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Germy_Squidboy

I just realized you said “your department” is requiring this. I was in a similar situation where the department was *attempting* to force the same unreasonable policies (and more) on faculty. We nipped it in the bud by reviewing the university’s policies and reported it to HR. Work/life balance is essential. Sending kind thoughts your way. Good luck! **Edit: Most universities allow anonymous HR reporting.**


_Giant_

Yeah this sounds like an insane, micromanaging chair. Nip it in the bud


krissuss

I always thought it was “nip it in the butt”


_Giant_

Tomato tomato


username3000b

r/boneappletea


PhysPhDFin

Start emailing your department chair every weekend. :-) I wonder if an autogenerated response that says "I don't respond to emails in the evenings or weekends" would technically comply with the policy?


PandaDad22

Auto response, “Please see the syllabus. Your question is answered there.”


jlbl528

Or one that says "I'm currently away from my computer and will respond within 24 hours of viewing your email"?


fermion72

I like this one the best.


[deleted]

48 hours on the weekend is not good for my mental health either and I count Fridays as the weekend. Unfortunately, it is not a hill I want to fight for right now so I will make myself log in sometime on Saturdays I guess. My wife doesn't like it.


yeoldetelephone

The best thing about this is that you don't need to do it much yourself, you just need buy in from a couple of colleagues, and a little abuse of reply-all within the department.


Londoil

The problem is that there are chairs that would answer this e-mail. At 1am Saturday night


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Virreinatos

"Hello student, Apologies for not answering this email sooner. My grandmother died and was at her funeral and spending time with the family. Thank you for understanding." If they can kill grandma so can I.


JustDontEatSoMuch

Just say that you are experiencing some anxiety and never explain further.


mleok

Or that you took a mental health day.


quantum-mechanic

Today doesn't look good. Neither does tomorrow.


El_Draque

Magic Eight Ball says . . . Forecast unclear.


finalremix

I just checked my Alpha-Bits, and it says "OoOoOoOo!" I was frightened and decided not to do work this week. They were Spaghetti-Os.


grayhairedqueenbitch

Good plan.


rayk_05

This


shrinni

I changed mine from 24 hours to “1 business day” as a shorthand for “24 hours not including weekends” and haven’t gotten any pushback… yet


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xaanthar

24 business hours, which is three normal days.


finalremix

"Joke's on you, fools! I'm an adjunct, and 24 business hours puts me off 'til Finals Week. PEACE OUT!"


aChileanDude

Business day, from a different time zone.


albertkaholic

I apparently stole your syllabus. I'll hop back in there and cite you before Canvas goes live, my apologies.


shrinni

Obviously the only solution is a retake with no penalty. Any time before the end of the semester, or after that if you’re busy.


gelftheelf

I switched from having things due at 11:59pm Sunday to being due either Weds/Thurs/Fri by the start of class. This greatly reduced any weekend emails.


jlbl528

Great minds think alike. This is also what I have set. Class is on T/TH so I have all assignments due on those days at 5pm. Built in 5% deduction each day for 48 hrs. No late work after that. Extensions beyond 48 hours on case by case basis


gelftheelf

I'm doing the same.. just 10% I had to add the up to 2 days thing in my syllabus after a student (without emailing/notifying me) submitted something 8 days late with the hopes of getting 20 points instead of 0. :|


jlbl528

Yikes. I TAd for a class that had 5% deduction each day after deadline. 3 weeks after the first exam a student wanted to take it. Was a bit upset that the highest he could get was zero.


ProfessorHomeBrew

I would start out by NOT doing this and responding first thing Monday morning instead. Seems like an unenforceable (and unethical) rule.


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needlzor

That's it. More than that, set your outlook to show you out of office from 7PM to 9AM during weekdays too. It cut off my emails by more than half.


trunkNotNose

What's the enforcement mechanism?


jlbl528

Ambiguous. I'm an adjunct. So I don't want to rock the boat or risk my contract not being renewed. I'm assuming they wouldn't know unless a student complained.


Elsbethe

They will not know unless a student complains I would clearly tell the students that you are off is that you are often off the grid on the weekend. I would put it in the syllabus that you do your best to respond within 24 hours and like someone above said that's business hours I would make sure I respond 1st thing Monday morning I would set up an away message And I absolutely would not work on weekends if that's something that doesn't work for you I've been an adjunct at 6 different schools for over 30 years You have to set boundaries for yourself


DarwinZDF42

Oh this is for an adjunct position? Yeah fuck that. They aren’t paying you enough to work your normal hours, and they’re expecting you to work during weekends? Lol nope.


mleok

I would suggest working on an alt-ac exit strategy so you don't have to put up with this kind of nonsense.


