Always-On Work Culture: Stress, Unpaid Overtime, and Europe's Right-to-Disconnect Efforts

Have you ever found yourself replying to work emails late at night? Unfortunately, this is a scenario that many people are all too familiar with.

The rise of remote working, combined with ongoing volatility and layoffs across the global labour market, has increasingly blurred the boundaries of reasonable working hours.

As a result, millions of Europeans are finding that their work is steadily encroaching on their personal time.

According to a key Eurofound study published in June, around one in five EU workers say that they are contacted for work-related reasons outside normal working hours many times each month, leading to significant additional stress and reinforcing an always-on culture.

This phenomena extends to the UK as well, with CV company MyPerfectCV’s new Always-On Workforce Report 2026 highlighting that more than half of British employees work beyond their normal working hours every day.

Contact outside working hours a key driver of stress

Around 59% of European workers surveyed by Eurofound said they always or almost always experienced stress at work. The study found that the frequency with which workers were contacted outside normal working hours was directly linked to higher levels of stress.

By contrast, only 17% of workers who were never contacted outside working hours reported feeling stressed.

Similarly, according to a recent analysis of the UK Labour Force Survey by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), approximately 3.5 million British workers – or one in eight – regularly worked unpaid overtime last year, contributing an estimated £28.5 billion (€33.3 billion) in unpaid labour.

As such, the increasingly prevalent always-on culture is having a significant impact on mental health and work–life balance.

Heavy workloads were the biggest driver of out-of-hours contact in Europe, according to Eurofound.

Remote workers, in particular, struggled to maintain boundaries and were more frequently exposed to overtime, irregular schedules and work spilling into their free time, alongside an expectation that they should remain constantly available.

“Among employees with flexible start and finish times, 64% report being contacted outside working hours at least occasionally, compared with 49% of those with standard schedules. A similar pattern appears by work location: 63% of teleworkers report such contact, compared with 48% of employees working exclusively at their employer’s premises,” the Eurofound survey said.

According to the Always-On Workforce Report, 92% of UK employees struggle to mentally switch off during their time off, well above the European average of 78%. Similarly, 88% said they feel anxious or guilty when requesting leave.

A combination of operational, personal and cultural factors prevents workers from switching off completely, including fear of missing out, management expectations, work apps on their phones and concerns about being perceived as replaceable.

What are European countries doing about it?

What are European countries doing about it?

In an effort to better protect workers' work–life balance, several European countries, including France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Luxembourg, have introduced legal measures, labour regulations or workplace codes aimed at limiting out-of-hours contact and safeguarding employees' right to rest.

These measures range from statutory right-to-disconnect laws and amendments to labour codes to collective agreements and non-binding codes of practice. By contrast, the UK currently has no standalone statutory right to disconnect.

Despite these advances, implementing and enforcing the rules remains challenging. National approaches vary considerably, creating a fragmented regulatory landscape across Europe. Employers must also contend with deeply ingrained always-on workplace cultures, while hybrid working, international collaboration and cross-border teams can make it harder to establish clear boundaries between working and personal time.

This is particularly true for senior managers and employees with flexible working arrangements, whose roles often involve irregular schedules, greater autonomy and collaboration across different time zones. As a result, it can be less clear when they are expected to be available and when their personal time begins.

In some countries, certain obligations apply only to employers above a specified size, meaning workers in smaller businesses may not benefit from the same level of protection.

Fear of retaliation or being perceived as less committed can also lead employees to respond to work communications outside normal hours voluntarily, making it more difficult for organisations to foster lasting cultural change.