Employees in UK rally behind the ‘right to disconnect’ movement

The UK can follow in the footsteps of Ireland, which drew up a new official code of practice, including these three main clauses:

• The right of an employee to not have to routinely perform work outside of the normal working hours.
• The right to be not penalized for refusing to attend to work matters outside of regular work hours.
• The agreement to respect another person’s right to disconnect (for example, by not routinely emailing or calling outside regular working hours).

As per these guidelines, workers will be able to refer to it in proceedings before the Labour Court or Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) if they are asked to regularly work outside agreed hours.

UK citizen Angus Wheeler-Rowe, who works in the telecoms industry, said, “Setting rules about the boundaries for remote or hybrid working would make a big difference in helping people switch off and recharge. Reinforcing the distinction between work and home will increase motivation and at-work productivity, which has to be better for bosses and workers.”

If the UK adds these addendums to their Employment bill, it provides leverage to workers in other developed countries to make the same demands from their own governments.

As the pandemic exposed issues in our capitalist structures, an outcry for fair wages, parental leave, healthcare, and now work from home boundaries have only increased, suggesting that the modern employee no longer wishes to be exploited in the name of livelihood. Heeding these voices provides us an opportunity to discard the ‘all work and no play’ mentality and create a more balanced ecosystem.