A recent article by HR Grapevine brought to my attention the topic of contacting staff members out of office hours. The article referred to employees having a ‘right to disconnect’ after they have finished their work day. So, should legislation be introduced that limits the contact that employers have with their staff outside of working hours? 

CIPD shows that productivity is at an all time high due to home working – yet, at what cost?

A survey of 2,000 employers conducted by the CIPD found that the rise in employees working from home has resulted in an increase in productivity. The report published in April 2021 revealed that there has been a significant productivity benefit over the past year due to employees working from the comfort of their own homes. 

The survey concluded that 63% of employers in the survey will consider a hybrid model of working once restrictions are lifted and offices are reopened to their employees. 

Whilst it is positive that productivity has seen a rise over the past year, at what cost? 

Productivity may be on the up, yet, so is unpaid overtime

Recent statistics released by ONS in 2020, found that people working from home during the pandemic were putting in an average of six hours of unpaid work every week, compared with 3.6 hours of unpaid overtime of those that never work from home. 

This is further affirmed by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), analysis from their Labour Force Survey found that more than three million UK employees on average worked an extra 7.7 hours a week during 2020, this is equivalent to £7,300 per person in unpaid overtime. 

These are worrying statistics, seeing as fears of employees ‘burning out’ has been a prominent issue within HR departments over the course of the pandemic. The reasoning behind employees working unpaid overtime is unknown, perhaps they feel more pressure to deliver when they’re in their home compared to an office setting. Perhaps it is more difficult to switch off whilst working from home due to the surroundings being the same whilst working and relaxing? 

Whatever the case, it is not sustainable to be working extra hours on top of a full time contract. 

What can be done to prevent this?

France has been trying to tackle the issue, before Covid began, legislation in France was passed in 2016 that limits the contact that employers are permitted to have with their employees out of working hours. 

As of 2017, the ‘right to disconnect’ states that if a company has 50 or more employees, employers are not permitted to email their employees out of normal working hours. 

Following suit, Italy passed a similar law in 2017, followed by Spain in 2018. The Spanish ‘right to disconnect’ law is similar to that of the French legislation, encouraging employers to abide by the rights of their employees to disconnect after their working hours have been completed. The only difference in legislation is that employers cannot be prosecuted if they do not comply with the Spanish legislation. It has been imposed to encourage employers to be mindful of those working for them. 

Should the UK introduce a ‘right to disconnect’ law?

With countries such as France, Italy and Spain introducing similar laws limiting the amount of contact employers are permitted to have with their staff out of normal working hours, this highlights the UK’s potential need to reassess legislation. 

Prospect, a trade union in the UK, has already called on the Government to introduce a similar ‘right to disconnect’ law.  They stated that the legislation is required in order to safeguard their members, as many of their members have struggled with issues such as inability to switch off after finishing their working day. 

Do we need legislation? Or is there an effective alternative?

Perhaps new legislation is not needed, alternatively, employers could introduce initiatives to prevent their staff from contacting others outside of working hours, allowing employees to better switch off and rest after their work day. 

In the HR Grapevine article, Stephen Moore, a Partner and Head of Employment at law firm Ashfords, introduced an initiative that they use to prevent unnecessary email contact. According to Moore, if an employee attempts to send an email outside of working hours from their work email, a message will appear asking them to send it the next day during working hours. This can be overridden by the employee, however, it asks the employee to be more mindful. 

Perhaps this is what is needed, employers and employees should be reminded of their working hours and their responsibility to their mental health and that of their colleagues. Therefore, the act of switching your work brain off after your shift has ended is something that needs to be mainstream within UK businesses. 

What are your thoughts on this? Should the Government introduce legislation? Or should employers introduce initiatives instead?