When the bosses already value at the same time they do not work in your free time

More and more companies recognize the importance of their employees Disconnect from work to improve your well -being and Avoid exhaustion. After all, it suits them since that way Improve productivity.

However, a New study It has confirmed the existence of a significant contradiction: although managers value their employees to take breaks and maintain a good balance between working and personal life, they usually penalize those who make use of those limits.

The detachment paradox. The study carried out by researchers from the University of Science and Technology of Hong Kong and the Spanish IE Business Schoolanalyzed how managers perceive employees disconnect of work in your free time. “We only analyzed what happens when the worker should not work, such as the afternoons, on weekends and vacations,” said Elisa Solinas, co -author of the study.

OK To what is published in Hardvard Business Reviewthe experiment had 7,800 participants, in which managers evaluated fictional employees who in a version took measures to disconnect from work and in another not. The results showed that, in their reports, managers recognized that those who disconnected from work during the weekend, returned with more energy and better performance. However, in the evaluations, they constantly described them as less compromised, even if they were more productive than those that did not disconnect.

Even if you are the best, do not rest. The data suggest that the feeling of reproach of managers towards employees persisted even when the employee was a direct subordinate of the manager, when the employee who was disconnected was objectively better in his work and even when he disconnected for a justified reason as take care of a relative.

As they stressed in HBR, managers tend to identify Availability with effort and commitment. “Our studies show that the commitment is valued almost more than productivity. In short, we seek to perceive that a worker is really committed, and that is what, in fact, we reward more than productivity,” declaredBuechel a Fortune

If you take care of yourself, you don’t ascend. The experiment revealed that, in addition, 62% of managers considered that those employees who put limits between working time and staff were less likely to be promoted, despite recognizing that their productivity could be greater. A bias that too It was given on teleworking. As Eva Buechel explained, co -author of the study: “The same people who said that workers were going to be more productive also said they were going to be less promotable.”

This bias reflects that, although the disconnection and rest improve health and employee performance can negatively affect the perception of commitment and professional opportunities since employees who respond outside your working hours or that their vacations skip are seen as people who strive more.

The cost of not disconnecting. The pressure to always be available generates negative consequences. According to data from A studyMade by the Glassdoor Employment Portal, exhaustion reports increased by 32% year -on -year during the first quarter of 2025. Employees who claimed to feel exhausted have shot themselves above 50% if it was counted since 2019.

“Even if a satisfied or high -performance employee can support a greater workload without impact on its productivity or in its satisfaction during a short period, that does not necessarily mean that it can do it indefinitely,” wrote Daniel Zhao, author of the Glassdoor report.

Benefits of taking a break. A meta -analysisLed by Ryan Grant, a PhD student in Psychology at the University of Georgia, he found that the revitalizing effects during free time are actually 85% greater than what was suggested in different studies, and their benefits can be extended up to 43 days after the holidays.

Grant points out that the disconnection capacity “was the only recovery activity that had a strong positive association with well -being, both during the holidays. This suggests that the more you disconnect yourself psychologically from work during your break, the better your vacation will be your vacation and the greater your benefits for well -being later.” The scientific evidence It corroborates Grant’s conclusions on the benefits in the mental health of employees who separate work time and leisure time.

Disconnected by law. Countries like Spain and Australia have created a legal framework to guarantee the Right to digital disconnection Out of working hours. The regulations not only exempt employees from responding to any message or call of their work during their rest time, but penalize companies that carry out these practices.

What the legislation cannot regulate is the perception that managers have of those workers who comply with the work schedule that appears in their contract.

In Xataka | Bill Gates’ five errors that led him to improve at work: productivity is not everything

Image | Unspash (DFY)