To all managers

I remember it so well. I was in a hotel in Forte dei Marmi with my little family. The sheets were white and crispy, the view of the sea phenomenal, the pillows fluffy and full. Heavenly, in short. At night, a text message popped in (yes, it was a while ago). I had taken out my lenses so everything was blurry, but I definitely recognized the name of my publisher. Somehow, I didn't think to screenshot and zoom in, so I got up, put in my lenses, and got to work. Director's cut trimmed down to trailer: I was sitting on the toilet of the hotel bathroom with a towel on my thighs to make the cold laptop a bit more bearable, emailing all night about a rejected cover whose alternative was a hundred times worse than the original. To say it ruined my vacation is going too far, but these kinds of practices did push me towards starting my own business.

Now I understand, and I immediately admit my own B-cup, that you sometimes read that one email at odd hours, hold that piece up to the light, or watch that edit, but you have to know that as a manager, you hit a bit harder in someone's life than a direct colleague. When I received an email from the boss, I would sit up straight. Even if you say that something is not urgent or can wait until tomorrow, you still pull someone out of their pleasant weekend or evening vibe.

There has been little research done on work-related telepressure, but American research shows that 53 percent reads their email on weekends. 44 percent does so on vacation. It's comparable to a ‘fear of missing out’, but then in the work area. You quickly respond to that email, that one message, and can then go back to relaxation mode. But that's not how it works, of course. This way, you never fully relax and are never completely offline.

Because it's a bit rude not to respond, I would say: don't message or email on weekends and especially not during someone's vacation. Another tip: go to a wifi-free area. Then you can really disconnect from that stream of messages and always have a good excuse at hand to not respond for a while.