As of February 1st, more than 65,000 government employees in Belgium have the right to make themselves unavailable at the end of a workday. That is, they are legally entitled to not respond to emails or work calls and completely detach themselves from work — save for any “exceptional” reasons. With this, Belgium becomes the latest country to align with a new paradigm of instituting healthier work culture.
The “right to disconnect” argues for a work ethic that doesn’t conform to “constant availability”; where workers don’t have to perpetually live under the pressure of “being plugged in.” The pandemic and work from home have reframed how we work — and how we ought to think of work. Without the right to disconnect, said Petra De Sutter, the Belgian minister for public administration, “the result will be stress and burnout and this is the real disease of today.”
Last year, when Portugal “banned” employers from calling and texting people after work others — doing so would make them liable to fines. However, there was no legal right granted in the process. Other countries in Europe, like France and Italy, have some form of “right to disconnect.” Organizations like Volkswagen and Daimler have voluntarily put in place “disconnect from work” policies; such as stopping mail servers from sending emails to employees post work. The European Parliament in November last year proposed an EU-wide law that would protect workers who wished to “disconnect.”
“Now is the moment to stand by...
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