A cultural shift is happening across the globe with employee work-life balance taking a more central focus both for organisations and at government level. The recent news that Portugal has banned managers from contacting staff out of hours through its ‘right to rest’ laws is a significant step in the right direction. But with debates continuing over whether similar models could be applied in the UK, we need to consider whether these might conflict with the flexible working model we’ve come to enjoy.
According to statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive in November 2020, 17.9 million working days were lost to poor mental health in 2019/2020. Many organisations are taking steps to make positive changes to better support their employees and it’s encouraging to see some governments also working to protect the work-life balance. For example, Ireland recently published its Covid-19-conscious Code of Practice which includes a ‘right to disconnect’. The Code defines the ‘right to disconnect’ as (i) the right of an employee to not routinely perform work outside of normal working hours; (ii) the right to not be penalised for refusing to attend to work matters outside of normal working hours; and (iii) the duty to respect another person’s right to disconnect.
Taking it a step further, Portugal’s new ‘right to rest’ laws lay out the potential for firms to be fined if they do not stick within the rules - and with that threat comes a greater chance of effective policy....
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