Reply To: Remote Work and Vanishing Personal Time

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#1859476
Ex-CTLawyer
Participant

I have maintained a home office for decades and only spent about 15 hours a week in our law offices (that is a benefit or perk of being the boss).
The business phone line in my home and those now routed to employees’ homes is answered by an auto-attendant after hours and it states our hours and that we are now closed. Please leave a message and it will be addressed when we are open. We don’t do criminal law, so there has never been a need for after hours emergency phone service and we don’t do personal injury work with commercials telling potential clients we are always there, call 24/7.
Our business email have an auto-reply for after hours that lets the sender know we are closed and the email will be read and addressed during regular hours.

I do not intrude on my employees after hours unless it is truly an emergency and then would contact them via text or email to personal account and ask if possible to call me.

Employers do not pay employees for non-working time and have no right to expect them to be on call 24/7.

That said, at least 3-4 times a week either my eldest son or I are on the phone/computer with clients in China, necessary due to the time difference. BUT, we are owners/partners, not the ‘paid help’ and this is poart of our chosen business model.