NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Economy / Employment

Kiwi bosses stop after hours work emails

By Lee Umbers
Herald on Sunday·
7 Jul, 2018 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

How to manage work place stress
Jess Blair, a health and wellness practitioner, talks about managing work place stress. Video / dean Purcell ...
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
    • captions off, selected

      This is a modal window.

      Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

      Text
      Text Background
      Caption Area Background
      Font Size
      Text Edge Style
      Font Family

      End of dialog window.

      This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

      Probe into Mike Bush's new role in Australia

      UP NEXT:

      Autoplay in
      4
      Disable Autoplay
      Cancel Video
      Jess Blair, a health and wellness practitioner, talks about managing work place stress. Video / dean Purcell
      NOW PLAYING • How to manage work place stress
      Jess Blair, a health and wellness practitioner, talks about managing work place stress. Video / dean Purcell ...

      Many Kiwi bosses have stopped sending emails to employees outside work hours and encouraged their staff not to respond to work-related emails as stress levels rise.

      The head of a major government department told his managers they could work on emails but not send them outside work hours because recipients would feel obliged to respond.

      John Eatwell, a Christchurch-based psychologist, who consults with national organisations on leadership development, said he worked with the regional commissioner of the department a couple of years ago on implementing the block.

      He is also dealing with chief executives of a number of national organisations who are moving that way.

      Read more: Workplace stress levels reach boiling point in New Zealand

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      New Zealanders had traditionally worked longer hours than many other countries, he said.

      "There is a growing trend, though, to manage this, and acknowledgement that more is not better.

      "This is particularly important with cellphones and clearing emails," Eatwell said.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      "Some countries in Europe have made it illegal to send emails to phones after work hours. Some New Zealand companies are telling managers not to send emails after hours and are stopping emails to phones during annual leave."

      Nelson City Council, which has 280 employees, introduced a policy in 2016 stopping access to all IT systems including work email for staff who are away on annual leave or leave without pay for two weeks or more.

      "This has been introduced for wellbeing reasons, to enforce a real break away from work, but also for risk management and fraud prevention reasons," said Paul Shattock, manager communications, at Nelson City Council.

      French workers last year were granted the legal right to disconnect and ignore work emails outside of standard work hours.

      Discover more

      Business

      Kiwis share their most embarrassing work stories

      29 Jun 04:57 AM
      Employment

      The Big Read: Work, life and stress. It's making you sick - what you can do to fix it

      07 Jul 05:00 PM
      Employment

      Workplace gloom: Kiwis feeling down about health and wellbeing

      09 Jul 02:00 AM
      Business

      Surprising result of unlimited leave

      06 Jul 12:21 AM

      The right to disconnect bill - the first of its kind in the world - forced companies of more than 50 people to negotiate when employees can work outside of France's standard 35 hour week.

      France's Labour Ministry proposed the law the previous year in a bid to preserve the sanctity of workers' private lives.

      The overuse of smart devices and inability to switch off has been blamed for widespread burnout and sleeplessness among employees.

      The latest biennial Wellness in the Workplace report revealed a marked increase in workplace stress in New Zealand.

      The survey, covering 2016, showed a net 22.9 per cent of employers surveyed noted an increase in stress/anxiety and for larger companies - those with 50-plus staff - it was even higher at 30.5 per cent - more than double the 14 per cent recorded for those with fewer than 50 staff.

      Eatwell said if employees received work-related emails out of work hours they continued to think about their jobs and did not get a break, which added to stress and reduced productivity.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      "You need some time off to be effective back on the job."

      Studies showed 36 hours to 40 hours a week was an optimal work time, he said.

      With emails constantly coming in, people could become slaves to their inbox – checking them from first thing in the morning until when they went to bed, Eatwell said.

      An international study showed "something like 78 per cent of people check their emails on the toilet", Eatwell said.

      Save

        Share this article

      Latest from Employment

      Premium
      Opinion

      Liam Dann: Town v Country – Big cities left behind in economic recovery

      31 May 05:00 PM
      Premium
      Opinion

      Shane Te Pou: This Govt seems intent on giving the boot to people

      31 May 05:00 PM
      Premium
      Opinion

      Matthew Hooton: If superannuation can’t be cut, wage subsidies must be

      29 May 05:00 PM

      ‘No regrets’ for Rotorua Retiree

      sponsored
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Recommended for you
      Council rejects funding for ceramics museum
      Whanganui Chronicle

      Council rejects funding for ceramics museum

      01 Jun 07:00 PM
      'I didn't give up on myself': BMX Olympian receives 'special' honour
      Rotorua Daily Post

      'I didn't give up on myself': BMX Olympian receives 'special' honour

      01 Jun 07:00 PM
      The real cost of owning pets in NZ and where you can find savings
      Business

      The real cost of owning pets in NZ and where you can find savings

      01 Jun 07:00 PM
      Dai Henwood honoured with ONZM as he prepares for surgery
      Royals

      Dai Henwood honoured with ONZM as he prepares for surgery

      01 Jun 07:00 PM
      'Serial entrepreneur' Wayne Wright honoured for services to education, philanthropy
      Bay of Plenty Times

      'Serial entrepreneur' Wayne Wright honoured for services to education, philanthropy

      01 Jun 07:00 PM

      Latest from Employment

      Premium
      Liam Dann: Town v Country – Big cities left behind in economic recovery

      Liam Dann: Town v Country – Big cities left behind in economic recovery

      31 May 05:00 PM

      OPINION: A two-speed economy is developing which could cause headaches for the RBNZ.

      Premium
      Shane Te Pou: This Govt seems intent on giving the boot to people

      Shane Te Pou: This Govt seems intent on giving the boot to people

      31 May 05:00 PM
      Premium
      Matthew Hooton: If superannuation can’t be cut, wage subsidies must be

      Matthew Hooton: If superannuation can’t be cut, wage subsidies must be

      29 May 05:00 PM
      Premium
      More interest rate cuts to come ... or not? Reserve Bank hedges its bets

      More interest rate cuts to come ... or not? Reserve Bank hedges its bets

      28 May 05:12 AM
      Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design
      sponsored

      Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

      NZ Herald
      • About NZ Herald
      • Meet the journalists
      • Newsletters
      • Classifieds
      • Help & support
      • Contact us
      • House rules
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of use
      • Competition terms & conditions
      • Our use of AI
      Subscriber Services
      • NZ Herald e-editions
      • Daily puzzles & quizzes
      • Manage your digital subscription
      • Manage your print subscription
      • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
      • Subscribe to Herald Premium
      • Gift a subscription
      • Subscriber FAQs
      • Subscription terms & conditions
      • Promotions and subscriber benefits
      NZME Network
      • The New Zealand Herald
      • The Northland Age
      • The Northern Advocate
      • Waikato Herald
      • Bay of Plenty Times
      • Rotorua Daily Post
      • Hawke's Bay Today
      • Whanganui Chronicle
      • Viva
      • NZ Listener
      • What the Actual
      • Newstalk ZB
      • BusinessDesk
      • OneRoof
      • Driven CarGuide
      • iHeart Radio
      • Restaurant Hub
      NZME
      • About NZME
      • NZME careers
      • Advertise with NZME
      • Digital self-service advertising
      • Book your classified ad
      • Photo sales
      • NZME Events
      • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
      TOP
      search by queryly Advanced Search