Digital 'detox'?

​The recently elected president of France Emmanuel Macron has now set about a programme to modernize much French employment law. One law I hope he will retain is the ‘law to disconnect’ that came into effect this year. This states that companies with more than 50 workers need a charter of good conduct, setting out the hours when staff are not expected to send or answer emails. The first concern here is that this is needed at all; I was unaware that contracted hours now extended to 24! However the global marketplace that crosses time zones and the ability to be constantly connected has undoubtedly blurred the work-life boundary. While we are ‘connected’ we are under constant pressure to respond or to make decisions and this raises hormone levels to a persistent state of alertness. This is having serious implications for mental health as individuals get no mental rest and risk stress, burnout and depression. It is no surprise that Mindfulness has been taking hold as a way to pro-actively re-introduce these periods of mental down-time. 
 
Some argue that having such a principle in legislation is unworkable and that every organisation should have internal policies on the issue. Some are in fact starting to educate workers with a ‘Digital Wellness Programme’. However, putting it into legislation does raise the profile and debate on a very serious issue. This is leading to a number of initiatives in how to tackle the problem. VW ensure the server will not forward e-mails when workers are on leave or off shift. Virgin Start-Up use a 2 hour ‘digital detox’ period where no e-mails can be sent as employees are encouraged to go and talk to each other. How radical!
 
What rules need to be set for yourself and others about ‘disconnecting’?
When is a good time to give yourself a break?
How can you protect yourself and your staff from potential digital burnout?