About half of IT professionals prefer to ignore business communication apps like Microsoft Teams or Slack after work hours. This is rarely expected by the employer.

Since April 1, 2023, the “right to be unavailable” applies to companies with more than twenty employees in Belgium. This means that the employer cannot require employees to respond to telephone calls, emails and chat messages outside of working hours. How do employees and donors deal with professional communication outside of working hours? ITdaily surveyed (Belgian) IT professionals and found that the majority prefer to be left alone after working hours.

49 percent say that they never look at Teams, Slack, etc. again once they have logged out at the end of the working day. Even for those who look, this is the exception rather than the rule. 28 percent only check on their own initiative and prefer to leave notifications for communication apps turned off. 19 percent voluntarily leave notifications turned on for urgent questions or messages.

The employee decides

A noticeable trend in the results is that availability outside of business hours is rarely if ever expected or required by the employer. Only three percent of respondents say they look at Teams or Slack after work because it is encouraged within the organization, while barely one percent actually expect them to be available anytime, anywhere. Most employers allow employees to choose whether or not they want to be available outside of working hours.

These numbers come from a reader survey conducted on our website in October. 163 respondents took part in the survey. Every month the ITdaily editorial team asks our readers about a current technology topic. Here you will find all results.