‘Everyone has the right to go completely offline’: What bosses think about the right to go offline

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Employees could ignore emails and messages from their bosses at night and on weekends under a policy proposed by Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the UK opposition Labor Party. Unlike France, Spain and Ireland, where there are formal limits on electronic contact outside of office hours, in the UK there is no right to disconnect. Instead, the protection of workers goes through “limits to working time, the right to regular breaks, the right to respect for private and family life and the duty of the employer to ensure the health and safety of workers,” it says Kloe Halls, an associate in the employment practice of the Linklaters law firm.

Supporters of rules that allow workers to go offline say the pressure to stay in touch with employers has intensified since the pandemic increased home working. Managers and professional occupations are “more frequently contacted outside of work hours,” a trade-off for the status and salary commensurate with their roles, says Jon Boys, labor economist at the CIPD organization for human resource professionals.

There are still few details on Labor’s proposals. Will Stronge, director of research and policy at Autonomy, a think tank, says penalizing employers for violating the right to disconnect would send a “powerful signal” and could help curb “unpaid or contract work.” However, Andrew Pakes, assistant general secretary of Prospect, the science and engineering union that struck a deal with the Scottish civil service on the issue, worries about prescriptive rules. “We want to see employers discuss digital boundaries with employees, [thinking] about the digital impacts of expecting staff to routinely work when not on duty, or regularly contacting them when not on duty.”

Some fear that laws on communication outside of working hours could backfire, reversing the gains in flexible work. Matthew Goddard, managing director of Organix, the baby food company, says companies need to set their own policies. “Globalization means that for many of us, the 9-5 pace is no longer effective or possible.”

When companies have established their own policy, they have not necessarily done well. Employees at German automaker VW feel that its work phone policy, which through a “server lockdown” disables employee access to email on work phones when it’s outside normal hours, has made flexible working much more difficult. Introduced in 2011, the lockdown applies between 6:15 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

In practice, the rules can be flexible: in France, for example, small businesses are exempt, and generally speaking, the law serves to highlight the problem rather than penalize employers.

The Financial Times has spoken with managers about their own working practices and views on legislation.

Colin Hunt, AIB CEO

In 2020, Ireland’s second largest bank, AIB, was the first company in the country to introduce the right to disconnect. But Hunt says his own attempts to tune out remain a work in progress.

She admits that she “goes out of her way to try” and sets aside time for big school events for her three children, ages 10 to 14. “They are treated like very important meetings,” she says.

Hunt schedules vacations during the quieter times of the year and tries to disconnect completely, excluding the “occasions” when he has to take a call.

During the week, he normally works a 12-hour day that is “very full”. “But every time I come home, I try to have left work behind. I try to have a distinctive separation.”

Hunt says contacting staff outside of business hours depended on their roles. “If I absolutely need to speak to an executive committee member outside of office hours, I will. On the rare occasions that I need to make contact, I will call instead of emailing.”

His goal is to keep his weekends free of work, though he admits, “If something needs to be dealt with, my team has ways of making sure it’s reachable.”

Michael Gaynor, Managing Director, Toyota Financial Services Ireland

Gaynor used to wake up in the middle of the night and write a note or send herself an email for fear of forgetting something important at work.

She has now realized that “you can’t solve a problem at 11 pm or 4 am; I’ve trained myself not to think about it until after I wake up.”

He says he has to encourage staff to come home from the office “all the time.” “I need to know why someone is working late. . . because it’s not something we want people to make a habit of.”

Gaynor has been practicing what he preaches since before Ireland introduced “right to disconnect” legislation in 2021, largely to have time with his children, aged nine and 12, and because he places great importance on mental health and well-being for himself and his staff. “Everyone has the right to completely unplug and unplug,” he says.

Despite working for a Japanese company (Japan is famous for long-hour office workers) and managing an eight-hour time difference with his colleagues there, Gaynor is committed to ensuring that he and his staff take time for themselves. themselves.

Employees who try to send emails outside of normal business hours receive a prompt suggesting they schedule them to land during business hours. “My COO is on annual leave right now. . . I’ve set the timer so it won’t land [emails] in your inbox at 9am on Wednesday morning, when I know you’re back in the office, I scheduled them to land during the day,” says Gaynor.

He can take a look at the emails at night. If there’s something important, I’ll call. But [otherwise] I definitely don’t answer, not anymore.”

Izzy Obeng, Founder and CEO, Foundervine

Obeng expects the 25 colleagues at his small London-based consultancy to be “reasonably available” and says the company, which helps start-ups, offers “many programs outside of traditional working hours.” But his focus is “about being flexible.” Parents can come later and will respond to emails in the evening in return.

She suggests that the rules are better suited to “traditionals.” [corporate environments], where people clock in from 9 to 5”. Tech companies and start-ups have to be more agile, she says. “You are chasing opportunities. You often don’t have the resources that a larger organization does. People work in multiple roles. They may need to be more available.”

However, encourage staff to make their preferred approach to communication known, perhaps phone calls or Slack messages, and share when they’re out of touch. A colleague does the school run and connects later. Another likes to take a break during the week and work on the weekends. Employees fill out time sheets so managers can spot overwork. “We have a culture where people can take time off,” Obeng says.

When it comes to his personal use of technology, he says, “You think about work-life balance different as an entrepreneur. work and life [are not] something separate.”

Danny Harmer, People Director, Aviva

Harmer worries that any right to disconnect legislation would be too forceful for companies that work in different time zones or respond to customer requests around the clock. He must clarify the “problem we are trying to solve”.

Aviva doesn’t have a formal policy on communication outside of business hours, and Harmer says staff are guided by the company’s culture, which is set at the top. “It is very rare that I see an email from the CEO of the group on the weekend. If he contacts us, it’s because we need to call or we get stuck”.

Harmer says employers need to discuss expectations around flexible working. “It is not healthy to always be on. There are layers of understanding. I would hate for anyone to feel like he can’t get in touch with his boss for advice.”

If someone on Harmer’s team sends an email late at night, she checks in to ask why. Emails that say there’s no pressure to respond “still build a buzz.”

Microsoft Teams shows people’s work hours. “You get team-level data to see what proportion is spent in meetings, how much is outside of prime hours, and can see if there are any issues.”

Lisa Quest, Head of UK & Ireland, Oliver Wyman

Quest says that any changes should be made in consultation with a diverse set of companies to ensure that none are disproportionately affected. “What may work for one may not work for another.”

She “hasn’t really noticed” the right to disconnect rules in Ireland, where she oversees consultancy teams.

This year, the consultancy established a Red Amber Green (RAG) framework. Every Friday, consultants rate the intensity of the last work week. Red means unsustainable and is marked Quest to reduce the workload.

She insists that companies must make their own rules regarding working hours. “We implemented the RAG system in consultation with our staff to have something that works for everyone.”

In her own life, she has a place by the door where she and her husband put their phones down after work is done so they can spend time with their young children, though she’ll be checking her emails later. Clients have their personal number so they can call on weekends if there is a crisis. “It has never happened.”