Portugal banned texting employees, but you shouldn’t. Here’s why.

“Don’t you know what time it is?!?” was followed by a swift scolding, unless it turned out to be a dire emergency.

The days of suppressing after-hours communiqué are gone for most in the corporate world. Except in some parts of Europe, where it’s illegal.

For those not aware, employers in Portugal (as well as France, Spain and elsewhere) can be fined for texting team members after hours.

The real problem isn’t work-life integration or balance. It’s that we are living in an ASAP society that does not consider the detriment to productivity and stress on the recipient we create when we use the wrong channel, at the wrong time, with the wrong message.

Just because we can communicate through a particular channel doesn’t mean we should.

The ban in Portugal doesn’t come from the occasional text — it comes from channel abuse. It’s not when we communicate with team members, but how.

Offices have dress codes, and they should have communication codes.