Rituals, Boundaries & Excuses — 5 Psychologist-Backed Tips To Actually Switch Off After Work

Ever felt like you’re struggling to power down after your workday? You're certainly not alone. New research from employment expert SEEK has revealed that 46% of Australians feel that the lines between work and home life have become increasingly blurred. 

The last few years have seen a rise in flexible work arrangements, including remote work or flexible hours, which can make it harder to separate work and personal time. While these arrangements offer greater flexibility and can be beneficial for employees, they can also make it harder to establish clear boundaries between work and home life.

This pressure and ease of staying connected to work around the clock — checking emails, slack and basically feeling like you're on call all the time means that it's harder for many people to set firm work boundaries. The research also found that more than half of Aussies have work emails on their phone (the majority of them are women). And almost three-quarters of those check work communications after hours! As a result, many people struggle to switch off from work, leading to guilt, stress and burnout.

Refinery29 Australia spoke to SEEK’s resident psychologist Sabina Read to help you master the art of switching off and get her tips and tricks for drawing a line in the metaphorical work sand after you've clocked off. Read acknowledges that first of all, this can often be much easier said than done. “There’s no denying that in an era where you can often see so much of your work world with the touch of a button, you can fall into the trap of being a bit too connected. Particularly over the past couple of years as more and more of us have started working from home, it can be difficult to call an end to your work day and step away from the laptop."

So what are some ways that we can properly disconnect from work when the day is done? Here are Read's tips.