How many of us receive emails from work directly, or emails that are related to work even when we’re not working? For example receiving emails on our day off, or during the weekends, or at 8pm when we’re having dinner? For some of us, it’s easy to just ignore them, for others, they might feel obligated to respond or feel stressed that even when they’re not working, they’re working.The good news is that if you are looking to escape emails after work and have a clean conscience about it, maybe you should consider moving to France because over in the country, a new law has been passed that makes it illegal for your employer to email you after working hours. Such a plan was proposed back in 2014 but the recent passing of the law has dubbed it “The right to disconnect” amendment, and there is a catch.
The catch is that only employees that are working in a company with 50 or more workers are covered by this law, which means that if you work at a cafe with just 10 staff, you can’t really do much should your employer decide to bombard you with emails about how to boost productivity at 10pm at night.
Speaking to the BBC earlier this month, Benoit Hamon of the French National Assembly said, “All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today than there used to be, and that the stress is constant. Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash— like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails — they colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.”
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