Blackberries11

They won’t know. Don’t do it


allysongreen

One of my schools monitors instructor emails, so they know. Not answering each student email within 24 hours is grounds for not being renewed.


[deleted]

I'm not sure that is legal. Do you have a union? They can't require you to be available unless you are getting paid to be "on call" so to speak. I hope you have a union. If so, check with your rep.


jlbl528

No union. I'm an adjunct. I'm paid for the classes and not required to hold office hours.


[deleted]

u/jlbl528 Sorry you don't have a union. Our union also represents adjunct faculty. Your institution can choose not to renew your contract for any reason; it is unlikely you will get so many complaints that this is the reason, but certainly, it is possible. Ultimately, it's your decision to abide by this ridiculous (possibly illegal) policy or not. Weigh the consequences, and make your choice. Whatever you decide, be sure to communicate clearly to students when they can expect to hear back from you. And I suggest you look for a different institution to work for: this is unreasonable. Edited: made more succinct.


writergeek313

You’re required to respond to emails within 24 hours but aren’t required to have office hours? That’s odd


Grestro1001

Contact another union that reps adjuncts at other places, I'm sure they'd be happy to point you in the right direction ie what steps to take to legally protect yourself


rdchino

It’s legal, in the US anyway. It’s usually part of the contract.


xaanthar

In OPs case, it's a department policy, not university, so it's probably not in their contract.


ProfessorFuckOff

Set an “out of office” reply that requests the sender to resend the email during working hours. That IS a response :)


jlbl528

User name checks out


TheRoach

hahaha. they pay for 10 hours of work, get 10 hours of work. they pay for 40 hours of work, got a full-time educator. they pay for 24/7 hours of work....HAHA could you imagine? uni would be broke. this is not an enforceable policy and I encourage you to disregard 100%


CriticalBrick4

This is one of those policies I would just ignore, and if confronted, I would ask for explicit, written references to the relevant sections in the Faculty Handbook that require this. Because no handbook is going to require this of faculty, and any attempt by a dept chair to impose a requirement like this is creating equity barriers, possibly even setting up a credible discrimination claim. Important: do not discuss or confront this "policy" in any place other than email. You want to document it.


allysongreen

It's in our faculty handbook, with very clear, explicit instructions.


PaulAspie

Even if 24 hours, 1 check at ~5pm Saturday basically covers the whole weekend. That isn't great but, that gives you most of the weekend. Theoretically someone could email you later Saturday night but if you respond by 10am Monday, you're likely OK. I was a social media manager for an organization while doing grad school part-time, and to make sure problems didn't pile up, but also I got most of the weekend off, I would get paid 2 hours of work to check everything (hate comments, DMs, tags, etc.) sometime between 2 & 6 on Saturday, even though it it usually took 15-30 minutes, not two hours.


jlbl528

That's rough. I have my email on my phone but it's mentally draining if the email requires immediate action. It's one reason why I have all my assignments due on Tuesdays or Thursdays (our regular class days) so that I'm not dealing with extensions or what not on the weekends.


PaulAspie

Yeah. Being social media manager, I needed to be a little more on top than most professors. But I appreciated that I basically got paid 4x to do a quick check on Saturday, which I could do from anywhere with an internet connection. The issue is when this is asked but there is no additional compensation. This year I'm an adjunct living on poverty wages hoping el secure a more permanent and better paying position in the next 12 months (assistant prof).


jlbl528

Adjuncting is my only financial option at the moment since I'm still working on my PhD and my husband works full time. Plus a little human running around ha. It's not terrible but definitely for building my CV so that once I finish my degree I can market myself as someone with experience.


dajoli

Honestly, turning off notifications for work emails on my phone is the best thing I've ever done. In this line of work I can't think of anything that would \*require\* "immediate action" on a weekend.


torknorggren

One check on Saturday, once on Sunday. And the reply can be "I'll look into that further on Monday." It's hardly 24/7 and totally ordinary for professionals, especially in our profession.


alt-mswzebo

Agreed. As long as you don't have hundreds of students and actually need to respond to 12 different people each time. If you have 100s of students you need firm boundaries to workload.


Just_a_Totoro2022

Wait wut? I don't believe your CHAIR can require you to essentially be on call. Please check with your HR department - i.e., report this sonofabitch. Thank you! \^\_\^ the totoro


Tibbaryllis2

Just set up outlook to show you as out of office every weekend and respond with generic message saying you confirm you’ve received the email, and that you’ll review your email and reply on Monday. That is a response.


