'Right to switch off' initiative aims to boost economy by beating burnout

Your country needs you… to quit it with all those sick days

UK government believes its proposed "right to switch off" will bring crucial economic and productivity benefits to the country, while also improving the well-being of workers.

The new rules would essentially give workers the legal right to ignore messages from their boss that are sent outside of normal working hours.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party proposed the move before winning July's general election, and a Downing Street spokesperson suggested this week that the government will be pressing on with these plans, highlighting concerns over work-life balance.

"This is about ensuring people have some time to rest," the PM's deputy spokesperson said.

"Good employers understand that for workers to stay motivated and productive they do need to be able to switch off, and a culture of presenteeism can be damaging to productivity."

The pending proposals are part of Labour's "New Deal for Working People" initiative, which also includes increasing the national living wage, a more generous approach to sick pay, and a bevy of additional reforms to make working life in the UK more bearable.

The full document cites the COVID-19 pandemic as the main catalyst for hybrid and remote working in the UK, and the reason why the line between work and home life is now blurred.

It acknowledges that the rules won't be directly applicable to all companies, roles, and lines of work. It equally notes that some people actually enjoy the flexibility of being able to work outside of conventional hours too.

In cybersecurity, for example, the dreaded weekend-ruining Friday evening ransomware attack is a constant fear and the idea of protecting a right to switch off won't be as easy as it would be in other fields.

However, given burnout rates in infosec, and the wider IT sector, Labour may well be on to something when it talks about economic benefits.

To prevent UK workers' homes from becoming a "24/7 office," as Labour puts it, the current thinking is to transform the UK's attitude to work more in line with that of other countries that have introduced similar measures.

Ireland and Belgium were picked out as the UK's closest neighbors to have introduced their respective "right to switch off" policies, more commonly referred to as a right to disconnect. 

Workplaces must respect their workers' right to refuse work-related business outside of working hours and refrain from routinely contacting them out of hours. They also can't punish workers for disconnecting before and after working hours.

The idea is taking off further afield too. Australia passed its own equivalent bill earlier this year, for example, and Argentina has provided a right for remote workers to disconnect since 2021 via a remote working law.

In the US, a few states have considered the right to disconnect but no legislation has yet been put in place.

How the rules will be applied in the UK remains unanswered. A government source speaking to Sky News said the policies will be introduced in a way that sees workplaces and workers come to an agreement about what's allowed and what isn't, rather than the rules being set out via a "diktat."

It sounds like a similar implementation to what's already happening in France, where companies with 50 staff or more are compelled to find an agreement on how a right to disconnect is implemented. These conversations happen between companies and the relevant trade unions.

Pressed for further details, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) declined to offer any, but said more information about the plans will be revealed in the future.

"This government is proud to be delivering the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation," a DBT spokesperson told El Reg.

"Our plan to Make Work Pay will consider a range of approaches on the right to 'switch off' that work for businesses and employees alike. We will set out further details in due course."

It's perhaps unsurprising that the UK hasn't solidified any of its plans. Starmer has only just come into power, and with the rampant stabbings, riots, building new relationships with foreign leaders, and all the other responsibilities that come with the top job, outlawing the odd 21:30 text from a boss might not be top of the agenda.

The implementation of the right to disconnect in other countries has highlighted the challenges that will need to be addressed in the UK to consider the move a success.

How it's enforced will be under close inspection, as will the criticisms of other countries such as France and Italy, neither of which have direct punishments for non-compliance.

However, as Magic Circle law firm Linklaters says, the opposite approach taken by the likes of Portugal, which is strict and inflexible, mean the policies may not be applicable at all in certain industries, meaning those workers don't even benefit from a weaker, compromised version.

"One suggested approach would involve employers introducing technology such as tools blocking email delivery outside certain hours," blogged Alice Hoskins, associate at Linklaters. "For example, it was reported that a German car manufacturer prevented its email servers from delivering emails to some employees overnight or who were off-shift or on holiday.

"However, a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to this could expose organizations to potentially damaging situations where workers are unable to respond to important and unexpected issues that arise outside of working hours." ®