Majority of UK adults support legal right to disconnect
Six in 10 UK adults are in favour of establishing a legal “right to disconnect”, which might permit staff to ignore work-related communications corresponding to emails and texts exterior their contracted working hours, new analysis from Ipsos reveals.
According to the research, 67% of UK staff stated they take part in work-related communications exterior their official working hours, with about 4 in 10 both checking or replying to these communications, and one-third saying they proactively ship them.
Ipsos discovered that though solely three in 10 don’t talk with work exterior their official working hours, greater than half of UK adults (55%) stated it’s unacceptable for employers to count on employees to even examine for work-related communications after hours.
In phrases of support for a statutory right to disconnect, 60% stated they have been in favour of the federal government introducing it in new laws, with 34% strongly in support. Only one in 10 have been towards such a measure.
The analysis additionally discovered that opinion was break up over whether or not to prioritise flexibility or a right to disconnect, with roughly one-third preferring the latter, 1 / 4 preferring the previous, and 40% saying each are equally necessary.
“The pandemic has had a huge impact on our working patterns, giving businesses and employees an opportunity to re-evaluate the way we work,” stated Kelly Beaver, chief govt of UK and Ireland at Ipsos. “For many, this has resulted in elevated flexibility, however there may be additionally the blurring of traces between work and residential life.
“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? 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.”
Separate polling from Prospect Union – which represents science, tech and different specialist staff – from April 2021 additionally discovered {that a} right to disconnect has important support from staff and commerce unions within the UK.
“This latest research from Ipsos is further evidence that our always-on culture has become a significant and growing problem for too many people,” stated Andrew Pakes, deputy basic secretary of Prospect Union. He stated there want to be safeguards in place to sort out the dangers of surveillance know-how and different work pressures that contribute to folks feeling they can not swap off from work.
“Digital technology has undoubtedly kept us safe, connected and working during the pandemic, but for many, the lines between work and home have become blurred, making it harder to switch off work and contributing to burnout and poor mental health,” stated Pakes.
“Employers need to recognise that this is a problem that will ultimately result in lost days, decreased productivity, a demotivated workforce and burnout.”
In the identical month because the Prospect ballot, staff in Ireland had a right to disconnect enshrined in an official code of apply, and the Scottish authorities introduced its support for comparable measures in December 2021.
In February 2022, the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organisation printed a joint technical transient on wholesome and protected teleworking which stated that enterprises and governments ought to place clear limits on invasive office surveillance and support staff’ “right to disconnect” to scale back the unfavorable bodily and psychological well being impacts of digitally enabled distant working practices.
Although the briefing didn’t explicitly name for governments to implement a right to disconnect, it stated: “It is important to organise telework to meet the needs of both workers and the organisation. This requires a focus on outputs or outcomes, rather than process.” It harassed that employers ought to actively keep away from contacting staff exterior scheduled work hours.
At the beginning of March 2022, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) additionally warned that the intrusive and rising use of surveillance know-how within the office was “spiralling out of control” and could lead on to widespread discrimination, work intensification and unfair therapy with out stronger regulation to defend staff.
“Employers are delegating serious decisions to algorithms – such as recruitment, promotions and sometimes even sackings,” stated TUC basic secretary Frances O’Grady.
“Workers must be properly consulted on the use of AI and be protected from its punitive ways of working. It is time for ministers to bring forward the long-awaited Employment Bill to give workers a right to disconnect and properly switch off outside of working hours.”
