The Right to Disconnect
Australia has recently become the latest country to commit to a ‘right to disconnect’ and similar rules are already in place across a number of other countries. With Labour confirming that it too will introduce a ‘right to switch off’, Sarah Begley explores what this is likely to mean for employees and businesses alike.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, many employees were forced to embrace working from home, a culture not widely adopted by many businesses at that time. Now, more than 4 years on from the pandemic and with working life effectively back to normal, one thing is clear; working from home and remote working seems here to stay.
Whilst there has been a steady increase in a return to the office, it appears that working from the office on a full-time basis is unlikely any time soon and remote or hybrid working is now marketed by many recruiters across various industries as part and parcel of the standard offer of employment package.
There are obvious advantages to home or remote working however, there are also increasing, often silent, disadvantages to being able to log on at anytime and anywhere. Often, home working is sold as easing work-life balance but equally, the boundaries between work and personal life can undoubtedly become blurred. It is all too easy for employees to check emails or take calls outside of work hours, even while on leave. This is aided by sophisticated digital technology and the fact that we now communicate via a number of methods. We can contact and be contracted at any time.
This is attractive to some who like the comfort of knowing that work is under control but for others, it can feel like an unspoken expectation.
The difficulty with always being ‘on call’ is that for some, it can lead to poor work-life balance, stress, and burnout. It is also when mistakes can so easily be made. This will ultimately be detrimental for employers too. To allow workers to disconnect should be beneficial for both employees and employers.
Trade unions, particularly the Trades Union Congress (TUC), have been at the forefront of advocating for stronger protections and clearer boundaries in this area.
What does Labour propose?
As part of its ‘Making Work Pay’ pledge, Labour says it will introduce a “right to switch off” to ensure “working from home does not become homes turning into 24/7 offices”.
It is unclear yet precisely how this will be implemented in practice. It may not be via legislation but perhaps become a code of practice through ACAS and dealt with in the same way as breaches of, for example, the ACAS code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. Breaches could result in uplifts in compensation awards.
It is likely that the framework will look to other similar laws which have been successfully implemented abroad. For example, France introduced a right to disconnect law in 2017, requiring companies with more than 50 employees to establish policies around out-of-hours work communications.
Sarah says
“the main aim of a policy to give employees the “right to switch off” will be to ensure that employees can say ‘no’ in appropriate circumstances and put firm boundaries in place to guarantee that they are not, as a matter of course, constantly available outside of their contracted hours. In doing so, they should not be penalised as a result”.
Discussions are ongoing but it is worthwhile businesses giving some thought to their own practices and assess whether work-life balance is being adhered to. As well as communicating expectations, monitoring and managing workloads is critical. It probably goes without saying that managers should themselves lead by example.
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