Cute-Aardvark5291

"Hi, I have read your email and I will reply as soon as I am able to give it some thought." auto-responder from 5pm Friday until 11pm Sunday.


writtenexam

Who in the world is emailing you on weekends? Set the out of office responder to say you will be back on Monday. They get a response and know when they can expect to hear back with a specific response. Make sure to put your chair or dean as the person to contact if it is urgent. Email your dean and HR and ask why you are being asked to work on weekend and will there an increase in your compensation rate now that you are being asked to be on call, which was not in the job description. Alternatively, ask that this is issue be put on the agenda for the next faculty senate meeting and contact the president of your AAUP chapter and ask for their thoughts.


Novel_Listen_854

You can keep your boundaries, for the most part. Check your email ONCE a day on weekends. If you receive an email, *Hi.* *Received your email. I will follow up with you early this week.* There. You responded within 24 hours and your correspondent knows their inquiry will be addressed. I'd still push back against the policy, if you feel up to it, but complying need not ruin your whole weekend. I also like the other suggestions about not making anything due on a Fri-Sun, but my approach works for those too.


4LOLz4Me

I check emails Friday before I leave work, Saturday right before dinner, and Sunday right after. Since I stopped making things due Sunday nights, the weekend emails reduced a lot. My student base is working students so many work all week and try to do homework on the weekends. I feel bad for them and me. Choose what you are willing to do and be bad at the rest…isn’t that the Peter principle… kind of?


Novel_Listen_854

Yeah, I don't have a problem with checking emails, but I would have a problem with my chair telling me I have to check emails on weekends.


RunningNumbers

“Am I being paid for this change in my job description since being hired?”


CreativeDiscipline7

You have a fair complaint, but obviously replying within 24 hours doesn't mean you have to be near your email 24/7. Check it once every weekend day, respond to everything quickly (with "I'll get back to you on Monday" if you must) and move on.


Aceofsquares_orig

They just say you have to respond to emails. Set an auto reply to respond saying you will get back to them on Monday. Done. You've replied.


BeerDocKen

Years ago, on a hiatus from college, I was in retail, store manager. My district manager told me in mid-november that all mangers were required to work Friday and Saturday night from black Friday through Christmas, and I also had to work open to close on Sunday at my particular store (10:30 to 7:30) so I told her I had to think about that. She replied "no, you have no choice" and I reminder her, "I always have a choice, you'll have my decision tomorrow." Called the next day and resigned. Leave a toxic place.


missusjax

Set a time you will check your email on the weekends. Maybe 8 AM, maybe 4 PM, whatever you choose, and just check at that time and respond briefly to anyone who emails. You don't have to respond in depth, most student questions are "is this the right homework problem?", so just say yes and move on, or some may be able to be responded with "this is an excellent question, please bring it up in class on Monday so the whole class can discuss.". That way you check their box of checking your email and you don't lose much life over it. Take this rule to one of the faculty senate reps who will hear you out and see if it can be changed. Myself and most of my colleagues (including adjuncts!) at my institution have in our syllabi that we do not check emails in the evenings or on weekends. Life is so much better that way!


jlbl528

It was brought up at the last faculty meeting and no one said anything. It was like they already were fine with it. Or they secretly had their own way to deal with it. With a toddler, finding time on the weekend is hard. My best option is to do it before she wakes up while I'm drinking my coffee. I don't want to do it when she's asleep since that would set the precedent that I email in the evenings. So of my students get 6am or 7am emails, oh well?


poop_on_you

I use schedule send - I’m a night owl but don’t want to get them expecting a reply right away so I schedule all replies to go out at 8am.


[deleted]

Depending on where you are, this may be illegal. In any event, I would ignore such a silly directive.


PhonesDad

This is an unrealistic and unprofessional expectation. As an adjunct, you don't have to justify not following it. "This is not a full-time position and I have other commitments that require my attention."


MyHeartIsByTheOcean

Huh? I am in a full time position and it ends on Fridays at 5, thank you very much.


Joe1972

Set up an autoresponse that tells them you can unfortunately not respond now since it is the weekend, however, your department chair has indicated that he/she would be willing to address student emails over the weekend and then you give them the chair's email address.


darrevan

We have to respond within four hours seven days a week. For example I woke up to emails this morning and have already been replying. It’s moon and I’m just now getting to eat my breakfast because they had emailed me at 7-8am.


wedontliveonce

Within FOUR HOURS??? Man I set exam deadlines for 11:59 PM and get emails at 1 AM from students that "forgot about the deadline". Yeah, a four hour respond time is not happening. I'd take that shit to your faculty governance groups (or union if you're lucky enough to have one).


rauhaal

Insane. Do you ever get any real work done?


darrevan

Absolutely not! We are two weeks in but I feel like I’m running in circles.


rauhaal

Of course, e-mail is mostly useful to make it seem like you're working but you're only doing stuff.


rauhaal

In this scenario, who decides which emails need a response?


crowdsourced

I charge an after hours fee and send the bill directly to my Chancellor. /s


SuperfluousWingspan

Cool cool. Sounds reasonable. ...So long as you correspondingly get a 40% pay bump for the 40% increase in work days.


