After a decade of being expected to reply faster and faster, employees are starting to ask for the opposite - protected blocks of time with no email, no Teams, no Slack. The data suggests it's becoming a real benefit, not just a wishlist item.
Digital Silence as the Hot New Perk
For years, employees were expected to reply to emails and instant messages as quickly as possible. But for many, this has gone beyond sustainable limits. At least that's what a survey of 1,224 UK-based workers suggests.
📊 47% of workers would like scheduled blocks of digital silence-time with no emails, no Teams, no Slack.
📊 About 36% want these quiet blocks to be set by their employer.
📊 For nearly half of workers, the favorite day to switch off is Friday.
📊 Digital silence is becoming a benefit on its own, and for 44% this could be a key factor when choosing an employer. That's an even bigger motivator than a free coffee machine!
For companies looking to stand out, this could be a refreshingly simple perk. If a four-day week still feels out of reach, this might be the next best thing.
Why This Lands Now (And Didn't Five Years Ago)
The "always reachable" expectation is a relatively recent default. A 2024 Microsoft Work Trend Index found that the average knowledge worker now receives roughly 117 emails and 153 Teams messages per day - up sharply from pre-pandemic baselines. Around 60% of workers in the same report described feeling "always on" outside their formal working hours. The itbrief.co.uk survey of 1,224 UK workers slots into a broader pattern: when researchers ask people which benefit they would actually use, protected time consistently outranks gym subsidies, free snacks, and most other low-cost perks. The reason it hasn't been formalised yet is mostly cultural - many managers still equate response speed with productivity, even though the actual evidence (Microsoft, Asana's State of Work, Slack's State of Work) keeps showing the opposite. The good news is that the fix doesn't require a tooling overhaul; calendar blocks, do-not-disturb defaults, and explicit team norms cover most of it.
How to Pilot Digital Silence in Your Office
Start with one team and one block. A two-hour "focus window" on Wednesday and Friday is a safe pilot.
Get manager sign-off explicitly. The block fails when one manager keeps pinging through it.
Set up automatic Slack/Teams statuses for the team. Visible signals work better than memos.
Don't make it permanent on day one. A 4-week pilot with feedback at the end is easier to defend than a permanent policy.
Combine with a written messaging etiquette guide. Digital silence works best when the surrounding chat norms support it.
