“I feel like I live at work”: the right to disconnect

But home office also raises further fundamental questions such as the “right to disconnect”, which has been discussed by social partners at national level, but not a Europe level, as the ETUC pointed out in March 2021: “From a human rights and legal point of view, none of the relevant international and European human rights instruments explicitly and/or specifically provide for or refer for a right to disconnect”[1].

This “right to disconnect” is the main concern for many teleworkers across Europe, but especially for journalists who are often “hyper-connected” to mails and social networks to follow the 24/7 news flow. A journalist from Austria confirmed for the present survey that he has “more or less the same amount of time, however the workload has shifted. You’re more or less always on duty – you get used to working in the morning, at noon, at night. Work and off-work time start to mix”.

Also in the UK, a survey on WFH[2] carried out by the Oxford branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and published in July 2021 found that many journalists find it difficult to switch off: “one respondent wrote: ‘The boundary between work and free time doesn't really exist anymore.’ Another commented: ‘The commute used to provide a threshold between work and home life and leisure time that is now reduced to the three steps between the table and the couch”. A third said simply: ‘I feel like I live at work’”.

The issue of “disconnecting” seems more problematic for staff journalists who are used to working in an office, whereas long-times freelancers are more used to it. For example Lisa, a freelance journalist from Austria, said “I don't think I work more, but differently. I take breaks during the day and then sometimes work in the evening”.

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of this problem and some countries introduced new rules, such as Ireland (see box below with examples from Ireland and France). The chart below, based on the replies received from the questionnaire, shows that the right to disconnect exists in nearly half the situations (9 countries out of 20), with nearly one quarter (4 countries) where the right clearly does not exist.

Yes: North Macedonia, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Macedonia, Estonia, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Finland No: Montenegro, Croatia, Malta, Germany

Focus on the right to disconnect: the French way and the Irish way

France: since the latest version of the French Labour Law, also known as the “El Khomri Law” adopted on 21 July 2016, the right to disconnect is explicitly mentioned in the legislation[3], without providing a clear definition of the “disconnection” itself. The employer must define precisely the "time slots during which the employee is available". Although the employee must remain available and active during these time slots, this does not mean that he or she does not have the right to take breaks, including lunch breaks. The law foresees that negotiations have to deal with disconnection in any company where there is trade union representation, which includes all companies with more than 50 employees. Smaller companies have to implement a non-binding “Charter”. In July 2018, the Court of Cassation recalled the obligation of a company to compensate its employees who are unduly forced to remain available (the employee concerned was able to receive a compensation of more than €60,000).

Ireland: the country introduced a Code of Practice on the “Right to Disconnect” in April 2021[4]. This code defines the right to disconnect as “the right to disengage from work, and refrain from engaging in work-related electronic communications outside of “normal” working hours”, but it also recognises that there may be occasional, legitimate situations where it is necessary for an employer to contact employees outside of normal working hours. The Code also recognises three important elements such as: - the right of an employee to not have to routinely perform work outside their normal working hours - the right not to be penalised for refusing to attend to work matters outside of normal working hours - the duty to respect another person’s right to disconnect (for example: by not routinely emailing or calling outside normal working hours)

[1] ETUC Position on the Right to Disconnect, Adopted at the Executive Committee of 22-23 March 2021 [2] “Beyond Lockdown - Does working from home work for you?” https://www.nuj.org.uk/resource/publishing-industry-survey-shines-a-light-on-working-from-home.html [3] In French, article L. 2242-17, paragraph 7: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000039785096/ [4] https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/6b64a-tanaiste-signs-code-of-practice-on-right-to-disconnect/