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Some call them scourge of modern working life: the email from the boss landing in the inbox at 10pm, or the pinging of WhatsApp group messages long after normal office hours. Should employees be legally entitled to switch off? Britain’s new Labour government is committed to introducing a “right to disconnect”, as part of a broader package of reforms to workers’ rights, following more than a dozen countries that have introduced safeguards. But Labour has apparently backed away from making this a legal right in favour of making it part of a code of practice for companies above a certain size. It is wise to have watered down its plans.
Covid-era lockdowns led to expanded homeworking and flexibility around hours that many employees welcomed and have sought to maintain post-pandemic. But they exacerbated the risks of an “always on” culture — the pernicious blurring of lines between work and home life. Some rebalancing and safeguards are required to avoid abuses.
But heavy-handed legislative or one-size-fits-all approaches would be a mistake. In a globalised environment, many businesses — financial firms, tech companies or any that must respond rapidly to customer or client needs — may struggle to operate effectively if they cannot reach key employees in case of urgency. Many of those in senior or highly paid jobs accept that working and being contactable for longer hours than the norm is justified by the pay, rewards and responsibilities they enjoy.
Even those in less highly rewarded roles from health or the emergency services to government and the media recognise that responding to out-of-hours events “comes with the job”. And many employees in less senior or high-pressure roles welcome the flexibility, say, to start later so they can do the school run but spend some time catching up with emails in the evening.
What is important is preventing bullying or unfair treatment at all levels — and, above all, safeguarding those less well paid or less able to protect themselves against abuses. Employers should not be able to utilise repeated out-of-hours communications demanding responses or specific actions from staff as a way of, in effect, forcing them to work extra hours while skirting overtime rules and pay.
Countries have adopted restrictions of varying severity, though the actual penalties are generally low. In Portugal, legislation passed in late 2021 says any company with more than 10 staff can be fined up to €10,000 for contacting employees outside normal working hours of 40 hours a week, except in a genuine emergency. In France, the droit à la déconnexion does not prevent bosses from making calls or sending email or texts outside working hours, but employees cannot be punished if they don’t respond until normal hours.
Britain’s Labour is said to favour less onerous examples from Belgium and Ireland. The latter made the issue part of a voluntary code of practice. Employers and staff are expected to negotiate policies setting out normal working hours and the circumstances in which employees can be contacted outside these. There is no legal right to disconnect, but breaches of the code can be used to support other claims under working hours laws at tribunals, potentially increasing payouts where fault is found.
Especially for the UK, which urgently needs foreign investment to boost productivity and growth and has touted its flexible labour laws as a competitive advantage, going beyond something akin to the Irish model would be misguided. There are areas where labour legislation ought to be strengthened, from banning exploitative zero-hours contracts to stamping out sweatshops and modern slavery. Protection against being emailed out of hours is not one.
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