Smartphones and a 24/7 access to internet has a major downside – you are always connected, a situation many bosses exploit. France is now putting an end to this, discouraging the workers from responding to post-6 p.m. work emails.
The rise of connected mobile devices has led to a culture where employers can send emails or any other tasks to their employees any time of the day, or the night. Until now, untimely calls were the nightmare of an employee’s life but now, email had made it possible for the bosses to send out anything from assignments to documents and more.
And that is certainly having a bad impact on the lives of the employees. France is among the first countries where steps have been taken to put an end to this. In France, two major unions and the employers’ federations have signed a new labor agreement.
The new agreement asks the employees to turn off their work-related smartphones after 6PM so that they could no longer be bothered in their personal and free hours. As part of the deal, the categories of employees that are covered in the agreement are no longer required to answer work-related emails on their smartphone or any PC after 6 p.m. in the evening.
This is a step towards the right direction, although a lot remains to be done still. The aforementioned agreement involves only a small portion of the employees. Similar agreements must be reached by companies and unions in other parts of France as well as elsewhere in the world. Technology must not turn us all into robots who can be invoked to work any time of the day or the night.
Source: Les Echos
Courtesy: Mashable
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