I’m a boss – please ban me from out-of-hours emails and calls, and save me from myself

‘People in companies covered by right-to-disconnect legislation tended to have higher job satisfaction, report better work-life balance and were less likely to suffer from health issues.’ Photograph: Westend61/Getty Images

I have a secret that I need to own up to: sometimes I’m a bad boss. After spending a couple of decades studying management and leadership, during the last couple of years I have been leading a large business school in London. When I took on the role, I wanted to try to bring an evidence-based approach to my leadership position, and initially I used the relevant science to guide my actions. Over time, however, I found myself falling into bad habits that I knew were a no-no, according to the research.

One of these was contacting my co-workers out of working hours. I knew there was plenty of research that finds that out-of-work-hours communication is generally bad for employee wellbeing, and can also be bad for productivity. However, this didn’t stop me. Some mornings, I would find myself sending colleagues emails at 5am. In the evening, I would be messaging at 10pm. During the weekends, I would find myself firing off documents to colleagues and asking for comments.