Work Emails After Hours Finally Banned in France (fortune.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Fortune: A new French law establishing workers' "right to disconnect" goes into effect today. The law requires companies with more than 50 employees to establish hours when staff should not send or answer emails. The goals of the law include making sure employees are fairly paid for work, and preventing burnout by protecting private time. French legislator Benoit Hamon, speaking to the BBC, described the law as an answer to the travails of employees who "leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash -- like a dog."
The BBC reports that France already has a 35-hour work week, while Fortune adds that many European companies have already taken steps to curtail after-work emails. "In 2012, Volkswagen blocked all emails to employees' Blackberries after-hours," and "Daimler took the step of deleting all emails received by employees while on vacation."

Comments

Sorely needed in the US

[waspleg]

along with that 35 hour work week - without a pay reduction.

I'm hourly and required to carry a work cellphone 24/7 despite not being paid to do so in any way (money/comp time/whatever).

But the demonization of unions by big corporate money has been very successful in fucking shit like this up for the US.

Re:Sorely needed in the US

[waspleg]

Their work is dealing with your shitty kids. Some are glorified babysitters and they're scared to do anything because the law favors the kids and the kids know it and most of those shitty kids are shitty because their parents are worse.

Good teachers are doing lesson plans long in to their personal time and doing shit for their classes while "off" over the summer. I've seen many pay for basic school supplies for kids in their classes out of their own pockets because the kid's shitty parents won't or can't.

I suggest you actually go to the school and see how it is before judging from across the street. If you're in an affluent area it's a different set of problems but still a shit load of work dealing with helicopter soccer moms.

They couldn't pay me enough to be a teacher. I've been in enough classrooms to know I'd go to jail, my patience and temper aren't suited for it.

Re:More time for TV

[waspleg]

The problem is it becomes expected that you be working/in touch 24/7.

Re:Good luck getting contracts!

[ffkom]

If your selection criterion for whom to contract with is their desperateness to get a contract no matter under what conditions, then chances are you'll contract with the worst botchers amongst their profession. Those who are competent have no need to ruin their private lives by being available for you 24/7.

Re:Good luck getting contracts!

[SirSlud]

Companies who give a shit about their customers and their employees can have enough people not to require people to be available 24/7. Note how this only applies to companies over 50 people. If you do business with people, your comment doesn't apply. If you do business with companies, nothing prevents a larger sized company from being available 24/7 without their employees being available 24/7.

Anyhow, what the OP says is mostly true. The minimum is doing no work. The maximum is being "at work" every minute you're awake. It's amusingly naive to believe that those who make themselves available all of the time are inherently better at what they do, or are more valuable. Anybody with a decent amount of experience in life and exposure to different working environments and disciplines knows this.

Re:Good luck getting contracts!

[hey!]

I've had clients like you who felt they should be able to buttonhole my developers whenever they had a brainwave. As far as I'm concerned people like you can find yourselves another victim to work out your personal dominance issues. Hire me and I'll do a great job for you, because I know how to manage a friggin' development team. You don't.

The seldom-mentioned corrollary to "the customer is always right" is that you should be picky about who you work for, if you can manage it. I almost said "if you can afford it", but really the question is actually whether you can afford to work for an obstreperous, intrusive client who doesn't understand boundaries. Customers like that will eat up your slack then bleed you dry every... single... time.

Re:Good luck getting contracts!

[Dunbal]

Those who give a shit about their customers and try to do their very best for them DO make themselves available 24/7. These are the people I will do business with. In my experience, the most important selection criteria for anything is the quality of the product itself, and the second close behind is the type of support you'll receive.

Of course usually you expect to pay premium price for premium service. In MY experience, the world is full of shitstains who want 24/7 availability but don't want to pay for it.