Disconnecting energises employees
Deliberately disconnecting from work benefits your wellbeing and productivity. There is a right to disconnect in Belgium. It is part of the labour deal. How do you facilitate this as an employer?
Get started right away with our awareness materials. This enables you to encourage discussions about disconnecting at your organisation and making it tangible.
On this page:
What is disconnection?
Disconnection is the deliberate act of refraining from using digital devices for work-related purposes outside designated working hours. That includes using your phone to monitor incoming emails or reply to messages, for example.
Why is disconnecting so important?
The right amount of disconnection means you aren’t always ‘on’. You get the chance to recharge mentally. This is beneficial to both employees and employers.
Main advantages for employees:
- Room for mental and physical recovery
- Supportive of a healthy work-life balance
- Greater sense of control over time and energy
Main advantages for employers:
- Your employees are more motivated and show greater commitment.
- Your employees are sustainably employable.
From disconnection to brain-friendly work
While disconnecting is an important starting point, our desires go further: mental tranquility and a brain that feels energised. That’s why we prefer to use the term 'brain-friendly work'. This is an approach that supports your brain instead of exhausting it, and one that truly improves wellbeing at work.
What is brain-friendly work?
Brain-friendly work is about working in ways that are good for your mind. You can support your capacity for thought by doing less multitasking, limiting stimuli and creating space for deep focus. This prevents mental exhaustion and helps you to retain more energy at the end of the day.
Why is brain-friendly work important?
Our brains are flooded with stimuli every day. Email messages, notifications, meetings, colleagues with questions, etc. Switching focus constantly makes you tired, slower and more prone to errors. By working in brain-friendly ways, you can reduce stress, concentrate more easily and avoid burnout. You’ll feel the difference, both during and after a day at work.
How should you approach disconnection?
By establishing clear agreements and habits, your employees have a chance to disconnect without any worries.
- Make agreements and set boundaries – Ensure that your employees share their availability with everyone else. Establish clear agreements about availability outside these hours and persuade them to respect each other’s breaks.
- Be smart about technology – Agree to turn off notifications outside working hours. As long as you apply these tips, you can still incorporate the use of apps such as WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams in your disconnection policy.
- Promote routines and recovery moments – Encourage your employees to end each working day with a relaxing activity. They could take a short walk, for example.
- Be clear about expectations – Make it explicit that no responses to messages are expected outside working hours.
- Provide good examples – Encourage managers to actively adhere to agreements and set a good example themselves.