moment with the amount of emails she has when she arrives at 8:19am to start work and doesnt want to sit down every morning to 79 emails sent from 4:20pm till 8:20am…

        • Jimothy Wongingtons on 03/02/2025 - 15:41

          I like to self sabotage myself in all aspects of life I always say to myself I will not open that bloody email between 430pm and 7:55am -But then that notification at 330am will just be burning into my soul as I swap between ozbargain web page, instagram, and reddit.

          ‘Urgent, issue!! Open asap’’ or something else equally stupid in subject line…

          Do I want to worry now with full detail, or worry about worrying tomorrow at 7:55am hmmm

          • pegaxs on 03/02/2025 - 16:32
            +2

            @Jimothy Wongingtons: Oh, you see, I'm the opposite, I derive pleasure from ignoring emails, SMS/messages and phone calls, more so if I know it has come from work.

            People will often post the question; "What is better than sex?" and I will invariably always reply with "ignoring work attempts at communications outside of the hours I am paid for." Nothing makes me moan harder than my boss asking me "why didn't you pick up on Saturday when I called??" and I just say "Oh, sorry, I was out."… It's like edging for me… the longer I leave something unattended out of work time, the better it gets.

            I have two phones here. Work related phone and a personal phone. Personal phone is on all the time and this number is only available to friends and family. My work related phone (the number I give out to employers) it turned on when I leave the house in the morning and turned off when I walk out the door in the afternoon.

            That being said, my boss is pretty good like that though and the place would literally have to be burning down before they would even attempt to call me.

    • Daabido on 03/02/2025 - 22:31

      It's a school, not a underground nuclear bomb making facility on high alert…

      It feels like it sometimes, but it is a very silly policy. I have two distinct logins - one for work and one for not work. And I know how to use focus to block email from bothering me. My DP can call me and it will get through, but it would have to be something pretty serious for that to happen. Any normal school has a within two days, not out of hours email policy, and backs the teacher up.

  • Ughhh on 03/02/2025 - 11:24
    +4

    The pro of emails is that it can be sent and opened at any time after, unlike phone calls. Since when is it expected to be responded immediately, particular during out of hours

    • coffeeinmyveins on 03/02/2025 - 11:26

      The con of people that don't know how to use technology is that they'll get the email notification on their mobile phone and feel compelled to reply.

      • djsweet on 03/02/2025 - 11:44
        +1

        That’s their problem though, not the responsibility of the sender.

  • SBOB on 03/02/2025 - 11:30
    +1

    Ridiculous 'rule'
    Email, as a protocol, does not guaranteed time-based delivery
    You could send it during business hours with no guarantee that some relay issue doesn't see it arrive in their inbox till after business hours anyway.

  • mboy on 03/02/2025 - 11:34
    +1

    It's a clunky solution. Emails are like traditional mail in that messages sit in your mailbox until they're retrieved. It seems stupid imo to put the onus on the sender about when to send it, rather than on the recipient about when to retrieve it.

    • If they've got their work email setup on their personal devices, then a) they shouldn't, or b) they should just turn off notifications.
    • And if they're using their work laptops for personal use during the weekend, then they should close their mail client at the end of the week and re-open it on Monday. Very simple.
    • freefall101 on 03/02/2025 - 17:41

      This, I had a problem of always answering emails (I kept telling myself I was getting ahead on tomorrow's work), so I only get notifications during certain hours, problem solved.

      Microsoft has admin settings to set policies on "quiet time" through Intune, they could just fix it that way.

  • shaybisc on 03/02/2025 - 11:38
    -2

    Or, emails should not be sent to teachers.

    • DiscountForThee on 03/02/2025 - 19:16

      Yeah, we should just take the day off work in order to talk to them in person

      • Mechz on 03/02/2025 - 19:33
        -1

        Make a phone call.

      • BobLim on 03/02/2025 - 20:58
        -1

        Ask the office to schedule a 5-10 minute phone call

  • djsweet on 03/02/2025 - 11:43

    lol schools must be the only business with the balls to tell their customers only to email them during business hours.

  • shaybisc on 03/02/2025 - 11:45
    -5

    What possible reason is there to email a teacher?

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 12:45
      +4

      Not sure if that is a serious question or not but some examples:
      * clarification of a question on an assessment task
      * clarification or missing information on slides provided by teacher
      * request for extension for work

      High school students work on homework and assessment tasks outside of school hours and it’s only natural that if they encounter any unknowns, they should be able to reach out for help when it’s fresh in their minds, instead of waiting until the next period that they can see their teacher in class, which could be a few days away.

