It’s a Saturday at 6PM, and my phone has been vibrating through the entirety of “Love Actually” to the point where I don’t know if Hugh Grant has already confessed his love for his young staffer Natalie. I just want to watch this movie for the thousandth time — in peace.
It’s Slack notifications. And then Outlook emails and Teams chats and work-related texts to my personal phone and . . .
As I transition from being a college student to entering the corporate world, I begin to ponder: What happened to people taking a break on the weekend?Â
I work two on-campus jobs, neither requiring me to respond to these messages or notifications that are popping up while I am enjoying the peace of my Saturday evening. However, if I don’t respond within a reasonable amount of hours — even on the weekend — I am either spammed with more messages or feel the looming guilt through my phone while all of my other coworkers are responding. These tools — Teams, Slack, Outlook, Zoom, etc. — each serves as a reminder of the constant connectivity we can have with others in the workplace. While this can be beneficial during the 9-5 work week, there seems to be an increasing pressure to submit to corporate culture 24/7. Â
While I don’t necessarily feel the need to answer weekend messages, both of my roles are still fairly important — one works with vulnerable populations and the other requires that I manage 70+ student employees and correspond with thousands of prospective students. And, each position has a unique set of responsibilities, teams, and communication platforms, which often leave my laptop fried by the end of the week. As a result, once Friday afternoon hits, I just want to shut everything down. But, the sense of perpetual duty makes it hard to disconnect.Â
I am now watching the scene in “Love Actually” where graphic designers Sarah and Karl are both working on Christmas Eve. Timely, especially as Slack beeps another time. To me, choosing to respond to these messages on the weekend demonstrates that I don’t have work boundaries and can be contacted at any hour for any situation. The price of overworking is one that I am not willing to pay — I would rather be perceived as stringent with my hours than allowing my work to bleed into personal time, especially because these off-the-clock notifications tend to go unpaid. I will not end up like Sarah and Karl typing away in the office on a holiday, when I could spend the evening with myself or with my friends.
Digital tools have reshaped workplace dynamics, moving from fixed hours to an “always-on” mentality. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced industries to shut down and employees to work from home, these applications became essential for maintaining remote work and connectivity. However, even as many jobs have transitioned back to in-office or hybrid models, the expectation persists that remote employees remain constantly available and ready to respond at a moment’s notice. The long-term implications on mental health and productivity by selling your soul to a particular career outweigh the short-term people pleasing behaviors that come from responding immediately, even on your personal time. Allowing out-of-work labor to go uncompensated doesn’t make you stronger or a better worker — it makes you a pushover.Â
While we may never have full respect in the workplace for our personal time, it is up to you, the employee, to establish those boundaries from the get-go. There is no need to respond to your boss at 11PM on a Friday when you are getting drinks with the girls. That’s an issue for while you are on-the-clock on Monday morning. Don’t end up like Sarah and Karl. Turn your Slack on DND, and leave it be.