Μake us preferred on Google The working day may end when an employee leaves the office, but for many people, work continues long afterward. Emails arrive late at night, smartphones keep buzzing, and even a quiet evening at home can become a period of waiting for the next notification.
The result is that workers can remain mentally at work even when they are physically on the couch, away from their desks. The smartphone has made the traditional end of the working day increasingly difficult to define, allowing work to follow people into weekends, holidays, vacations and even their beds.
“Someone can be sitting on their couch and still be psychologically at the office,” Katerina Georganta, an assistant professor of organizational psychology at the University of Ioannina, told To BHMA.
She describes this as a failure of “psychological detachment,” a term used to describe the ability to stop performing work tasks and thinking about work during personal time.
The issue has become significant enough to reach the European Parliament, which on October 6 approved a report on psychosocial risks, stress and mental health in the workplace. The report, presented by Belgian Socialist and Democrats lawmaker Estelle Ceulemans, calls for an effective European-wide “right to disconnect.”
“Developments in the labor market, particularly the widespread use of digital tools, have increased the risks associated with longer working hours, constant connectivity and the intrusion of work into private life,” Ceulemans told To BHMA.
For her, the issue goes beyond whether employees should answer emails after hours. It also involves burnout, stress, algorithmic management and the broader organization of work in the digital age.
Europe revisits the right to disconnect
The debate is not new. In January 2021, as the pandemic accelerated the shift to remote work, the European Parliament called for common European legislation establishing a right to disconnect. The report at the time was presented by Maltese lawmaker Alex Agius Saliba.
Remote work offered greater flexibility, but it also made the boundary between professional and personal life much less distinct. Five years later, the issue has returned in a more complex form.
In Greece, legislation already grants remote workers the right to disconnect. Employees can fully refrain from work outside their scheduled hours and are not required to respond to phone calls, emails or other digital messages. They must not face adverse treatment for exercising this right.
The challenge, however, is the gap between having a legal right and being able to use it in practice.
“A right that is not enforced in practice remains a declaration,” Georganta said.
Workplace culture can be more influential than formal rules. If the employee regarded as most committed is the one who responds to messages at 11 p.m., colleagues receive a clear signal about what is expected, even when no official policy requires it.
“A manager who sends emails at midnight establishes a norm, regardless of what the company policy says,” Georganta explained.
The expectation of constant availability may also point to a deeper problem. If employees regularly have to work beyond their scheduled hours, the issue may not be their inability to set personal boundaries but the way their jobs are designed.
In other words, constant availability may be a symptom rather than the underlying cause.
The strain of waiting for the next notification
Work does not need to generate an actual message to interfere with rest. The possibility of being contacted can be enough to keep employees mentally tied to their jobs.
“The state of waiting is burdensome in itself, even when the phone ultimately does not ring,” Georganta said.
Part of the worker’s attention remains occupied by the possibility of an interruption, leaving work mentally unfinished even during personal time.
“You cannot plan your evening because your evening does not exactly belong to you,” she said.
The consequences extend beyond well-being. Difficulty disconnecting is associated with greater fatigue, poorer sleep quality and reduced performance.
This creates a paradox for employers who believe that keeping workers available for longer makes them more productive.
“It is not just a matter of well-being; it is a matter of productivity,” Georganta said. Without sufficient time to recover, employees may work longer hours while producing less work of lower quality.
Technology has made the intrusion of work into personal time almost invisible. A message may take two minutes to read, an email another three minutes to answer, and a request to “take a quick look” may appear too minor to justify setting a boundary.
Research on technostress uses the term “techno-invasion” to describe the way technology encroaches on personal time and creates the feeling that work never truly ends.
Georganta said that, in conversations with human resources professionals, one recurring concern was the constant sense of urgency surrounding everyday tasks.
“The impression that everything is urgent ultimately means that nothing is,” she said.
Why legislation alone may not be enough
Ceulemans argues that a meaningful right to disconnect must guarantee that employees are not required to respond to their employers outside working hours. But she says legislation alone cannot resolve the problem.
Work must also be organized and managed in ways that prevent employees from feeling pressured to remain available at all times.
She argues that effective implementation requires workplace inspections, penalties for violations and adequately staffed labor inspectorates.
The central question, therefore, is not simply whether employees can silence their phones or activate “Do Not Disturb” mode. It is whether workplace culture allows them to do so without having their decision interpreted as a refusal to work.
Georganta emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between employees being permitted to ignore after-hours messages and employers genuinely not expecting them to respond.
“It is not enough to tell people, ‘Do not respond.’ It must be made clear that they are not expected to respond,” she said.
