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On January 1st of this year, France passed a much publicized “right to disconnect” law. It requires firms with more than 50 employees to negotiate fair after-hours and vacation communication. While France’s recent labor laws were heavily protested, supporters say the right to disconnect rule will lead to a more engaged, less burnt-out workforce as a result of better work-life balance.
 This legislation doesn’t seem out of place, both in France and the whole of Europe. The former has a (nominal, rarely actual) 35-hour legal work week; any hours over this amount are technically overtime. (France’s recent package of controversial labor laws, including those making it easier for companies to hire and fire employees and giving companies the right to negotiate longer hours and cheaper overtime, were largely proposed to combat the negative effects of the shorter week.) A 2014 German law prohibits managers from calling or emailing outside of work hours, except in “emergency” situations, although this one clearly allows for major wiggle room. German companies Volkswagen and Daimler both limit emailing after hours: the former blocks its employees’ Blackberries, and the latter offers a service that deletes or redirects employee emails sent while on vacation.
It might be surprising to learn that French employers are more receptive than their employees to the latest law. Some consider it a narrow policy that actually limits flexibility, as some parents may want to leave the office to spend some after-school time with their kids and finish up their work day at night. Many businesses have had a global presence for years now, and forcing them to shut down during another country’s operating hours will cost them business overseas. Other critics point out that forcing an after-hours email shutdown will hurt innovation, citing that a major part of innovating is capturing spontaneous creative thinking that could occur at any time.
While it’s nice to see governments and individual companies taking steps to avoid workforce burnout—including investigating the six-hour workday and results-only work environments—there are bound to be tradeoffs. France has been struggling with a record-high 11% unemployment rate, causing many to call out their working laws as unsustainable. And obviously these changes are much more applicable to white-collar office work; companies relying on shift work are rarely able to cut their work days or weeks short without significant productivity losses. In the US, work-life balance unfortunately comes down to the corporate and often individual level, and managers who realize the full impact of after-hours communication will likely have happier and more productive direct reports.
Image credit: Jason Rogers / CC BY 2.0
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Re: France Is Trying To Switch Off After-hours Email
