The pandemic has transformed working practices, and many of the changes will be long-lasting. Some of them include working from home, having more time with the family, or having more flexible working hours. However, this also means that we can literally work any time of the day. Looking at small, medium, and big screens all day long and even in the nighttime has become normal. Relying entirely on digital tools to keep in touch with each other and getting our work done has led to a worrisome spike in digital intensity.
Some governments are trying to address this issue with new legislations. Ireland is among the first countries to try and introduce a law specifically addressing the new work-from-home era. They try to enforce more flexible family-friendly working arrangements, including working from home and flexible working hours. Since 1st of April 2021 employees in Ireland officially have the right to disconnect from work. In addition, they want to introduce the right to request remote working.
The right to disconnect gives employees the right to switch off from work outside of normal working hours, including the right to not respond immediately to emails, phone calls or other messages. It also includes that other people have to respect another person’s right to disconnect by not emailing or calling outside normal working hours.
Past laws did not consider the work-life balance of workers who work remotely and flexibly. However, as good as the intention may be, it may be nearly impossible in practice to combine the ability to log off with the freedom to work remotely. These new laws might also compromise some of the flexibility workers have only just been able to negotiate.
Many countries across the world have been trying to create new regulations trying to protect employees from overwork in this new work environment. The first country was France in 2016, then Italy in 2017 and Spain in 2018. All of them tried to protect workers to not be penalized for not responding to communications outside of working hours. In Germany negotiations were held in large company to put agreements in place to secure workers’ rights to disconnect. At Volkswagen for example, non-management employees cannot access their email on their smartphones between 18:15 and 07:00.
However, people want more flexibility now to be able to define their own working hours. They don’t want to be told when exactly they can access their emails. Ireland did not codify what hours are considered normal working hours in order to leave space for flexible working hours. They also considered working across time zones and asked employers to manage expectations that workers need only reply to emails during their own working day. They even suggested trainings for managers, so they can take action if an employee seems unable to disconnect.
