How To Write An Email Signature That Actually Promotes A Life Outside Work

If you want to talk the talk and walk the walk when it comes to valuing work-life balance, consider rewriting your email signature at work.

For better (flexibility for doctor’s appointments) and worse (longer work hours), remote and hybrid work have blurred the lines between on- and off-the-clock time for many workers. To combat this, more and more workers are putting up email signatures that list their working hours or state that the recipient can reply whenever suits them best.

For instance, one colleague of mine includes a small, considerate note under her name and credentials in her signature:“My working hours are typically 8:30 a.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday,” it reads.“If these are not your working hours, please do not feel an urgency to respond outside of your typical working hours.”

After seeing a good wellness-promoting email signature, you might reply, “I love that signature line, could I steal it?”

That’s how Arianne Young, the founder of a virtual assistant business, Not Your Average Girl Friday, came to possess hers. It reads: “I respect boundaries around personal time, caretaking, and rest. If this email arrives while you are doing any of these things, please protect your time and wait to respond until you are back at work or at your computer.”

Others, like freelance writer Meg St-Esprit, let people know in advance that they may be slow to respond at certain times. After a client sent a snippy email about St-Esprit’s response time, this busy mom of four added a disclaimer to her signature: “Please note I may be slower to respond to email in the months of June, July and August due to the United States’ inability to provide affordable childcare for working mothers.”

At first, St-Esprit wondered if