Your phone rang last night at 10 p.m. It was a Slack notification. You looked. You replied.
You didn’t have to. But you did anyway.
This seemingly harmless reflex lies at the heart of one of the most revealing paradoxes of our professional era: we have more tools than ever to work efficiently, yet we can no longer seem to stop.
A recognized right, but rarely applied in practice
In Belgium, the right to disconnect has been enshrined in law since 2022, through Collective Labour Agreement No. 149. It requires companies with more than 20 employees to negotiate clear rules around disconnection and to raise awareness among their teams.
Two years later, the results remain mixed. While the legal framework exists, behaviors have not followed. European statistics are telling: according to a 2023 Eurofound survey, 80% of employees receive work-related requests outside their working hours, and 25% systematically respond to them.
The law sets the framework. Habits persist.
What AI changes: for better and for worse
Artificial intelligence could, in theory, be a valuable ally of the right to disconnect.
Here are some concrete examples of what it already enables:
- Scheduling delayed messages: writing a message at 10 p.m. but scheduling it to be sent at 9 a.m. the next day, without creating pressure on the recipient;
- Filtering real urgencies: some AI tools analyze incoming messages and only flag those requiring immediate attention;
- Generating catch-up summaries: no longer needing to “stay connected to avoid missing out” thanks to automatic summaries of missed exchanges;
- Automating responses during absence: AI assistants capable of handling routine messages without human intervention.
In theory, all of this should free up time and reduce the anxiety of disconnecting.
But there is a downside. These same tools also make work more accessible, smoother, and more tempting at any time. An AI that summarizes your emails in two minutes removes the natural friction that once discouraged you from checking them on a Sunday morning. AI removes obstacles. It also removes safeguards.
Julien, or the illusion of control
Julien is a project manager in a consulting agency. Rigorous and committed, he equipped himself with the best tools: summarization AI, planning assistant, smart notifications.
His stated goal? To be more efficient so he could truly disconnect in the evening.
Six months later, Julien works more than before.
Because each tool removes a barrier to his availability. Because his clients, seeing his ultra-fast responses, naturally raised their expectations. And because Julien, deep down, had not addressed what drove him to stay connected: fear of disappointing, need for control, difficulty delegating.
It was during a particularly difficult mid-year review that he realized the obvious: his tools were perfect. But he had never truly decided to disconnect. He had simply optimized the way he stayed connected.
What AI will never do for you
Truly disconnecting requires skills that AI does not possess:
- Setting boundaries and maintaining them in the face of implicit expectations from colleagues and/or clients;
- Tolerating the guilt of not responding immediately;
- Identifying your own triggers: why do you feel the need to check your messages, even when everything is fine?
- Clearly communicating your availability, without over-justifying yourself.
Disconnecting is not a setting to configure. It is a mindset, a decision, a muscle to train. It touches on self-esteem, professional relationships, and the ability to trust others.
No algorithm will do this work for you.
Disconnecting is something you learn
The right to disconnect is not something that can simply be declared in a company policy. It is built through daily behaviors—yours, but also those of your managers and teams.
It involves understanding why you stay connected, knowing how to set healthy boundaries, and developing true digital hygiene—not a list of rules, but a balanced relationship with work and free time.
This is exactly what our training programs offer: helping professionals regain control, not by removing tools, but by changing their relationship to availability. Because true disconnection starts in the mind, long before you switch off your screen.
👉 Want to learn how to truly disconnect? Discover our training: “Unplug and free yourself: Master the right to disconnect with our tools”
Unplug and Free Yourself: Master the Right to Disconnect with Your Tools
