You’re describing a situation that resonates strongly with most of us. Since our phones have become our veritable lifelines, we have inadvertently blurred the lines between work and play. And when the pandemic firmly established remote working, we seem to have traded in the opportunity to ever switch off. Email and social media channels may have started out in our lives as distinct platforms with separate purposes but they have become somewhat interchangeable.

Creating strict work-life boundaries has therefore become a challenge that involves skilful planning. The first thing to observe is the existing culture of your environment, ie watch and learn from what others do, particularly those who are most senior. If the standard out-of-office message generally promises zero contact, then you can follow suit. In addition, it’s good practice to send a group email to your core contacts a few days before you leave, forewarning the dates of your absence and the fact that you won’t be checking messages. You can direct everyone towards who they should contact while you’re away. This gives others the chance to check anything important with you and is the polite way to deter most pesky enquiries. You are then legitimately free to ignore all of your messaging channels.

Honest Boss: “How can I get people to start respecting my OOO?”