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I had to schedule meeting for Monday but for some reason or the other it I couldn't finish work on Friday and therefore I wasn't sure if I should schedule meeting on Monday. But on weekend I worked and was able to finish the work and ready to host the meeting on Monday. But I am not sure if I should wait till Monday morning to send them invite for the meeting or it's okay to send it on Weekends?

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  • Are you emailing the invite?
    – Kilisi ♦
    May 15, 2021 at 5:51
  • @Kilisi Yes, it's a virtual meeting.
    – Stupid_Intern
    May 15, 2021 at 6:04
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    Are your concerns about others to see the time you sent the invitation? If you "should" work on weekends then why not send emails on weekends. If management doesn't like you to work on weekends then you better don't.
    – puck
    May 15, 2021 at 8:17
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    @Fattie In my own experience, showing some flexibility on this can have some benefits when needing flexility the other way around though. I know some employers will abuse the situation, but some others are really fair play on this. Some weeks I put 45 hours, some other weeks I need more personnal time and only put 35 hours... life will be life, as long as I don't feel exploited I'm good with it. Note that I don't expect this from others and fully understand colleagues not doing it.
    – Laurent S.
    May 16, 2021 at 8:51
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    Note that this question also applies to evenings... I usually start shortly before 9 but am keen on accepting meetings earlier some days as long as I can organize myself. But if you send an invite on Monday evening for a meeting at 8 on Tuesday, don't expect me to be there... and if the meeting is set at 9 don't expect me to be fully prepared.
    – Laurent S.
    May 16, 2021 at 8:56

4 Answers 4

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You can send the meeting invite over the weekend. Nobody will see it anyway … at least that is the assumption you should make.

Most calendar / meeting apps have the ability to set "quiet time". For example, I have both Outlook and Teams set to not send any notifications between 8pm and 8am, as well as on weekends and bank holidays, and during my vacation time, and I have my company phone and laptop turned off during those times. So, you could send me a meeting invite on Sunday morning 4am, and it would not disturb me because I wouldn't even know about it.

However, you should plan the meeting under the assumption that the invite will have been received no earlier than Monday 9am local time, and you should be mindful of the fact that people generally receive a large backlog of emails, messages, and meeting invites on Monday morning, so they might not be able to deal with the invite immediately.

Especially if you consider that in some parts of the world, Thursday was a bank holiday, and a lot of people will have taken Friday off as well. So, if there's anybody in your list of invitees that deals with international partners, they may be flooded with a backlog of emails from a 4–5 day period.

Some of my colleagues don't even have the possibility of receiving work-related emails, messages, or notifications when they are not at their desk.

So, in short: yes, you can send the invite, but you should treat it as if you had sent it at start-of-business on Monday morning, and you should be prepared that invitees might not be able to attend at such short notice.

Personally, I always plan in such a way as-if nobody was working after lunch on Friday and before lunch on Monday, simply because during those times, people will generally be busy finishing off tasks that need to be finished before the end of the week, and catching up on stuff that happened over the weekend.

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    "you should plan the meeting under the assumption that the invite will have been received no earlier than Monday 9am local time" You've really hit the nail on the head there Jörg. Good one.
    – Fattie
    May 15, 2021 at 12:53
  • And in some other parts of the world (I'm working with India) Friday was a bankholliday...
    – Laurent S.
    May 16, 2021 at 8:37
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It doesn't matter if you send the invite on the weekend or Monday. Sending it on the weekend guarantees it will be available on Monday without any obligation for people to reply or even read it on the weekend.

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Send the invite as soon as you know, otherwise the closer to the time the more chance they have planned something else.

Also, since the notice you give is short don’t be surprised if they cannot attend. It is not their fault the notice period is short.

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Since you shouldn't expect the message to be read until Monday morning, you would, in effect, be scheduling a same-day meeting. In some orgs, this is likely enough to be impractical that it isn't even attempted. Exception being if everyone expects it and you are just finalizing some details.

Regarding the after-hours email type communications, nobody will think it is inappropriate. However I personally would be concerned that it opens the door to others who may be much more enthusiastic about this habit than I am.

In a "normal" situation, I'd consider (possibly getting up early and) sending it out Monday 6am, unless there are time zone reasons against this. If you are getting close to a big deadline and making a final push as a group, send it as soon as you have it.

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