(Source : NPR.ORG) Ah, to work in France: plenty of
vacation and a 35-hour workweek. And, as of Jan. 1, a new law that gives French
employees the right to disconnect. Companies in France are now required to stop
encroaching on workers' personal and family time with emails and calls.
The law was part of an overall labor
bill that provoked months of street demonstrations and divided the country. The
controversy was mostly over a single provision that made it easier for French
companies to fire people. But nearly everyone supports the provision allowing
workers to walk away from emails and ignore their smartphones when they're out
of the office.
French Labor
Minister Myriam El Khomri commissioned
a 2015 study that warned of the health impact of what she called
"info-obesity." It showed that more and more French people could not
get away from work — even when they weren't there.
Labor lawyer Patrick Thiebart argues
that burnout and other health-related issues are on the rise because of an
overload of digital demands on employees.
"If an employee receives emails
during all their weekends and at night until 11 p.m., then I can assure you
that at a certain point in time, it can negatively impact his health," he
says.
French Labor Minister Myriam El
Khomri commissioned a 2015 study that warned of the health impact of what she
called "info-obesity." It showed that more and more French people
could not get away from the office, even when they weren't there.
Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images
The new law stipulates that companies
with more than 50 workers must negotiate with employees and unions and agree on
a policy to reduce the intrusion of work into private lives.
"Of course your boss shouldn't
send you emails on a Sunday when you're at lunch, enjoying a leg of lamb and a
good Bordeaux," says Bernard Vivier, who runs the Higher Institute of
Work, a think tank that focuses on the French workplace.
"It's so French to throw a law
at every kind of problem," he says. But he doesn't think a law can fix
this one. Such ills must be changed by management and through new practices, he
says.
It's a complicated issue, notes
Thiebart, the lawyer, because digital culture also offers employees freedom and
flexibility.
"Everybody is happy with the
smartphones and the new technology," Thiebart says, "because
employees can work at home and don't have to spend time and money in commuting.
And for companies, they can save money because they don't need all the staff on
the premises."
Many large European
companies and government departments already recognize the right of their
employees to disconnect from work. Companies such as Volkswagen and Daimler,
and French insurer Axa, have taken steps to restrict out-of-hours messaging —
including Volkswagen's limited email server connections on
evenings and weekends.
Thiebart says that isn't such a good
idea, since many businesses operate across several time zones. But he says his
clients, many of them large corporations, are not hostile to the new French
law. They believe a lack of downtime decreases the productivity of their
workforce.
At a Paris gym where people are
working up a sweat after a day at the office, many are still attached to their
devices. Jean Luc Bauché is lifting weights, wearing white earbuds connected to
a smartphone in his pocket.
He says it's a great idea to be able
to disconnect. But he doesn't think it's possible.
"You can pass laws to protect
people from dangers like speeding," he says, "but this law won't work
because it's counter to the way society is evolving."
Bauché says he's the only person he
knows who turns his phone off at night when he sleeps.
"Most people don't dare,"
he says. "They're afraid they'll miss something."
0 Comments