Setting boundaries with a colleague who messages you after hours can be done with kindness and clarity. Start by having a direct yet friendly conversation where you express your need for work-life balance. You might say, “I value our work and want to be at my best, so I’ve set a rule to unplug after 6 PM. Let’s handle any urgent matters during office hours.” Use tools like email scheduling and out-of-office replies to reinforce your boundaries. It’s all about being honest while maintaining a positive tone. By setting clear boundaries, you’re not only protecting your time but also fostering a respectful work environment.

Most people in the workforce spend the majority of their time in the workplace. colleagues are the "family" away from home. Establishing a culture of mutual respect, getting along, and setting boundaries sets the expectation of how everyone should treat each other. When a colleague doesn't respect these boundaries, address the issue directly and clearly articulate how messages after hours are impacting you, i.e. personal or family time. Ask the team why they message after hours to understand their thought process and how they prioritize or escalate issues they feel need your immediate attention. This is a great opportunity to reinforce availability and clarify what requires messaging after hours to maintain a respectful work environment.

This is an issue most working professionals face especially with the rise in workers from Gen-Z. The catch with Gen-Z is there can be two types of people - one with strict boundaries, the other with so called flexible boundaries. The person who does the messaging post work hours is most likely type two. While this is an impeding issue, there are ways to handle it with most ways being person specific. Good rapport, two-way communication are two basic things to develop while team building. To upstage this, one can maintain an image that you strictly have boundaries between work and personal life from day one - sort of like knowing when to say no becoming your forte full-fledgedly post your logout time from the office.

The auto-generated list accompanying this question contains excellent ideas. What's missing is managing your own mindset around doing these things. You need to work toward a place where you can employ these strategies without feeling guilty, and it does take work to get there! Try stepping outside yourself and imagine your friend/colleague telling you about the same scenario happening to them. What would you say to encourage and empower them? What guidance would you give? (hint: see the list) Now, do that for yourself, and continue to until it becomes a positive, non-guilt inducing habit.

Protege tu tiempo personal estableciendo límites claros con tu colega. Comunica con tacto tus horarios laborales, indicando que prefieres no recibir mensajes fuera de ese tiempo a menos que sea una emergencia. Puedes configurar respuestas automáticas que indiquen tu disponibilidad y sugerir que los temas importantes se discutan durante el horario laboral. Es importante mantener la consistencia en tus límites para que se respeten, y abordar cualquier incumplimiento con una conversación directa pero cordial, reiterando la importancia del equilibrio entre trabajo y vida personal.