The right to disconnect

Saluto,

This newsletter will be a bit shorter than my usual ones as I am travelling around Greece.

My priority will be to reconnect with non-academic books and fried calamari. So you’ll forgive me if I don’t give you any reading suggestions this time.

Instead, I’ll just briefly explain something that the French started that deserves to spread to the entire world: the right to disconnect.

The idea is simple.

New communication tools have eroded the time that we disconnect from work. Emails, messages, phone calls; every channel of communication becomes a way for a stressed manager or boss to give you work outside of working hours.

This is actually a problem because not everyone can have a second phone or resist the urge to check their email. So what ends up happening is that what was previously rest time becomes time when the work-life balance tips in favour of more work.

And who better than the French to come to our rescue. Already in 2001, a court ruled in favour of an employee. The ruling basically said that an employee couldn't be penalised for being unreachable on a personal phone outside work hours.

This actually became law much later, in 2016, and is now spreading to countries around the world. Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium; one by one, countries are passing laws to make disconnecting from work a right.

Now this applies outside of working hours as well as during holidays.

So let’s make it universal. And here’s a picture from this afternoon, before I disconnect for the next 10 days:

PS: if you’re dying for some readings and are lucky enough to go on holidays, try Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend (given that there are four books, you should be fine for all of your holidays). And if you’re stuck at work and couldn’t get time off, I suggest you read this one.

καλές διακοπές

Dr Cedric Pfanner