    • Nillionaire on 03/02/2025 - 15:55
      -1

      Yikes, which generation are you from?

      • Poor Ass on 03/02/2025 - 18:15
        +1

        boomer

      • shaybisc on 03/02/2025 - 19:14

        The use your own initiative generation.

  • Benoffie on 03/02/2025 - 11:48
    +5

    These rules have to be set hard and fast because of the following reasons:

    • parents email 24/7 when a brain fart occurs to them
    • teachers have their department email on their phones (something I dont agree with but try arguing that with relevant Principals and state education authorities)
    • large portions of emails are abusive
    • answering emails off premises means they cannot be copied into the LMS for FoI and reference by other staff (emails are still FoI)
    • teachers tend to reply hastily when at home and without appropriate supports, leading to escalated contacts
    • new laws (not just right to disconnect but changes in EBAs and assault laws making teachers a protected class) means limiting contact with external stakeholders

    Within 12 months, youll see nothing but out of office replies outside of those times.

    If you want to communicate with a staff member, do it appropriately via the LMS. This way, the record of communication is permanent and can be seen by everyone. Email really is staff to staff and schools need to stop giving it out. I am aware in SA, that policy has started to roll out this year - no more email, no more phone numbers. Call the school or LMS only

    • djsweet on 03/02/2025 - 12:39
      +4

      What century are schools operating in where emails need to be manually copied into the LMS. Jeepers.

      • Benoffie on 03/02/2025 - 15:49

        Hence why you dont email teachers - send via LMS

        Welcome to state government systems. Everything in triplicate, manually.

        • johndoh89 on 03/02/2025 - 18:39

          Hey a bunch of them do it automatically, but somehow copy the wrong information so you have to fix it manually when you find out.

    • pegaxs on 03/02/2025 - 15:13
      +4

      parents email 24/7 when a brain fart occurs to them

      That's fine… It's mail, not a phone call. You open it on work time and not out of hours. They can send it whenever they like, it's up to the receiver when they want to open it.

      teachers have their department email on their phones (something I dont agree with but try arguing that with relevant Principals and state education authorities)

      Teachers are not exempt from the "right to disconnect" legislation. They are entitled to disconnect as much as anyone else is. They are under no obligation to receive, look at, respond to or answer any communications outside of work hours.

      large portions of emails are abusive

      Then dont reply, or set filters that send abusive messages to the bin and alert the sender that the message has been discarded as being offensive/abusive. Let parents and guardians know that if they are abusive in any email correspondence, that their ability to have emails received will be blocked.

      answering emails off premises means they cannot be copied into the LMS for FoI and reference by other staff (emails are still FoI)

      Simple… Dont answer them. Dont read them. Dont open them, until such time as it is an appropriate time to do so. They are emails. They will wait.

      teachers tend to reply hastily when at home and without appropriate supports, leading to escalated contacts

      Then the rules should state that teachers ONLY reply within school operating hours, not that people should not send emails outside these times, just that staff will not be available outside certain hours.

      new laws (not just right to disconnect but changes in EBAs and assault laws making teachers a protected class) means limiting contact with external stakeholders

      Ok, so it makes it even easier to apply a block on opening emails outside certain times…

      The onus should NOT be on the parents/guardians of children at this school on when to send emails, but on the staff to put in place protocols that deal with when and by whom these emails are opened by.

      This is just laziness on behalf of whatever school this is coming out of. They are putting the onus on outside forces instead of making internal protocol and policies and educating their own staff.

      Within 12 months, youll see nothing but out of office replies outside of those times.

      Good. This is the way it should be now…. "Sorry, you have contacted the school out of hours. We are unable to action your email at this time and will endeavour to get to your correspondence when we reopen. Thank you, School Name."

      • Benoffie on 03/02/2025 - 15:52

        Yeah I dont disagree. I think it's a poor roll out expecting parents and caregivers, who struggle with boundaries and communication anyway, to adhere to such terms. It should be an IT thing backed up by HR.

        But this is what happens when top down policy occurs and they leave it to schools to implement.

