The Right to Log Off: When Clocking Out Doesn’t Really Mean Clocking Out
Some evenings, you shut down your laptop and sit down for dinner with your family, but your mind hasn’t disconnected from work. A notification flashes across your phone screen, and even without opening it, you find yourself wondering: Is this urgent? Do I need to reply now? This feeling is so familiar that most of us no longer see it as unusual – just another part of having a job.
In fact, in organizational science, this phenomenon has a specific name: telepressure – the pressure to always be available to respond to work, coined by researchers Barber and Santuzzi in 2015. A quiet, seemingly personal feeling turns out to be well-studied and clearly defined suggests that this experience is far more common than most people realize.
This also explains why “the right to log off” is gaining meaningful attention across countries and organizations. In Vietnam, the topic has recently entered public discussion as well. According to Tuổi Trẻ Online (Thành Chung, 2026), National Assembly delegate Nguyễn Thị Việt Nga proposed in June adding a “right to log off/disconnect from work” to the Labor Code, which would allow employees to not monitor or handle work matters outside agreed working hours, except in defined emergency cases. The proposal is still under discussion and has not yet become the official law, but its emergence alone signals something significant: difficulty disconnecting after work is no longer an isolated, individual experience, yet an increasingly recognized systemic issue worth serious discussion
The psychology behind the difficulty of “switching off”
To understand why this feeling is so persistent, it helps to look at four underlying mechanisms.
1/ The pressure to always be available
This is the core of telepressure: the need to respond immediately, even after official working hours have ended. This pressure rarely comes from an explicit requirement, but rather often stems from an unspoken expectation that a good employee is always reachable, always quick to respond.
2/ Difficulty in psychologically detaching
Even after work has formally stopped, the mind keeps “running” through work-related concerns. A diary study tracking nearly 270 employees by Cambier and Vlerick (2022) found that the pressure to respond quickly makes it harder to reach what psychologists call “psychological detachment” – a process essential for the body and mind to genuinely recover after a workday. When this process is disrupted over time, sleep and energy recovery are affected as well.
3/ Quiet accumulation
This is precisely why the phenomenon is easy to overlook. Unlike a clear incident or an obviously overwhelming day, telepressure has no single defining moment. It builds gradually, day by day, and often only becomes apparent when someone realizes it’s been quite a long time since the last time they slept soundly through the night, since a weekend actually felt like rest, or since they had as much time for themselves and beloved ones as before.
4/ Self-worth tied to response speed
This is the final layer, and the one that makes the pressure hardest to let go of. Research by He et al. (2024) found that people with a stronger need for validation are more likely to get drawn into the cycle of fast responding, because for them, replying quickly isn’t just about completing a task; it’s tied to the feeling of being recognized and valued.
Struggling to disconnect doesn’t come from a lack of discipline – it’s a natural response to a pressure that now has a science-based name.
What happens if this continues
Left unaddressed, this pattern tends to lead to two kinds of consequences.
1/ Professional burnout
This isn’t simply feeling tired after a long day. Professional burnout is a gradual process of losing engagement with one’s work and a sense of effectiveness in what one does (Xu et al., 2026). When the mind rarely gets a full rest, one’s own focus and problem-solving ability also tend to erode over time – a process that usually unfolds quietly and isn’t always easy to notice in the short term.
2/ Spillover into personal life
In practice, accumulated work stress often “leaks” into family and personal relationships before it becomes clearly visible at work (He et al., 2023). A distracted evening with loved ones, or a weekend that never quite feels restful – these are often early signs, appearing before fatigue visibly affects work performance.
A few things you can try this week
You don’t need a major overhaul to start resetting the boundary between work and rest. These three small steps can be a good start.
1/ Choose a real disconnect window
Set a fixed time each day after which work is set aside. There’s no need to change your entire schedule, just a clear, consistent boundary.
2/ Keep a short reminder ready for yourself
Whenever you’re about to reopen a work message after hours, a simple line can help: “This can wait until tomorrow morning.” Short as it is, it creates a pause before the reflex to “answer right away” takes over the decision.
3/ Remember that setting and keeping boundaries isn’t selfish
This may be the most important point for sustaining the two habits above. A boundary isn’t the opposite of dedication – it’s what makes strong performance and genuine commitment sustainable over the long run.
The line between work time and personal time isn’t always easy to hold, especially in a work rhythm where fast responses have become something of an unspoken norm. And sometimes, adjusting on your own isn’t quite enough. If there comes a point where you feel it’s time to set this weight down, reaching out for professional support is also a choice worth considering as a way of caring for yourself.
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References:
Cambier, R., & Vlerick, P. (2022). When thoughts have no off switch: The cost of telepressure and message-based communication behaviour within boundary-crossing contexts. Occupational Health Science, 6(4), 545-564. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-022-00127-7
He, H., Li, D., Zhou, Y., & Zhang, P. (2023). The spillover effect of work connectivity behaviors on employees’ family: Based on the perspective of work-home resource model. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1067645. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1067645
He, X., Gao, Q., Cao, Y., Bian, R., & Wang, X.-H. (2024). “Always online”: How and when task interdependence and dispositional workplace anxiety affect workplace telepressure after hours. PsyCh Journal, 13(4), 639-653. https://doi.org/10.1002/pchj.747
Xu, A. J., Sun, H., & Ma, J. (2026). Does after-hours telepressure increase next––day emotional exhaustion or cognitive flexibility? The role of different work-related rumination processes. Human Resource Management, 65(3), 799-821. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.70050
Thành Chung. (2026, June 8). Đại biểu Quốc hội đề xuất quyền “ngắt kết nối sau giờ làm việc” của người lao động. Tuổi Trẻ Online. https://tuoitre.vn/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-de-xuat-quyen-ngat-ket-noi-sau-gio-lam-viec-cua-nguoi-lao-dong-20260608150323517.htm
