Nearly two-thirds of UK employees check work emails outside their contracted hours, and for many, it’s become so normal they barely notice they’re doing it. That quiet habit is exactly the problem.
The right to disconnect is no longer a fringe HR topic — it’s a live policy conversation in the UK, and small and medium-sized businesses that get ahead of it now will be better placed than those scrambling to catch up later.
The Challenge of an “Always-On” Culture
Smartphones, shared inboxes, and instant messaging have made work permanently reachable. Emails sent at 9pm, Slack pings on a Sunday, and the unspoken expectation of a quick reply have all become part of everyday working life for many employees.
The problem isn’t any single late-night message. It’s the cumulative effect: disrupted sleep, shrinking downtime, and a nagging sense that switching off might be judged as not pulling your weight. Left unaddressed, this pattern is a well-documented driver of stress, burnout, and falling productivity — the exact opposite of what “staying connected” was meant to achieve.
What Is the Right to Disconnect?
The right to disconnect (sometimes called the “right to switch off”) is the principle that employees shouldn’t be expected to answer work calls, emails, or messages outside their agreed working hours.
It isn’t yet a standalone legal right in the UK. The Employment Rights Act 2025 — which received Royal Assent in December 2025 — didn’t include it, but the government has confirmed it still intends to introduce a statutory Code of Practice on switching off.
Even without a specific law, employers already carry duty-of-care obligations under existing health and safety and working time legislation, meaning persistent out-of-hours pressure on staff is a genuine legal and wellbeing risk today, not just a future one.
Why It Matters for SMEs
For smaller businesses, this can feel like an awkward balancing act. Lean teams often rely on flexibility and fast turnaround, and a founder or manager firing off a quick message in the evening can seem harmless. But without clear ground rules, that habit quietly becomes an unwritten expectation — and employees start to feel they must always be reachable, even when nobody has explicitly asked them to be.
The business case for fixing this is strong. Employees who can properly switch off tend to be more focused, engaged, and productive during the hours that count. Constant availability, by contrast, is linked to more mistakes, higher absenteeism, and greater staff turnover. All are costly problems for an SME operating with a lean team and no room for disruption.
Getting ahead of the right to disconnect now, before any formal Code of Practice lands, also means SMEs can shape a policy that suits their own working patterns rather than retrofitting one under pressure later.
Practical Steps to Get Started
Practical Steps to Get Started
Supporting the right to disconnect doesn’t require a lengthy policy document or a complete overhaul of how your business communicates. A few practical, consistently applied changes make a real difference:
- Set clear expectations around response times, so staff know what’s genuinely urgent versus what can wait until morning
- Encourage employees not to check emails outside working hours, and make clear that not replying at 8pm is not a performance issue
- Avoid sending non-urgent messages late in the evening or at weekends — even a “no need to respond now” note can still trigger a duty of care
- Lead by example at management level, since staff take their cues from what leaders actually do, not just what a policy says
Creating a Sustainable Approach
Supporting employees to properly switch off isn’t about rigid rules or removing flexibility — it’s about building a healthier, more sustainable way of working that protects both wellbeing and performance. For SMEs, small, deliberate changes to communication habits and expectations can meaningfully improve staff wellbeing, retention, and overall performance, while putting the business ahead of any future legal requirement rather than behind it.
If you’re not sure where to start, Nexus HR can help you build practical, right-sized policies around out-of-hours communication as part of our HR Support & Change service, and coach your managers to lead by example through our Training and Development programmes. Get in touch for a free consultation or call 01245 91982.
