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Latest NewsWorking from homeWork-life balance

Six in 10 support statutory right to disconnect

by Jo Faragher 11 Mar 2022
by Jo Faragher 11 Mar 2022 Younger workers were more likely to consider out-of-hours communications acceptable
Shutterstock
Younger workers were more likely to consider out-of-hours communications acceptable
Shutterstock

Six in 10 UK workers would support a ‘right to disconnect’ law, according to research from Ipsos.

Driven by remote working and the pandemic, more than two-thirds (67%) of employees say they now receive work-related communications outside of working hours. Although 43% check these communications, only 40% reply to them.

The research shows that being “always-on” has become normalised for younger workers. Fifty-five percent of 16 to 34-year-olds thought it was acceptable for employers to expect staff to check work communications out of hours, compared with 35% of 35 to 75-year-olds.

Younger workers were less in support of a law being introduced, although graduates were more in favour than non-graduates.

Higher-earning workers were more likely to be checking or sending emails outside of work hours, Ipsos found. Four-fifths of people earning more than £55,000 a year tended to check communications outside work time, compared with 65% of those earning less.

Right to disconnect

Give remote workers right to disconnect, urges union

Lockdown sees employees working harder than normal

Blanket out-of-hours email bans do more harm than good

Unions have campaigned for a right to disconnect for UK workers for some time. A poll by the Prospect union in 2021 also found that 66% of those working remotely would support such a policy.

The TUC’s Dignity at Work and the AI Revolution manifesto, which considers the impact of algorithms and technologies on employees, also calls for a “statutory right for employees and workers to disconnect from work, to create ‘communication-free’ time in their lives.”

A right for employees to disconnect has been in place in France since 2017, and Portugal since last year.

The Scottish government has also indicated it could establish the right for government employees working in devolved agencies, after a pledge in its budget in December.

When asked whether they would prioritise the right to flexible working over a right to disconnect, almost a third (32%) said it was more important to give employees the right to switch off. Thirty-seven percent said both factors were equally important.

Kelly Beaver, UK and Ireland chief executive of Ipsos, said the pandemic had had a huge impact on working patterns, but not always a positive one.

“For many, this has resulted in increased flexibility, but there is also the blurring of lines between work and homelife.

“There is clearly support for legislation that protects the work-life balance, but will something as prescriptive as legislation actually impinge on the flexibility many have embraced over the last two years?

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“Businesses should work with their employees to provide an environment that offers flexibility and a healthy work-life balance, so that we can all benefit from this new way of working.”

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Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

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