Summer is approaching, and with it the promise of real holidays. Yet for many employees, this promise runs into a more nuanced reality: the fear of missing an important piece of information, a file left hanging, the guilt of “doing nothing”. Remote work, often seen as an obstacle to disconnecting, can actually become an ally — provided it’s used as an occasional safety net, not as an excuse to stay connected permanently.
1. Set the rules before leaving, not during
Agreeing with your team or manager, before departure, on the only cases where you remain reachable (a specific emergency, an identified file) avoids having to arbitrate in the moment, mid-holiday, what really deserves an interruption. A rule set with a clear head beats a decision made under pressure, phone in hand.
2. Use remote work as an option, not an obligation
Knowing you could connect for an hour if needed is reassuring — having to do it every day is not. The difference lies in who decides: if remote availability becomes systematic, it no longer lightens the mental load, it simply extends it elsewhere. The safety net should only be used when genuinely needed, never by default.
3. Really turn off non-essential notifications
Work emails, app notifications and various alerts maintain a background vigilance that prevents rest, even without actively opening the computer. Disabling notifications (not just muting them) during the periods defined in point 1 is what makes the difference between “available in case of emergency” and “never truly switched off”.
4. Use free time to recharge, away from screens
A walk in the forest, an evening watching a sunset, a moment by a stream: these are the simple moments, free of notifications or demands, that let the brain truly release the accumulated pressure. The quality of disconnection is measured less in days off than in moments truly disconnected.
5. Prepare a structured return, not an abrupt landing
Getting back to work with a clear list of the day’s priorities, rather than an overflowing inbox opened with no plan, keeps the previous days’ disconnection efforts from evaporating in one stressful morning. A few minutes of preparation the evening before returning are enough to head back with energy rather than apprehension.
At SOM&SP, this question of the right balance between flexibility and genuine rest comes up regularly in our conversations with companies as well as with the candidates we support through recruitment, temp staffing and training: an organisation that knows how to offer flexibility without demanding permanent availability is today a real attractiveness criterion — and an employee who comes back from holiday truly rested is, very concretely, more effective than one who never fully switched off.