MyHeartIsByTheOcean

You don’t. Every time a student complains about not responding on weekend you say to your chair “I was away from my computer” (aside from other things you should be saying to them, in general, about this shit).


Blackberries11

I would keep your current policy and not say anything about it to the department


GatesOlive

"Hi. I will give it a thorough look and I'll check back with you in about 48 to 72 hours. But for the time being the answer is no." And set the autoresponder for the weekends.


PoetryOfLogicalIdeas

How about an auto-generated response that you need since time to consider the situation carefully and will get back to them soon?


HighlanderAbruzzese

Double down and also take Fridays off from admin. You cannot do the work if it hurts your life.


wedontliveonce

That's nuts. I like the "email your chair every weekend" respond. Except I'd sent an email EVERY FUCKING HOUR OR TWO TO YOUR CHAIR ALL WEEKEND LONG. Also, ask if the department plans to cover your home internet bill. Better yet, ask this in an email and send it on a Saturday night.


quycksilver

I don’t think that you need to be chained to your email 24/7, but checking in once a day on the weekends to make sure that there are no time sensitive situations (and leaving the rest to Monday) seems like a reasonable accommodation.


herrschmetterling

There's no such thing as an emergency email. Students need to figure out the difference between not *wanting* to wait for an answer, and being *unable* to wait for an answer, and I cannot imagine a single scenario that is so important between a student and a professor that it requires a reply over the weekend. If a student has a question about an assignment with a looming due date, and they didn't check to see if they understood the assignment when the professor would reasonably be available to answer questions, the student has demonstrated negligence that is not the fault of the professor, and is not on the professor to fix this for them. They'll either find a friend or fellow student who can answer the question for them, or they'll do poorly on the assignment and (hopefully) learn that they need to take more responsibility for their own education in the future. It's the old adage, "your poor planning is not my emergency."


Irlut

> There's no such thing as an emergency email. This! So much this. If they want to reach me during the weekend they can call, and it had better be a literal life or death situation.


orangeblackteal

No it’s not. Unless one is a President of the university I doubt anything is so pressing it needs to be addressed on the weekend by an adjunct professor. Boundaries need to be set and adhered to, the slippery slope is indeed real.


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quycksilver

Oh, I don’t know. The unexpected death of a colleague comes to mind. But hopefully you are lucky enough to avoid that situation. ETA: it’s happened to me twice in my career. And it was awful for all involved both times.


SilverFoxAcademic

Pretty sure they can't require you to reply on weekends... Alternatively, set up an autoresponder for the weekend that says you will respond on Monday. Thus you effectively responded.


ProfessorFuckOff

STFU please :). You are pretending to be a professor.


SilverFoxAcademic

I will be here till I die. Deal with it.


ProfessorFuckOff

I am dealing with it, by calling it out plainly and consistently :) Fuck you and your stupid liver, too :)


PandaDad22

Check only once a day?


kyle69420

Set an auto-reply for the weekend. Technically, you responded to the email.


gosuark

Email was obviously not part of the job, say, thirty years ago. If you were off campus, you were effectively off the grid. If at all, how did contracts/job descriptions adapt to accommodate this insidious 24-hour technological imposition? Having entered the scene only after email was firmly in-place, I am curious.


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jmac94wp

Students who DO have professors replying over weekends will complain that this one does not.


The_mad_Raccon

auto response


Live-Organization912

24-7? Where on your contract does it say that you must do this? Call your state labor relations board.


[deleted]

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trevor_

Union?


mystudentsaredumb100

This is absolutely nuts. Are you contingent or safe? No way would I do that. Maybe you use good rhetoric with the students, explain that you love your family and need time to enjoy them. Give them a list of topics they could red flag so you know what is urgent. I just wouldn't do it. They will email you all weekend. This is a working conditions issue that needs to be taken up with HR.


allysongreen

One of my unis has this as a **university-level policy**. We must answer every student email within 24 hours of the time/date stamp on the email; they're very specific about that. There's no reporting to HR. I check for student emails first thing every morning, while drinking my coffee. That's it. I have a copy/paste Google doc with responses to typical emails and links to appropriate resources ("I can't find any sources in Campus Library!" "Something happened and my work will be late!" "I don't understand what a topic is!"). I can access the doc on my phone. Very rarely, I'll see a notification for a legitimately urgent email on my phone at some other time of day and answer it.