The right to disconnect: Why leaders should encourage employees to unplug
What is the right to disconnect??The term means exactly what it sounds like—your employee's right to shut off work after hours without fear of repercussion. As?Fast Company points out , legislation is mounting in support of an employee’s right to not be available off the clock in?France ,?Italy ,?Spain ,?Ireland , and elsewhere.?The?European Union (EU) defines the right to disconnect ?as “a worker’s right to be able to disengage from work and refrain from engaging in work-related electronic communications, such as emails or other messages, during non-work hours.” What do?“working hours” look like as the line between home life and work life blurs?
Know this: Overworked?employees are overstressed?employees, and the business impact of burnout is significant. A 2021?Employee Burnout Report from Indeed ?found that, “More than half (52%) of respondents are feeling burned out, and more than two-thirds (67%) believe the feeling has worsened over the course of the pandemic.”
A?2020 study from Deloitte ?estimates that employers lose approximately $56 billion a year in expenses that stem from burnout—including absence, presentee-ism (employees underperforming or functioning at reduced capacity), and turnover costs. And that barely begins to scratch the surface.
Make the right to disconnect from communication a priority
Employers who prioritize the wellbeing of their employees and their company create an environment where a healthy work-life balance isn’t just encouraged—it’s the norm. Build a culture in which considerate communication is the default. Adjust communication guidelines as needed to protect your employees.
Make async communication the norm
An immediate response from a coworker should be the exception, not the rule, and employees should be encouraged to use?asynchronous communication . Provide a maximum response time frame to keep projects moving forward (for example, within 24 hours, Monday through Friday), but let team members know they don't need to be monitoring Slack, email, etc. 24/7.
Set and share working hours
With employees on flexible schedules and/or across time zones, make sure it’s clear when people are available and when they aren’t. Google Calendar, for example, allows employees to?set their working hours . And some teams have loosely scheduled face-time hours to allow for meetings across time zones (such as 9:00am-1:00pm). Encourage your team to set parameters to limit face-to-face meetings that don’t work for everyone. Help employees be respectful of their coworkers’ working hours and avoid scheduling snafus.
Embrace a “schedule, don’t send” policy
When employees know how they’re expected to communicate, it’s easier to make the decision to unplug once the workday is done. Clear communication expectations alleviate the pressure to check emails during dinner or frantically type up responses to questions that could wait until morning.
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Coach teams to?schedule Slack messages ?or emails (in?Outlook ?or?Gmail ) for the following morning instead of sending them when the recipient is “off the clock.” For communication that’s not time-sensitive, employees should preface requests with language like “this isn’t urgent” or “later this week” so people know there’s no rush to respond.
Encourage healthy work-life balance
Sure, you may offer unlimited vacation time or flexible hours. But if your employees don’t feel they can?take?that time off without negative repercussions (like being passed up for a promotion), then they’re likely to burn out.
Model your company’s commitment to?boundaries around work-life balance ?with internal policies that promote?flexible work schedules ,?vacation , and time to relax outside of working hours. Evaluate your organization’s existing policies and ask if they provide clear expectations. And if you’re not doing so already, offer your employees the following:
Hybrid and remote work options
Who can?work remotely ? And are there different expectations for remote workers vs. office workers? Spoiler alert: In equitable workplaces, there shouldn’t be.?
Could?hybrid work ?be an option for some teams or individuals? While the pandemic forced a mass office exodus, it also created a new landscape of options. Evaluate your building capacity and decide who can safely return, and when. Employees need to know exactly what working remotely or on-site entails to decide what they enjoy and find productive.
Outline tasks, expectations, and goals
Flexible work is great, but it needs parameters for success beyond just sitting at a keyboard for a certain number of hours. Provide employees with written guidelines on how much work they’re expected to complete each week, each month, or each quarter. To embrace flexibility and avoid burnout, employees need guide rails and metrics to know when their work is done.
Remind employees to use their benefits
Make certain employees understand all their benefits, including health and wellness perks such as mental health services or gym membership. And more importantly, make sure leaders and human resources use?positive?language when discussing these benefits to encourage their use. If employees feel like they can’t or shouldn’t use their benefits, they won’t, which drives them toward overwork.