        Instead, it should all be managed centrally by the state

  • soan papdi on 03/02/2025 - 12:07
    +4

    School can simply set up an auto reply that says when replies can be expected (within 2 business days, only during school hours, etc). Not that hard. They're being silly.

    the usual expectation is that email is an "offline" medium

    IMO the better word here is asynchronous, not offline.

  • brad1-8tsi on 03/02/2025 - 12:09
    -5

    Public School? Fair enough.

    I think it's really rude to contact the teacher outside the normal m-f work hours

    • DiscountForThee on 03/02/2025 - 19:01
      +1

      Why would it be rude to send an email? Can you explain how this would impact any teachers?

  • shaybisc on 03/02/2025 - 12:20
    -3

    What kind of a maths problem requires weekend teacher involvement when ChatGPT will answer everything from arithmetic to algebraic geometry and calculus?

  • vorsprung on 03/02/2025 - 12:48
    +6

    I'm assuming the problem is: Outlook is on personal devices, causing notifications after hours that teachers can't (won't) ignore.

    If they also receive departmental emails on that address and the school wants them to read and process them after hours, perhaps they should have two email addresses and not add the parents/students mailbox on their personal device. Rather they check this one during the day at the school.

    School is going about solving the issue backwards IMO.

    Good luck getting thousands of parents and students to abide by your silly rules. Every year cycle in a few extra hundred fresh parents and students.

  • tsunamisurfer on 03/02/2025 - 12:50
    +1

    Next they will be expecting all mail correspondence to be done using 80gsm paper and without using whiteout on the typewriter.

  • life is suffering on 03/02/2025 - 13:01

    Sound like they need a lesson on mail client tags and organisation . Must be missing emails

  • Bruceflix on 03/02/2025 - 14:25
    +1

    I'll send an email whenever I please. I don't expect it to be read or responded to outside of school hours though. What a crazy school.

  • Subere on 03/02/2025 - 15:34

    "sustainable work practices" lol
    So inform your teachers to not have their work email on their phones and only check emails on their work laptop during work hours.
    The onus is on them. Early have nfi how technology works and how to balance their own schedules.

  • Davo1111 on 03/02/2025 - 16:03
    +1

    Just ignore it. But don't expect a reply until the NBD

  • interlocal on 03/02/2025 - 16:22
    +2

    If they do not want emails to be delivered to teachers' mailboxes outside of working hours, they need to contact their IT department and raise a change request or whatever to create such a rule on their mail delivery system.

    If I don't want to get deliveries when my baby sleeps, I just put a note on the door to not knock and leave things on the porch, instead of telling every person in Australia not to knock on my door during that hour.

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 17:47

      Haha good analogy!

  • ripesashimi on 03/02/2025 - 17:03

    They are outsourcing their IT work to you. They can definitely set up their system for emails to arrive during work hours. Or better, prevent their staff from accessing emails outside work hours.

    Dont do it unless paid.

  • sam-1966 on 03/02/2025 - 17:18
    +1

    When my sister was on classroom (state primary school), she actively encouraged parents to email at any time - particularly if they were up in the wee hours with a vomitous child - she said it was better that they emailed then that have to wake up (on the off chance that they got back to sleep) to email to say the child would be absent.

    She also said she never wanted to teach in the private system as some INSIST that teachers be contactable by phone until 10.00 pm each day to speak to students if they need assistance as well as work each Saturday with school sport.

  • Freitag on 03/02/2025 - 17:30

    Pretty stupid, but you can use the send later function and have it sent at 9:20am the next day.

  • LVlahov on 03/02/2025 - 17:47

    School teachers and administrators are full of self-importance with regard to their roles and have outsized expectations of what they can actually require of parents and students.

    If they kept in mind how to talk to other adults who they have zero seniority over, rather than treating every communication like that with a child, they'd do so much better.

    We push back on all of it.

  • onceupon8 on 03/02/2025 - 18:03

    My suggestion: try and send a link to this thread to many higher ups at your school including the IT staff. You may want to use an anonymous email address to send it from. Hopefully the smarter staff can get the dumber staff (acting principal) to understand how emails work.

    • vorsprung on 03/02/2025 - 18:17
      +1

      We don’t know what time their mailboxes are ready for inbound emails though.

  • madseason on 03/02/2025 - 18:13

    You should really respect the sanctity of 4:20, they are a progressive school

    • cuteseal on 03/02/2025 - 18:55
      -1

      The did have a “Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony” on their first day back, so you might be on to something…

  • gromit on 03/02/2025 - 18:45

    It is actually becoming quite common in enterprises. The practice is meant to help support work/life balance as many people can't help themselves and believe everything has to be read and actioned immediately, which while cool for the sender, it has a detrimental effect on the receiver long term.. Just use the Send later functionality.

