Thanks to the development of digital tools and the digitalisation of many tasks, work has been evolving towards a simplification of telework, mobility, collaborative work and flexible working hours. Nothing but happiness? Or does permanent connection hide its flaws?
The 2018 Panorama of the Chamber of Employees points to the "tendency to be reachable outside the workplace for professional reasons". In overall, 18% of participants say they are "(almost) always" solicited, only 26% of the workforce is not concerned.
With the emergence of digital tools among our working methods, that allow a permanent connection and accessibility beyond office hours, the line between work and life has blurred, creating the need for some of us to find a balance between constant availability and better work flexibility. If the new generations of digital natives seem more conscious about the need to separate the private from the professional life – work/life balance being more important than the career development- others do not have that same ability to keep up with the multiplication of communication tools and numerous requests. According to an Ifop survey in summer 2017, 78% of French executives consult their professional mails and texts during their free time. In Luxembourg, according to the 2017 Quality of Work Index, 32% of the employees believe that they have to be reachable outside their working hours. To handle the constraint of hyper availability, the right to disconnect timidly points its nose.
A needed corporate proactivity
This right to disconnect, responds to a public health issue as it aims to fight hyperconnection’s adverse effects such as stress, fatigue, the lack of recovery and, in fine, burn-out.
However, it is not a right that is necessarily requested by employees. In times of short term appreciation, immediateness and reactivity many worry about isolation or bad reputation among their colleagues and towards clients if they fail to play the constant connection game.
The question of the right to disconnect clearly stands on the strategic CSR agenda, setting the company as a responsible player which prevents risks, defines a better boundary between private life and professional life and is legally compliant with regards to non-respect of resting hours, unpaid overtime or harassment grievances.
Legal formalization, an effective weapon?
In France, following the recommendations of Bruno Mettling, HR Director of Orange, report on the impact of digitalization, the right to disconnect was integrated into the labour law and entered into force in January 2017. This law, foresees that companies with more than 50 employees have to negotiate an agreement with union representatives on how to implement the right to disconnect. If no agreement can be found, the company has at least to set up a charter of good practice or a code of conduct.
This soft law can be useful in case of abuse and positions France as forerunner regarding the legal formalization of this right to disconnect, pushing also other countries to address this topic. In this perspective, the LCGB union has seized the question in Luxembourg and called for the Minister of Labour to consider integrating the right to disconnect into labour law. A right to disconnect can be hard to implement though. Despite the official recognition of this right in France, only 21% of the executives declare that their company actually has set up concrete actions according to the Ifop survey. On the contrary, in Germany many companies concretely apply a right to disconnect even without a legal framework. Thus the legal approach isn’t the only success factor to a moderate use of digital tools.
Questioning the organization of work
For a real disconnection to happen, there is a need to tackle the organisation of work and to change daily practices. Letting go of the temptation of immediacy is a shared responsibility within an organisation starting with managers who should lead the way by not sending messages outside office hours, except for potential real emergencies. Besides, beyond the right to disconnect, some voices claim for a duty to disconnect for the top management in order for real change to start happening. This also implies mindful clients who do not put unreasonable pressure on the companies anymore, but also employees who stop feeling guilty about not being reachable during their free time, and developing a balanced relationship to digital stimuli. Moreover, this pressure to be everconnected and immediately available goes beyond the simple work context and also sets itself as a social issue.
7 ways to implement a right to disconnect
1. Integrate messages in your mails that do not make people feel guilty such as “My mail does not call for immediate response”.
2. Delete de « reply-to-all » function to fight the exponential and counter-productive inflation of mails. In October 2015, the “rely-toall” has created more than 38 million mails within a few hours in an exchange among the Atos group.
3. Limit your internal mails by setting up alternative messaging platforms or by setting up a response time according to the requests, to take the feeling of urgency away as Renault does.
4. Foresee moments of silence without mails: The Intel group has encouraged 300 employees to turn off their mails and phone on Tuesday mornings.
5. Acknowledge work at home: BMW has allowed its employees to register the working hours outside the office answering mails for instance on their time-saving account on their own via intranet. They can also define with their manager the time they are available and when they are not.
6. Put your inbox on holiday: Daimler has developed a « Mail on Holiday » programme for the employees who chose for their incoming mails to be automatically deleted during their holidays in order to alleviate their inbox upon their return. The sender is informed that the employee is on leave, of the deleting of his mail and of the address of another employee who is able to respond to the request.
7. Block the servers in the evening and on holiday: Volkswagen has started blocking the servers from 6pm to 7am and on weekends for 1000 employees in 2011. Today 3000 employees cannot get any professional mail on their phone outside working hours.
7 ways to implement a right to disconnect
1. Integrate messages in your mails that do not make people feel guilty such as “My mail does not call for immediate response”.
2. Delete de « reply-to-all » function to fight the exponential and counter-productive inflation of mails. In October 2015, the “rely-toall” has created more than 38 million mails within a few hours in an exchange among the Atos group.
3. Limit your internal mails by setting up alternative messaging platforms or by setting up a response time according to the requests, to take the feeling of urgency away as Renault does.
4. Foresee moments of silence without mails: The Intel group has encouraged 300 employees to turn off their mails and phone on Tuesday mornings.
5. Acknowledge work at home: BMW has allowed its employees to register the working hours outside the office answering mails for instance on their time-saving account on their own via intranet. They can also define with their manager the time they are available and when they are not.
6. Put your inbox on holiday: Daimler has developed a « Mail on Holiday » programme for the employees who chose for their incoming mails to be automatically deleted during their holidays in order to alleviate their inbox upon their return. The sender is informed that the employee is on leave, of the deleting of his mail and of the address of another employee who is able to respond to the request.
7. Block the servers in the evening and on holiday: Volkswagen has started blocking the servers from 6pm to 7am and on weekends for 1000 employees in 2011. Today 3000 employees cannot get any professional mail on their phone outside working hours.
