Remember when workers regularly left the office at 5 p.m. toenjoy a relaxing evening with their families, never to hear a peepfrom their employers or coworkers until they returned to work thenext morning? Or sat back with a magazine while in flight on abusiness trip, leaving them rejuvenated and ready to tackle workonce they reached their destination?

For most full-time office employees, these memories are eitherdistant or nonexistent. Thanks to smartphones, our jobs follow usaround everywhere – to the airport, the dinner table and even tobed. Recent surveys have pointed to a rise in off-the-clockemailing, including one by Adobe Systems, which found 50% ofworkers check email while resting in bed. (So much for the restingpart!)

America's working culture is a far cry from France's, where alaw recently passed forbidding employees at companies with 50 ormore workers from sending emails during nonbusiness hours. “Thedevelopment of information and communication technologies, if badlymanaged or regulated, can have an impact on the health of workers,”Article 25 of the El Khomri law, named after French Minister ofLabour Myriam El Khomri, read. “Among them, the burden of work andthe informational overburden, the blurring of the borders betweenprivate life and professional life, are risks associated with theusage of digital technology.”

Passing such a law in the U.S. is unrealistic, but France's movecan at least spark a healthy debate about where workers should bedrawing the line between work life and home life. And while U.S.workers won't be required to unplug by law, they can commit tosetting their own boundaries, such us turning off automatic phoneemail notifications or not checking email after a certain hour.

The never-ending parade of emails, not to mention texts andnotifications from social media sites, all of which are now widelyused for work-related communication, is also disrupting our sleep.I recently read Arianna Huffington's The Sleep Revolution,which paints modern professionals (not just in the U.S., but aroundthe world), as sleep-deprived, bleary-eyed individuals inchingtoward nervous breakdowns, and largely blames the epidemic on theoveruse of technology. “Our houses, our bedrooms – even our beds –are littered with beeping, vibrating, flashing screens,” she wrote.“Even when we're not actually connecting digitally, we're in aconstant state of heightened anticipation. And always being in thisstate doesn't exactly put us in the right frame of mind to winddown when it's time to sleep.”

Later in thebook, Huffington suggests a few ways to distance yourself fromtechnology in the evening: Cut off electronic device use 30 minutesbefore bed, don't sleep with your smartphone or tablet on thenightstand, and if a device does creep its way into your bedtimeroutine, use it to play a guided meditation or soft music. Thesepractices are lofty goals for those addicted to technology, butworth the effort for the sake of one's health, and even forbusinesses' bottom lines. According to a Harvard study cited byHealth.com, sleep deprivation costs the U.S. economy $63 billioneach year and employers about 7.8 days' worth of work annually.

Today's workers are not only working after hours, they'reskipping out on the vacation time they've earned. As CUTimes reported in the July 18 article, “3Reasons Why Employees Don't Take Vacation,” the number ofvacation days taken by Americans has dwindled to 16 days, accordingto a Project: Time Off survey. It also found 55% of Americanworkers left vacation days unused in 2015.

One reason why workers aren't taking vacation is the prevalenceof vacation shaming – co-worker-induced feelings of shame or guiltassociated with taking time off. According to the article, a surveyfrom Alamo Rent a Car found 47% of workers are affected by vacationshaming, and 42% of those think their co-workers are seriouslyshaming them even if they present their comments as jokes.

Not everyone can afford to jet off to Bali, but taking astraight week or more of vacation – even if the time is spent closeto home – is essential to restoring one's physical, mental andemotional health. And that boosts productivity when it's time toget back to work. Managers at credit unions and other organizationsshould ensure employees are taking their earned vacation time anddiscourage comments that lead to shame for doing so.

As not-for-profit cooperatives that make their members'financial well-being a priority, credit unions are naturallyfocused on employee wellness initiatives. The $567 million, Moline,Ill.-based Vibrant Credit Union, for example, opened a 24-hour onsite gymin an effort to boost employee health and happiness. And it worked:According to an internal employee survey at Vibrant, 74% ofemployees plan to stay at the credit union for their entire career,and 85% of Vibrant's workforce is under 40.

Treating employees well when they're on company turf isimportant, but so is valuing their time away. A recent NPR report noted employers need to do more than rely ona wellness program to cut employee stress, such as bring intemporary workers to cover for regular workers who desperately needtime off.

If organizations, including credit unions, want employees onboard for the duration of their careers, they should certainly givethem challenging projects, reward them for their hard work, andimplement camaraderie-building programs onsite. But they shouldalso give them sufficient time to unplug.