Dear HR Manager | Protecting PTO
One of our managers regularly emails and texts employees while they’re on PTO. He says he only contacts them when something is important, but employees have told HR they feel like they can never fully disconnect. How should I address this?
— Protecting PTO
Dear Protecting PTO,
The issue is not simply that the manager sends messages. It is the expectation those messages create. If employees feel they need to monitor email or respond while on PTO, they aren’t fully disconnecting from work.
Talk with the manager and set clearer expectations. Unless an employee has a defined on-call responsibility, routine questions should go to a designated backup or wait until the employee returns. It may also help to define what qualifies as urgent, so managers are not making that decision differently each time.
Good coverage planning can prevent most interruptions. Before someone takes PTO, teams should know who is handling time-sensitive responsibilities, where important information can be found, and what can wait.
Managers should also model the boundaries the organization wants employees to follow. If leaders say PTO matters but routinely interrupt it, employees will pay more attention to the behavior than the policy.
The goal is simple: employees should be able to take approved time off without feeling like they are still quietly on call.
— HR Manager
Originally featured in UBA’s August 2026 HR Elements Newsletter.
