Burnout from constant Slack notifications – how to set boundaries with your boss?

Hey guys, I need some career/lifestyle advice. I work for a fully remote company, and while I love the flexibility, the company culture has become completely toxic regarding communication. People are sending Slack messages and tagging me at 9 PM, and my manager routinely texts my personal phone on weekends asking for quick edits. I feel like I am permanently on the clock, and I’m starting to experience severe dread every time my phone chirps. My sleep is ruined because I’m checking my messages in the middle of the night just in case something blew up. How do I set boundaries and log off completely without looking like I'm not a team player or risking my job?

 

That is a fast track to severe clinical burnout, and you need to protect yourself before your health completely breaks down. Remote work requires explicit, hard boundaries because the physical separation of "work" and "home" doesn't exist. You need to have a polite but firm conversation with your manager. Tell them that to maintain your productivity during the day, you will be turning your status to "Away" and disabling notifications at precisely 6 PM, and that weekend emergencies should only be handled if they are actual catastrophes. Most logical managers will respect that. To recover from the damage already done, you urgently need a complete weekend tech blackout to clear those stress hormones out of your system. There's a brilliant guide from a wellness clinic that details how constant connectivity ruins sleep patterns and elevates adrenaline https://revita-clinic.eu/digital-detox-can-it-actually-improve-your-sleep-and-stress-levels/ Show yourself some grace, log off this Friday at 6 PM, and don't look back until Monday morning.

 

Thank you for the validation, I really needed to hear that it's okay to protect my time, and that link will give me some great talking points for my manager!