Supporting Employees to Disconnect from Work

With the rise of mobile technology, alternative work arrangements, and the 24/7 economy, the boundary between "work time" and "personal time" has been blurred.

Every day outside of normal working hours in Canada according to the Privy Council Office Survey on Current Issues, August 17-30, 2020

43% of workers check their work email
28% of workers perform work related to their job (aside from answering work emails, calls or texts)
1 in 3 workers respond to work emails or answer work calls or texts

Disconnecting is the ability for an employee to disengage from work by not having to attend to work-related electronic communications, including emails, texts and calls, outside their normal working hours.

Why don’t workers disconnect?

expected/nature of the job
irregular working hours
workload

Effects

work-life interference
stress
health issues
burnout

Develop a policy on disconnecting

Clearly define the boundaries between work time and non-work time.
Address how labour or employment standards protections are being respected.
Address the issue of working across different time zones.
Consider how disconnecting impacts emergencies and other safety-related issues.
Set expectations for response times to non-essential emails sent after working hours.

What can we all do?

Respect another person's efforts to disconnect by not routinely emailing or calling outside their normal working hours.
Model behaviour by not checking and responding to emails during time off work.
Be clear that any communications sent outside working hours do not require an immediate response, unless it’s an emergency.