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The right to switch off?
5 September 2024
How to encourage this in a way that works for your business.
There is a real and urgent need to address the creeping norm of employees working all hours, being contactable and available all the time. But Labour’s recent abandoning of a legal ‘right to disconnect’ in favour of a voluntary code of practice is probably the right move, in my humble opinion.
Here are 5 reasons why, 5 ways to make switching off a win/win for you and your organisation, and 5 positive actions to put into practice now.
Why legislation is too blunt a tool:
If yours IS an organisation that wants to do better at encouraging employees to switch off, try:
1. Using Labour’s shift to open up conversations at work about pressures to communicate or be available after hours.
2. Adding ‘we support the right to disconnect’ in your recruitment material and having examples to share with candidates during interviews.
3. Supporting selected managers and their teams to trial different experiments around switching off.
4. Asking people ‘how can we help you do to your best work within your normal working hours?’. ‘What gets in the way of this?’.
5. Setting up an industry-wide collaboration to trial different ways of achieving the same outcome.
- Heavy-handed legislation will probably antagonise businesses, not secure their support. There's more to do first to spotlight organisations that are managing the boundaries well between working & non-working time well and proving the business benefits.
- It’s too early to say confidently how well similar legislation has worked abroad. Australia only adopted this last month; the longer-standing fine-based approach in France and Portugal isn't proven as an effective deterrent.
- Human-centred organisations are probably already paying attention to this, being creative about work boundaries and using their approach to enhance their employer brand. They'll be the ones who proactively adopt the code of practice and make it genuinely part of ‘the way we work here’ - and they'll win at attracting and retaining talented people longer-term as a result.
- ‘But clients will go elsewhere’. This is the defence I often hear in rejection of proposals like the right to disconnect. No, client won't IF you engage them in the change and show them that it means they get to access your sharpest minds working at their best,.
- When organisations see their early-adopter competitors living the code and still winning & keeping desirable clients - and nabbing theirs - they’ll swiftly follow suit.
If yours IS an organisation that wants to do better at encouraging employees to switch off, try:
1. Using Labour’s shift to open up conversations at work about pressures to communicate or be available after hours.
2. Adding ‘we support the right to disconnect’ in your recruitment material and having examples to share with candidates during interviews.
3. Supporting selected managers and their teams to trial different experiments around switching off.
4. Asking people ‘how can we help you do to your best work within your normal working hours?’. ‘What gets in the way of this?’.
5. Setting up an industry-wide collaboration to trial different ways of achieving the same outcome.
Asynchronous and flexible working are here to stay and bring many benefits to individuals and their employers. But they can make it a challenge to co-ordinate and communicate within teams and across time zones. Here's what you can do personally to uphold the right to switch off and respect other people's non-working time:
- Add an email footer like: 'I'm sending this now because it suits me but I'm not expecting a response outside of normal working hours'.
- Work offline if you're working late evenings or weekends, so you're not visible on Teams/whatever channels you use, and schedule your emails to send the next day to avoid the ripple effect of people responding immediately.
- If people on your team have repeatedly worked late or sacrificed home lives to help reach a deadline, then give them some time back straight afterwards. It's simple and effective.
- If you're a manager, find out people's preferences around being contacted - or not - during out of hours or when on leave. Everyone's different, so make it your job to know.
- See annual leave as an opportunity for a colleague to step up and have some stretch experience by covering for you, with support beforehand. Then switch off properly and don't muddy the water by dipping in and out unasked. Listen to my podcast conversation with Ben Higgins, Global CHRO of Wholesale Banking at Societe Generale, about how he does this.
These examples are about applying #timeintelligence. If you want to know more about my #timeintelligence sessions for leaders, teams and individuals, get in touch. And if you're making good progress in your organisation on switching off - or at least trialling a few changes - then I'd love to hear more.
During normal working hours, of course.
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