Receive free office life updates
we will send you myFT Daily Digest Email summary of the latest information office life Every morning there is news.
If there’s one thing that’s popular in the world of employment law, it’s probably the “right to sever ties.”
France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Luxembourg, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Thailand have all introduced new rules in the past six years that, broadly speaking, give employees the freedom to disengage from work technology outside of working hours. right. Labor said it would also introduce the right to disconnect if it wins the next election, “learning from countries that have successfully introduced it”.
It’s easy to see why the idea appeals to politicians. It makes them seem forward-looking — they are in the midst of a changing world of work and have something to say about it. It also speaks to the real unease that many feel that the lines between work and life are disappearing.
The idea also tends to get well polled.one Ipsos poll Last year, the UK found that 60% of adults supported “a law giving employees the right to ignore work-related communications outside of official work or shift hours,” with just 11% opposed. The poll also showed that the inability to shut down is not limited to high-paid professionals, although they feel it most strongly. Just over 80% of those earning more than £55,000 a year say they check and respond to work messages outside normal working hours, as do 65% of those earning less than £55,000 a year. View and respond to work messages outside of hours.
It’s also easy to see why critics predict these laws will be a disaster, especially tougher laws such as Portugal’s, which prohibit employers from contacting employees outside of working hours.
These policies, they say, do not take into account the realities of how modern companies operate. Employees work different hours in different time zones – is communication no longer allowed? What about those who want to improvise their own work hours, find time to pick up the kids, or go for a run during the day and catch up later in the evening? Are we really going to tie companies and workers into expensive red tape instead of letting them figure it out themselves?
But whenever one of these new rights is announced, despite all the debate, one thing always bothers me: Why don’t we ever hear how they’re actually going?
The answer, as far as I can tell, is that they have less impact than proponents hope or critics fear. In Ireland, Síobhra Rush, employment partner at Lewis Silkin in Dublin, said the country’s “code of conduct” on the right to disconnect caused “a lot of buzz” when it came into force in 2021. But she doesn’t actually see it in any employment cases.
The biggest change in work culture she’s seen is a new disclaimer at the bottom of people’s emails that says “I’m sending this during business hours, but I don’t want to get it outside of your business hours unless it’s marked as urgent.” reply” “.
Perhaps that was to be expected in Ireland, given its moderate approach, but it seems to be a similar situation in Portugal, which is at the other end of the spectrum. Inês Reis, head of labor and employment at the Portuguese law firm pbbr, told me that the law “doesn’t really change anything”. So far, she is not aware of any complaints, though she said that, as in Ireland, staff add disclaimers to emails explaining that they do not expect an urgent response.
Nadia D’Agostino, principal attorney at law firm Eversheds Sutherland, agrees that Portuguese law “has not caused a major cultural shift”. She said there was little incentive for employers to comply because the fines were relatively low and there was not much incentive for employees to report.
“It’s a tough ask to ask,” D’Agostino said. “You don’t automatically get a financial award; you have to file a claim for damages so it’s easier for the employee to do the job and file an overtime claim.”
So is this a waste of time? I wouldn’t go that far. The new rights and guidelines do seem to prompt employers and employees to think more carefully about when to communicate outside core working hours. Many European laws require companies and workers to agree on policies that suit them, which seems reasonable given the complexities of different organisations.
But here’s a lesson for voters: Don’t be superstitious about performance decisions. Whether you think the new proposed law sounds great or terrible, stop and ask first how the government plans to implement it.
sarah.oconnor@ft.com
Svlook
