EVERY FEW YEARS, THERE’S A HOT new management strategy that promises to make employees happier, healthier and more productive. To that end, we’ve seen the rise of positions like “chief happiness officer” as well as workplace dogs and on-site meditation. But while employers may have improved the office itself, they have not solved the stress of leaving it: the crushing tide of emails and IMs, which—thanks to the rise of smartphones—can yank us back to work, anytime, anywhere.
Now, in an effort to prevent burnout, a growing number of employers have started to suggest, or even mandate, ways in which employees should unplug their connected devices. The automaker Daimler, for example, made headlines for offering its staff software that auto-deletes employee email while they’re on vacation. Volkswagen, in collaboration with…
