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The Hanoi travel agency employee has maintained this strict routine for six months after spending three years being regularly disturbed by managers and customers calling early in the morning with urgent requests to change flights or cancel hotel bookings. The constant interruptions eventually left her struggling with stress and insomnia.

Hoa earns VND12 million (US$480) a month and could take home VND14–15 million by working additional hours. But she says the extra income is no longer worth sacrificing her well-being.

“Overtime comes without extra pay and isn’t part of my employment contract, and so I decided to protect my health,” she says.

A similar experience pushed 28-year-old graphic designer Tran Tung in Ho Chi Minh City to make an even more drastic decision.

Despite earning VND25 million a month, Tung frequently found himself getting up in the middle of the night to revise designs. The relentless demands eventually contributed to stomach problems and anxiety, while his relationships with people around him deteriorated.

His fear of missing a message from his boss became so intense that he brought his laptop on holidays and even kept his phone close by while taking a shower.

After unsuccessfully asking his employer to limit his work to normal office hours, Tung resigned in late 2025.

“I need a clear boundary between my job and personal life more than any amount of money,” he says.

He is now applying for jobs at publishing companies, accepting that his next position may pay less in exchange for more time to rest.

The approach adopted by Hoa and Tung is often described as the “right to disconnect,” the principle that employees should be able to disengage from work- communications outside their scheduled hours.

Several European countries have introduced legislation aimed at protecting that right as digital technology increasingly blurs the boundary between work and private life. France, Belgium, Italy and Spain adopted such measures before the Covid-19 pandemic, while Portugal followed in 2021.

Vietnam’s Labor Code does not specifically recognize a right to disconnect, meaning expectations surrounding after-hours communication are generally determined through arrangements between workers and their employers.

Even without formal legal protection, however, the desire to unplug is gaining traction.

A survey of 60,000 employees by human resources company Anphabe found that nearly 46% of young professionals now prioritize work-life balance over promotion opportunities. Separately, a Navigos Group report showed that almost 60% of employees prefer not to work overtime.

A Read survey involving more than 10,000 readers revealed a similar divide: 30% said they completely switch off from work after hours and another 31% respond only to emergencies. The remaining 39% said the nature of their jobs prevents them from disconnecting.

When boundaries collide with business needs

Employers acknowledge workers’ desire for personal time, but some argue that an inflexible approach to after-hours communication can create serious operational problems.

Doan Huy, a sales manager at a logistics company in Hanoi, recalls having to bring in outside contractors after an employee switched off their phone when an urgent order arrived in the evening.

The resulting delay forced the company to compensate its customer.

“Urgent situations arise in business; employees shouldn’t walk away when the collective needs them,” Huy says.

Managers generally do not want to give employees work late at night, he says, but companies cannot always operate according to individual schedules. In his view, employees who expect competitive salaries and opportunities for advancement must also be prepared to demonstrate commitment when circumstances demand it.

Quoc Minh, 41, an executive at a software company in Ho Chi Minh City, says workers from the 8X and 9X generations often regard occasional after-hours duties as part of professional responsibility.

“Excessive rigidity on the part of younger staff can cause losses to the business,” he says.

Tung agrees that helping out occasionally outside normal hours can be reasonable. The problem, he says, arises when employers begin treating such assistance as an obligation.

“It starts as a favor, but over time it becomes a mandatory requirement without proper compensation.”

Lam Tuan, CEO of a Hanoi real estate company, believes the shift toward disconnecting from work after hours is unlikely to be reversed.

Gen Z employees have entered the workforce with more career choices and greater concern for their mental well-being. At the same time, the proliferation of workplace messaging and mobile applications has made it increasingly difficult to separate professional responsibilities from private life, fueling demand for clearer boundaries.

Bui Doan Chung, founder of the Vietnam HR Profession Community, says extreme reactions such as completely cutting off communication often stem from a lack of transparency during recruitment.

Employers worried about losing candidates may play down requirements such as working across time zones or dealing regularly with emergencies outside normal hours, he says.

When pay also fails to reflect the workload, younger employees are more likely to feel that they are being taken advantage of.

“Today’s younger generation operates firmly on a ‘you get what you pay for’ mindset,” Chung says. “They shut their laptops on time and invest their off-hours into learning new skills to secure better opportunities elsewhere.”

Chung supports clearer workplace boundaries and says employees should instead be encouraged to maximize productivity during their standard eight-hour workday, citing Germany’s experiments with a four-day workweek aimed at improving efficiency.

Hoa has taken that approach since she began disconnecting completely after work. Knowing she will not continue working at home pushes her to finish her responsibilities during office hours.

She says the change has restored her energy and motivation while ending the anxiety she once felt about receiving calls in the middle of the night.

But HR specialists caution that completely refusing to engage with work outside scheduled hours may come with professional costs.

Chung says employees often increase their long-term value by demonstrating an ability to deal with difficult and unexpected situations. “Employers are always willing to reward high compensation to staff who can solve complex, high-stakes problems,” he says.

Duc Cong, a 32-year-old sales professional in Hanoi, experienced the other side of the trade-off after leaving a demanding job for a less stressful position that cut his income in half.

Within six months, he had grown bored with the repetitive work and felt his professional abilities were stagnating because he no longer faced challenging problems.

Cong eventually returned to his former employer, but this time he negotiated clearer conditions. He asked the company to specify his working hours, salary progression and performance targets, as well as guarantee compensatory leave following periods of particularly intensive work.

Thuy Trang, a 35-year-old HR manager in Hanoi who once routinely worked around the clock, has adopted a similar compromise when managing her own employees.

She now separates after-hours problems according to urgency. Employees receive phone calls only when an issue genuinely cannot wait, while less pressing matters are sent by email and handled the following working day. Staff required to work late are also given compensatory time off.

“Every sacrifice yields a result,” Trang says. “High income and fast career advancement rarely come with a comfortable ride.”