Sometimes, working less is doing more… ‒ HUGH SCHOFIELD (2016): BBC NEWS
Working outside standard work hours is a public service reality during a pandemic. Results from a 2020 Angus Reid Institute survey show that 41 per cent of Canadian workers are checking emails or working outside regular office hours.
This “electronic leash” can affect productivity, as workers disconnect less. Loss of productivity stems from the negative health effects of inadequate sleep, recovery, and social interaction. Ideas get stultified when people are not given enough time to rest their brains before work the next day. It is evident from the research that there is a perceived loss of productivity, with results showing that working outside office hours increases the risk of health impairments by double.
How can the public service limit work-related correspondence after hours? Even if government created a ban on work-related correspondence after hours, how could it regulate public service behaviour?
How some are disconnecting
According to BBC News in 2012, Volkswagen’s servers in Germany did not send or receive emails from work phones from 6:15 pm to 7 am on weekdays and weekends. This change brought better work-life balance to employees and improved Volkswagen’s employee retention.
In January 2017, France introduced a new labour law giving employees the “right to disconnect” from checking emails and calls after work. Companies noted that such a law could not restrict working off-hours to correspondence alone. Employers who cared about employee burnout complied willingly with this legislation.
The Toronto Star reported that European Union lawmakers voted in December 2020 to institute the “right to disconnect” from the Internet and email due to health concerns.
Meanwhile, Toronto-based firm Edelman adopted its own “right to disconnect” rule, where sending work emails between 7 pm and 7 am was discouraged. Only senior management could communicate after hours if needed. A point to note is that employers must consider what constitutes an emergency situation to break the no-after-hours-work rule.
An Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) consultation released in January 2019 explored the concept of the “right to disconnect”. It revealed that 95 per cent of respondents agreed that employees should have the right to refuse work outside office hours. After looking at several firms like Edelman that followed this model, ESDC concluded that there was higher job satisfaction, improved work-life balance, and willingness to work long-term in the role.
What are the implications for public service output of adopting this model? There is not enough information, as such a law is still being explored by governments and companies. The baseline standard is to allow public service departments to bring limits to after-hours correspondence without affecting work outputs.
Setting boundaries
Labour unions and workers’ rights organizations support limits on after-hours correspondence in consideration of work-life balance and unpaid labour. Employers and the business community at large do not agree with placing formal limits. They assert that legitimate emergencies necessitate communications between senior management and employees. At the same time, after-hours work offers greater flexibility in employee schedules.
Labour laws like those implemented in France represent a bold step towards giving public service employees the right to better work-life balance while remaining productive. The “right to disconnect” should be up to managers and employees to negotiate the boundaries and rules for remote work. Managers should consult employees when reviewing policies on after-hours work.
Employees suffering burnout should be able to voice their concerns directly to management. Managers need to ask how they feel about after-hours work and how it affects their life and work motivation. Together, they can develop procedures to place limits on after-hours work. In this digital work life, every employee deserves the “right to disconnect”.
