Is France’s bid to ban out-of-hours work email fanciful?

How often do you spend your day going

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from meeting to meeting, only to settle into an evening tackling an overflowing email inbox? Well, you may wish that you worked in France, where the government has put forward a law that puts an end to out-of-hours emailing.

The proposed labour reform plans to introduce the “right to disconnect”. If passed, it will require companies to set standards outlining when staff are not obliged to respond to emails.

Of course, the issue of responding to work emails out of hours is not new. We know that constant connectivity to work can have negative consequences, such as stress, anxiety, and work encroaching on home life. As a result, many companies have started to rethink their 24/7 connectivity. For example, Volkswagen made headlines by switching off servers that send emails to employees outside of working hours to prevent stress and burnout, while Daimler implemented an auto-delete policy for emails that arrive while employees are on leave.

https://theconversation.com/is-frances-bid-to-ban-out-of-hours-work-email-fanciful-59416