The Right to Disconnect: Balancing Work and Life in the Digital Age

In today’s hyper-connected world, the boundary between work and personal life has become increasingly blurred. With smartphones, laptops and an array of digital tools, employees are often expected to be available around the clock, whilst responding to emails and messages outside of traditional working hours. According to the Trade Unions Congress, in 2023, 3.8 million UK employees did unpaid overtime.

This constant connectivity, while sometimes necessary, can lead to burnout, stress and a decline in overall employee wellbeing. Enter the concept of the ‘right to disconnect’—a policy that is gaining traction across Europe and that has been implemented in Australia this week. Our new Labour government has promised to incorporate the ‘right to switch off’ into the much-anticipated Employment Rights Bill.  With that said, we still don’t have the full picture of what the right will look like in this country.

So in the meantime, what should employers be doing?

• Clarify your expectations around working hours. This will likely vary depending on sector, seniority, or type of work. In general terms, encourage respect for personal time and for home time, and provide guidelines on when and how to contact staff outside of their normal working hours.

• Carry out a staff survey (or ask your managers to speak to their teams) to find out how employees feel about their current balance between work life and home life and whether they do (or feel pressure to) reply to work-related communications outside of their normal working hours.

• Review your current policies around flexible or hybrid working, as well as well-being in the workplace. Check these policies adequately cater to each employee’s need to disconnect and if they don’t, improve them or introduce new policies to help staff strike the right work-life balance.

• Consider the following suggestions made by the Mindful Business Charter, which were introduced by several large professional service firms to ‘change avoidable working practices that can cause mental health and well-being issues for employees’. Suggestions include:
  • If an email is sent outside of business hours, be clear in the title whether it needs to be read or actioned promptly by the recipient/s.
  • Consider sending pre-timed emails so they are not received late at night, at weekends or during holiday periods.
  • Give employees who need support outside of core working hours options for when this might be (for example, early morning or evening or weekend).
  • Encourage employees to include their working hours and availability in their email signature so people are aware of each other’s work patterns.

• Take advantage of technology to:
  • Allow notifications to be paused or muted outside working hours or automatically deleted or diverted.
  • Include footers and pop-up messages in emails to remind employees that there’s no requirement to reply to emails out of hours.
  • Send automated ‘out of office’ emails.

• But avoid relying on technology if it means requiring employees to install intrusive work-related apps on their personal devices. If you need them to use the app, then provide them with a work device and install it on that. Avoid taking action (for example under disciplinary or capability policies) against employees purely because they do not respond to work-related communications outside of their normal working hours. If there’s a problem with an employee’s performance, it’s unlikely to just be about this so address the issue in the round.

• Follow Acas guidance on managing workplace stress and well-being when working from home to encourage employees to, for example:
  • Take the rest breaks they are entitled to
  • Know what is expected of them when working from home
  • Have clear start and finish times
  • Switch off their work equipment at the end of the working day
  • Take regular screen breaks
  • Know how to report IT issues
  • Communicate with their manager (or HR) about sources of stress
  • Take sick leave when they are ill.

• Provide individual support — for example, during one-to-one reviews — for staff who demonstrate a pattern of answering work-related communications outside of their normal working hours.

• Make sure managers understand the concept (and importance of) a healthy work-life balance and that they model this where possible. Train managers on good management practices, including supporting employees with their workloads by agreeing realistic objectives, helping them achieve these, and resolving any issues which may cause them stress or to work excessive hours.

The right to disconnect is not just about turning off devices; it’s about fostering a healthy, more sustainable approach to work. For HR professionals, championing this right is an investment in the wellbeing of both employees and the organisation as a whole. As the conversation around work-life balance continues to evolve, the right to disconnect is poised to become a cornerstone of modern HR strategy.