As the Republic of Ireland gives employees the right to disengage from work, BeyondHR Managing Director Neil McLeese discusses whether the United Kingdom should introduce a similar code of practice.
People in the Republic of Ireland have the right to disconnect from work and not answer calls or emails outside of working hours after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar signed a new code of practice, meaning employees now officially have a right to a better work-life balance.
Employers who breach an employee’s right to disconnect, could see their case brought to the Workplace Relations Commission in accordance with the new rules.
The Code of Practice came into effect on 1 April and means people now have the right to refuse to work outside of normal hours without the fear of being penalised.
Many workers are finding themselves under increasingly more pressure, attempting to walk a perilous tightrope in a quest to find some sort of acceptable work/life balance as they face a more demanding working environment than ever.
This has led to arguments that the United Kingdom should introduce a similar code of practice to allow employees adequate time to ‘switch off’ without facing consequences.
However, this may be easier said than done. As the talk about recession and redundancies increases, there is potential for the problem to get worse, rather than better.
Instead, it is likely we will see the ‘presenteeism’ problem of the 2008 financial crisis return in a different form with employees working longer hours at home to try and demonstrate their commitment to their employers but ultimately leading to burn out.
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The sudden change to working from home blurred the lines of many employees between home and work life with many struggling to balance the two. Research over the last year showed that as workforces across the nation transitioned to remote working, employees felt under pressure to answer calls, texts and emails ‘out of hours’.
With the vaccination rollout programme gaining momentum, returning to the office no longer seems like a distant goal with many firms preparing to reopen their offices sooner rather than later. There is some discussion as to how employees should return to work or whether they should return at all.
The Tánaiste launched a consultation on new laws that would allow people to request to work from home, even when the pandemic is over. However, introducing the motion could actually hinder people’s ability to forge a successful work-life balance.
The slightly ironic thing is that, working from home, can have an adverse effect on work-life balance and increase the risk of burn-out as, the absence of a commute to work, can make it harder for people to separate work from home.
To illustrate this point, the Institute of Employment Studies carried out a survey, in April 2020, in which 50% of respondents stated they were unhappy with their current work-life balance and were putting in longer and more irregular hours than normal.
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Perhaps the obvious answer and one being discussed by firms throughout the country is to introduce a more hybrid style of working - enabling employees to reap the benefits of the office environment as well as working from home for part of the week.
Giving employees more flexibility as to where their work could increase productivity and efficiency within the workforce whilst still ensuring a collaborative environment is maintained.
There is certainly no denying that introducing a right to disconnect from work would protect employees who are being overburdened by work by managers and often forced to work outside of working hours.
However, I would suggest that an equally significant issue with working from home is that employees themselves can find it difficult to disengage as they do not have the natural breaks from their working day such as travel time.
For that reason, I think employers should be focusing on educating employees on the benefits of a work life balance from a personal and professional basis.
