To Respond, or to Wait? That's the question!

I like responding to emails immediately unless I am waiting for some information or am dependent on something for a decision.

Some friends suggested I should wait for a few hours or a couple of days before replying to an email, as an indication of being busy to avoid being perceived as unoccupied or desperate.

Having lived and worked in the US and India; and now working with clients in developed nations as well as in India, I see some marked work-cultural differences in perception about ones promptness.

(With the risk of generalization) If you respond to emails immediately to someone in the US, it is 'generally' taken positively as a sign of your respect for the person and her/his time, your eagerness to work with the person or the project, and your professionalism (with 'auto-response' about potential delay in response). In India, immediate response may be seen as a sign of you being less occupied or being desperate to move ahead with a project or an order; and may be used against you in negotiations. This is more so with old school organizations. That leads to the dilemma of 'to respond ASAP, or to wait for a few hours/days to pretend being busy'. In effect, everybody slows down in communication leading to loss of productivity. I generally choose to respond ASAP and put the ball in your court than pretend to be busy.

So, next time I am late in responding to your email, I may be traveling or lacking access to the Net, or am waiting for something or thinking through the response.

Thank you for reading. Shall appreciate your thoughts and feedback.


Disclaimer – This doesn't mean I have zero backlog of emails to respond. Also, all generalizations are wrong including this one :-)

Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

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