Workplace Wellbeing: Claim your right to disconnect 

The boundaries between work and life became more blurred than ever during the pandemic. But there's a code of practice in place to protect your downtime

“We were all at home, trying to work and do everything else all at once - nobody has the mental capacity for that.”

Do you struggle to switch off from work? If you find yourself checking emails over breakfast, answering calls outside of work hours, or catching up on projects in the evenings, the answer to this is likely to be yes.

You’re not alone. The Microsoft Work Trend Index Survey, which interviewed 31,092 workers in 31 countries in January 2021 found that the average workday had increased by 46 minutes since March 2020 and after-hours and weekend work had grown by 28% and 14% respectively. A lot of people are clocking in when they should be tuning out.

Ireland introduced a code of practice on the right to disconnect in April 2021 to tackle the problem of work encroaching on leisure time. Developed by the Workplace Relations Commission, it aims to create a culture in which employees are fully aware of their entitlement to down time.

It does this by enshrining three rights. One is not to have to routinely perform work outside of normal working hours. Two is not to be penalised for refusing to attend to work matters outside of work hours. And three is the duty to respect other people’s right to disconnect.

In practical terms, this means not feeling pressurised into responding to emails, calls, or other work-related notifications when we’re not at work. All our messages can remain unread.

Priority for trade unions

Dr Laura Bambrick, the head of social policy with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, was on the working group that developed the code of practice and firmly believes in its importance for employees.

“Work-life balance has always been a priority for trade unions,” she says. “The eight-hour day was one of our earliest and most far-reaching achievements and has benefitted generations of workers. In recent years, that working day has come under threat on two fronts — a boom in employment contracts that require workers to be available on demand and advances in communication technology.”

These developments have negative consequences for employees. “When the occasional intrusion on a worker’s personal time becomes the norm, it’s a health and safety concern,” says Bambrick. “An overtired worker is a danger to themselves and others. It was in recognition of this that EU-wide laws regulating working hours and rest periods were introduced in the 1990s. But these protections haven’t kept pace with new technologies, modern work practices and the growth in businesses operating across different time zones.”

Chartered work and organisational psychologist Leisha McGrath agrees. “Our nervous systems and brains aren’t set up for always being on,” she says. “If we don’t make time to get outside, exercise, nourish ourselves and be in relationship with ourselves and those around us, we’ll get tired, make more mistakes and our work will suffer.”

Our diminishing performance will affect our employers, says Mary Connaughton, director of the professional body for human resources, CIPD Ireland. “Good work-life balance is what supports performance,” she says. “A lack of balance means employees don’t have the time to attend to their physical and mental health and this increases the risk of absenteeism, stress and employee turnover.”

For many, moving from a nine-to-five office job to remote working during the pandemic exacerbated the problem. The boundaries between work and life became more blurred than ever.

“We were all at home, trying to work and do everything else all at once,” says McGrath. “Nobody has the mental capacity for that.”

The experience left its mark on many of us. Some picked up negative habits. “They spent all their free time working and never switched off and they haven’t come back to the balance they had pre-pandemic,” says McGrath.

Others were affected in a more positive way. “Being at home made them realise they had been missing out on things like being able to pick the kids up from school,” says McGrath. “Their focus changed as they began to see work as part of life, not the whole picture.”

Leading by example

These varying experiences resulted in an increase in workers’ need and desire to disconnect. That prompted the government to include the code of practice as part of its programme to support and facilitate remote working.

Some countries got there before us, with France bringing in legislation in 2016, Italy in 2017 and Spain in 2018. Others are still campaigning for such rights. In Britain, for example, two thirds of employees said they wanted a right to disconnect to be included as part of the 2021 Employment Bill, a wish that wasn’t granted at the time.

McGrath believes if employees are to take the right to disconnect seriously, employers have to model the behaviour they would like to see. “They should show how boundaries are enforced,” she says. “That means no sending emails late at night or expecting employees to get back to you on a Saturday morning unless it’s in exceptional circumstances.”

Employers should also act quickly if they notice that employees are regularly logging in out of hours. “Identify why,” says Bambrick. “Is it the result of too heavy a workload, actual or perceived pressure from a manager, fear of signalling a lack of commitment to the employer or a mismatch between agreed working hours and the needs of the business?”

Connaughton advises having a conversation to establish what is happening. “These issues need to be resolved before they escalate to a person becoming ill or leaving the organisation altogether,” she says.

Employees have to take responsibility for enforcing their own boundaries too. “If you’re actively choosing not to disengage from work, ask yourself what’s going on and what you can do about it,” says McGrath. “Is it anxiety? Is it that it feels good to be wanted? If you can get a handle on those underlying issues, the surface behaviour of burying yourself in work should change automatically. It’s detrimental to always have half a head in work. It detracts from your ability to be present in the rest of your life. It’s up to you to do something about it.”

Simple tricks like taking work apps off your phone, disabling notifications and getting active can help. “Go for a run, exercise, schedule some fun activities,” says McGrath. “They’ll take your mind off work.”

Maxine Hyde, general manager of Ballymaloe Foods

Learning to manage it all

As the general manager of Ballymaloe Foods, Maxine Hyde has had to encourage her 39 employees to take such steps. “When I started working 14 years ago, our computers were in the office and we had one email account that received four or five emails a day,” she says. “Now our computers have moved from laptops to phones that we carry in our pockets and God only knows how many emails and notifications we get. We’ve had to learn how to manage all of that as a team.”

It’s been a challenge. “At one stage, some employees complained that our WhatsApp messaging was going crazy,” says Hyde. “I’m in those groups so I knew it was becoming an issue when people posted at nine o’clock on Friday evenings or the middle of Sunday afternoons.”

Hyde tackled the issue head-on. “We made it absolutely clear that people shouldn’t communicate about work outside of work hours,” she says. “We also said that we never expected anyone to respond to messages out of hours or check their email when they were off.”

She enrolled the team in productivity training too. “They learned tips like turning off notifications and how to manage the madness of their email inbox,” she says.

Hyde believes her workforce is happier as a result. “It can be powerful to turn off the phone, close the computer and forget all about work,” she says. “Life is for living. It’s not for constantly thinking about work.”