French workers' 'out-of-network' rights

(Baonghean) - If generous holidays, universal health care, delicious food and fine wine are not enough to make the world jealous of France, then new laws that came into effect at the beginning of this year may very well do it.

Among these, we must certainly mention the new regulation that allows French workers to “have the right to be out of coverage area” after work hours.

Work-rest balance

The boss sends an email at 10pm - the employee has the right to ignore it? The weekend off, suddenly receiving a message from a colleague "just asking a question" - wait until Monday to reply? It sounds strange, but this is completely a reality for workers in France under the revised Labor Code that came into effect on January 1st this year.

Although there are still opinions that legalizing the issue of “disconnecting” from work after hours is a bit ridiculous, after all, it is not really so. The above regulation was issued by France from the perspective that people should not work anytime, anywhere, at any time, and that workers also have the right to occasionally “say no” when the boss asks to “cut down” on evenings at home, or precious vacations, leisurely weekends with friends and relatives to serve work.

The “right to disconnect” was introduced in response to a 24/7 work culture that often results in unpaid overtime. Photo: Getty.

Since last year, when the draft law was brought up for discussion, many voices have affirmed the need to pass and promulgate a law with "revolutionary" regulations for workers.

For example, Ms. Myriam El Khomri - French Minister of Labor once emphasized the urgency of the law, arguing: "More and more workers are bound outside of working hours. The boundary between work and personal life has become extremely fragile. There is no shortage of cases of work exhaustion appearing in society."

And so, the above measure - one of many new laws that came into effect in France at the beginning of 2017 - is a vivid illustration of the process of finding a compromise between preserving traditional French values ​​and making concessions to the objective reality that is taking place every day in the contemporary world.

The new labor law does not ban work-related emails outright, but requires companies with 50 or more employees to negotiate a new protocol to ensure that work does not “drag on” during holidays or after-hours.

Some consultants recommend that workers and managers avoid using the “reply all” function on emails sent to groups, so that only the person in question receives, reads, and responds to the message, rather than bothering half the office.

Another approach that has been considered is to set a time each night after which employees are not required to respond to emails. In fact, some companies have established such time frames, perhaps 10 hours from 9pm to 7am, or perhaps 12 hours from 7pm to 7am.

New trend?

In an article published last weekend, the French newspaper Libération praised the move to enact the revised law, saying it was necessary, especially given the fact that “workers are often judged on their commitment to their company and their willingness to work.”

This is not the first time a bill with such content has been discussed; similar documents have appeared in France, Germany and several other countries before, but have never been legalized. Along with the rapid development of technology, the "overuse" of digital devices has become a common phenomenon, causing many consequences, from exhaustion to insomnia, even destroying the social relationships of users.

French workers can now temporarily ignore work emails outside of working hours. Photo: Getty.

French workers are largely uncertain about when they can turn off their electronic devices, and more than a third of them use them for overtime work every day, and around 60% support a law that clearly defines their rights. So for the “supporters”, the new law meets the need to deal with the so-called “always on” work culture that leads to increased unpaid overtime, while also giving workers more flexibility and mobility outside the company.

However, there are also critics who worry that French workers will fall behind their competitors in countries that do not have such restrictions, and who oppose government intervention in this regard. “In France, we are champions of passing laws, but they are not always helpful when what we need is greater flexibility in the work environment,” said Olivier Mathiot, CEO of Paris-based online marketplace PriceMinister.

Taking a similar view, work-life balance expert Anna Cox of University College London (UCL) says that companies need to consider their employees’ needs for both protection and flexibility. “For some people, they want to work for about two hours every evening, but want to be off between 3pm and 5pm to pick up the kids and cook dinner. Others are happy to use their morning commute to get some work done before they get to work,” she says.

This expert also believes that the world of work is changing as fast as technology, more and more people want to work remotely or collaborate with colleagues living in other time zones, so clearly there are still challenges, the downside of the flexibility that the new law aims to aim for.

Since the news of France’s “right to disconnect” law broke, discussions have been going on in other countries about whether similar measures should be taken. However, time will tell whether the law will be effective and whether companies and workers will voluntarily comply.

Phu Binh

(According to Guardian, NYT)