    Personally I don't care for me, if I am not working I don't feel a need to respond. However I do work with people that can't stand even a single email in their inbox that hasn't been dealt with. me I have 8,000+ unread (most crap which I will get around to when I have the time).

  • samcro on 03/02/2025 - 18:52
    +1

    All you parents should schedule your emails to arrive at precisely 4.19pm. That'll show em how silly their rule is!

  • johndoh89 on 03/02/2025 - 19:00
    +3

    Someone has misunderstood the new Right to Disconnect policy, assuming NSW.

    The Department even sent instructions for setting timed notifications and is actually against staff using personal devices for work communications due to security risks.

    NSW teacher union fought for a stronger version of the right to disconnect stuff that got put out nationally to prevent our direct supervisors from spamming us with work outside of hours and to ensure our bosses couldn't bitch about us not answering parents who spammed us at night and complained to the principal in the morning. The supervisors aren't allowed to message us.

    TLDR: Their bosses aren't allowed to message them and must use schedule send. This school applied that to everyone.

    • DiscountForThee on 03/02/2025 - 19:12

      This makes sense as to why this came about. The school is still dumb for their misinterpretation, but I'm glad there is some backing behind their thought.

    • mountaineer on 03/02/2025 - 20:27

      so in short, this is to manage parents complaints?

      • CodeXD on 03/02/2025 - 20:39

        The school wants to make sure there is someone available to delete the email when it comes in

  • hasher22 on 03/02/2025 - 20:24

    Send/receive emails anytime, up to the receiver to read and action it within business hours….. how is this not common sense?

  • bulletbill88 on 03/02/2025 - 21:21

    Emails aren’t urgent and no-one should have an expectation they are responded to immediately and/or out of hours. It’s surprising how many people don’t understand this. Maybe they should teach it in schools?

  • Muppet Detector on 03/02/2025 - 22:25

    Have you asked the school why they have this policy?

    Could it be something to do with Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) (and contract law) an email is said to received when it enters the recipients mail server (their inbox) whether or not the recipient has read it at that time or not?

    ("Postal Rule) covers traditional mail where acceptance is considered upon posting).

    The implications of the ETA are that should the nature of the electronic communication be time sensitive or activate a count down or time limit, the clock starts at whatever time the teacher receives the email (even if they don't read it).

    Thus, if the contents of the email have a 24 hour time life expectancy, if an email is received at 4:30pm Monday but the teacher only reads it 8:00am Tuesday, they have already exhausted 15 1/2 hours of the available 24 hours.

    Time sensitive issues are a big thing in the world of contract law and performance, so this isn't a new thing, but buggered if I can imagine a scenario where this may be of a concern within the communication framework of a teacher.

    A new EBA condition that all correspondence must be addressed within 48 hours perhaps?

    Is it schools trying to get ahead of potential litigation issues by being proactive about when a time sensitive matter will occur?

  • AustriaBargain on 03/02/2025 - 23:29

    Might have been better if they said in their email that all staff including teachers won't even look at their email until work hours at the soonest. Which is how it should be for all workers.

    But I bet these teachers are do have to accept important emails outside of work hours sometimes, emails about all sorts they might want to know on the spot even on their own time. So I bet that these teachers can't turn off notifications for emails without missing those potentially important ones, and are suck of being bombarded with all sorts of nonsense and having to spend time deciding what's nonsense or not.

    Most email services will let you delay an email until a certain time. It is perhaps good etiquette to use these features and not unreasonable to enforce them. But it'd be better maybe to give the teachers an email alias that is given to parents and students to use, and teach the teachers how to silence notifications for emails to that alias outside of work hours and have a sensible auto reply in those hours that tells students and parents that the email probably won't be seen until their next shift.

    I think you'll never convince the school to be reasonable and you risk being seen as problematic if you complain, and queuing up emails to send at 9am on the dot takes just one extra click, a fraction of a second. So just do that and put it all out of your mind. You really shouldn't be contacting employees of businesses you deal with outside of business hours anyway.

  • OzzyOzbourne on 03/02/2025 - 23:42

    According to teachers they work late every night which is why they deserve 4 times more holiday than normal people, so those times must be wrong.

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