A woman at one of my yoga classes in Brisbane told me she’d been sleeping with her work phone on the nightstand. Slack messages at 11pm on a Tuesday. She didn’t answer, but she couldn’t sleep either. She lay there for two hours, composing responses in her head.

She wasn’t in emergency services. She worked in marketing.

This is what always-on work culture does. We’re never fully off. And that state of perpetual availability is doing measurable damage to our mental health, our sleep, and our relationships.

The research is clear

A 2024 study from the University of Queensland found that workers who felt obligated to monitor work communications outside of hours reported significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion, even when they didn’t actually respond to messages. It’s the anticipation that does the damage — the sense that a demand could arrive at any moment.

Separate research from the Australia Institute found that Australians worked an average of 281 hours of unpaid overtime in 2024, much of it driven by after-hours communication. That’s nearly seven full working weeks of free labour, fuelled largely by the ping of a notification.

And yet, most people I talk to feel powerless to change it. The fear is always the same: if I set boundaries, I’ll be seen as uncommitted. I’ll miss something important. I’ll be passed over.

The Right to Disconnect

Here’s the good news. Australia’s Right to Disconnect legislation, which came into effect for larger employers in 2024 and extends to small businesses in 2025, gives workers the legal right to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to work-related communications outside their working hours, unless that refusal is unreasonable.

This is significant. It means your employer can’t penalise you for not answering an email at 9pm. It doesn’t mean you can never be contacted outside hours — genuinely urgent situations are still covered. But the default has shifted. The expectation of constant availability is no longer legally protected.

Practical steps to reclaim your off-hours

Knowing you have the right is one thing. Actually establishing boundaries in your daily life is another. Here’s how I’d approach it.

1. Define your working hours and communicate them

This sounds basic, but most people have never explicitly stated when they’re available and when they’re not. Put it in your email signature. Set it in your Slack status. Tell your manager in a direct conversation: “I’m available from 8:30 to 5:30. Outside of those hours, I’ll respond the next business day unless it’s urgent.”

The word “urgent” is doing important work there. You’re not saying you’ll never be available — you’re defining the conditions under which you will be.

2. Remove work apps from your personal phone

If you can, remove email and messaging apps from your personal phone entirely. Access them only through your laptop during working hours. If that’s not possible, use Focus or Do Not Disturb modes to silence work notifications outside hours.

3. Batch your communication

One of the reasons we feel chained to notifications is the expectation of immediate response. But most messages don’t require an instant reply. Try checking email and messages at set intervals — say, three times a day — rather than responding in real time. You’ll be more focused, more productive, and less reactive.

4. Have the conversation with your manager

This is the one most people avoid, and it’s the most important. Approach it as a performance conversation, not a complaint. “I’ve noticed that when I’m responding to messages in the evening, my focus during working hours suffers. I’d like to try a clearer boundary so I can be more effective during the day.”

Frame it around output, not around rights. Most reasonable managers will support this.

5. Model the behaviour you want to see

If you’re a manager or team leader, this one’s for you. Stop sending emails at 10pm. If you must work late, use the scheduled send function. Your team takes cues from your behaviour, not your policies.

6. Protect your mornings too

Boundaries aren’t just about evenings. If the first thing you do each morning is check work messages before you’ve even gotten out of bed, you’ve already lost the day. Give yourself at least 30 minutes — ideally an hour — before engaging with work. Your nervous system will thank you.

The cultural shift takes time

Setting boundaries with work notifications isn’t a one-time action. It’s an ongoing practice. But here’s what I’ve found: nobody died. Projects still got delivered. Careers didn’t implode. And quality of life improved in ways that are hard to overstate.

Your evenings and weekends are not buffer zones for your employer’s poor planning. They’re yours. Protect them.