European countries prohibit employers from communicating with their employees overtime

By Jack Kelly

We are in an era of global renaissance for employees, as the narrowness of the labor market has “tightened” the choices of employers. They must now do whatever it takes to attract, hire and retain employees. Businesses offer free college tuition and remote, hybrid and flexible forms of work. They now also care about the mental health and emotional well-being of employees and are interested in helping people avoid burnout.

During a pandemic, people work longer hours than ever before. This was the result of being trapped indoors without much to do, and the pressure to produce or risk losing your job, especially during the first year and a half of the pandemic.

Calls, messages, emails, Slack messages and Zoom requests were expected to be answered by employers, whether at night or on weekends. This greatly burdened the employee. It was a scenario that could not bring a desired ending. If the employee did not respond quickly, there may have been a price tag. Answering your boss all the time could lead to excessive stress and burnout.

In an effort to improve the quality of life of workers in Belgium, the European country has announced that thousands of federal civil servants will no longer have to answer calls or emails from their employers outside of working hours. Some 65,000 civil servants have won the “right to disconnect” in the hope of achieving a better work-life balance.

With the new rule coming into force, federal civil servants can not communicate outside of standard working hours. However, there is an understanding that in some cases, “exceptional and unforeseen circumstances require action that can not wait until the next working period”. The rule also ensures that employees will not be punished or treated differently if they do not respond to correspondence outside of standard working hours.

Petra De Sutter, Belgium’s Minister of Public Administration, referred to stress and burnout as the “real disease of today”. De Sutter added that the right to disconnect fights “excessive work stress and burnout” among federal civil servants. With regard to the right to detachment, the Belgian Federal Government is also considering a proposal to introduce a four-day working week of 38 to 40 hours for full-time staff.

Like Belgium, Portugal has previously passed the Portuguese Labor Code which states that “employers have the obligation not to communicate with workers during their period of rest, except in cases of force majeure”. This policy applies to both office workers and remote workers. If a manager violates this policy, he can face a fine, as it is considered a “serious offense for employers to violate the privacy of their employees”.

Europe is far ahead of the United States on these issues. In 2016, France introduced the right to disconnect. Then Italy followed suit in 2017 and Spain a year later. Ireland has implemented the right of all workers to disconnect in 2021.