[Infowarrior] - Fwd: France to forbid non-work-hours work-email
Richard Forno
rforno at infowarrior.org
Wed May 11 07:39:36 CDT 2016
--
It's better to burn out than fade away.
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: dan
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36249647
>
> The plan to ban work emails out of hours
>
> By Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris
> * 11 May 2016
> * From the section [59]Magazine
>
> Should governments step in to regulate work emails and so rescue
> harassed staff from the perils of digital burnout? The answer
> in France appears to be "Yes". President Francois Hollande's
> Socialist Party is about to vote through a measure that will
> give employees for the first time a "right to disconnect".
>
> Companies of more than 50 people will be obliged to draw up a
> charter of good conduct, setting out the hours - normally in the
> evening and at the weekend - when staff are not supposed to send
> or answer emails.
>
> Much mockery was made in the foreign press when the proposal was
> first mooted, with images of hawk-eyed work inspectors snooping
> on the industrious.
>
> But the French government says the problem of permanent connection
> is universal and growing - and that intervention is needed.
>
> "All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today
> than there used to be, and that the stress is constant," Socialist
> MP Benoit Hamon tells me.
>
> You're at home but you're not at home, and that poses a real
> threat to relationshipsLinh Le, management consultant
>
> "Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave
> their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash
> - like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails - they colonise
> the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually
> breaks down."
>
> The measure is part of a labour law - named after Labour Minister
> Maryam El Khomri - many of whose other provisions have sparked
> weeks of protests in France. The "disconnection" clause is about
> the only part on which there is consensus. Image copyright Getty
> Images Image caption A protester holds a placard reading 'heinous
> labour bill' on the Place de la Republique in Paris
>
> Few - in France or elsewhere - would disagree that work-home
> encroachment is a troubling by-product of the digital revolution.
>
> "At home the workspace can be the kitchen or the bathroom or the
> bedroom. We shift from a work email to a personal WhatsApp to a
> Facebook picture to a professional text - all on the same tool,"
> says Linh Le, a partner at Elia management consultants in Paris.
>
> "You're at home but you're not at home, and that poses a real
> threat to relationships," she says.
>
> Le says the businesses she advises are increasingly aware of the
> dangers to staff. The most extreme threat is so-called burnout
> which she describes as "physical, psychological and emotional
> distress caused by a total inability to rest". Image copyright
> iStock
>
> But apart from wishing to spare their suffering, companies also
> need employees to be creative. And this is less likely, says Le,
> without regular downtime.
>
> She applauds a US insurance company that has given workers sleep
> monitors and pays them a bonus if they get 20 consecutive nights
> of good sleep.
>
> "It shows how good companies recognise the importance of not
> harassing workers at home.
>
> "Here in France we speak of the two types of time, as defined
> by the Greeks: chronos and keiros. Chronos is regular, divisible
> time. Keiros is unconscious time... creative time.
>
> "Keiros is essential for productive thinking, and good employers
> know they need to protect it."
>
> But will the law work? Many have doubts.
>
> At PriceMinister - an online marketplace run from central Paris
> - chief executive Olivier Mathiot has instituted "no-email
> Fridays", to encourage employees to resort less to digital
> messaging.
>
> Sales manager Tiphanie Schmitt says this idea is fine - it helps
> to get people to talk - but she would resist any government
> interference in the way she does her job.
>
> In my company we compete with Indian, Chinese, American
> developers - we need to talk to people around the world late
> into the nightGregory, software writer
>
> "I do sales. I like doing sales. It means I use email late into
> the evening, and at the weekend. I don't want my company preventing
> me from using my mail box just because of some law," she says.
>
> Similar views can be heard expressed at the Bowler pub near the
> Champs-Elysees, a hang-out for financial and computer workers.
>
> "I think [the right to disconnect] is wonderful for improving
> the human condition but totally inapplicable," says software
> writer Gregory.
>
> "In my company we compete with Indian, Chinese, American developers.
> We need to talk to people around the world late into the night.
> Our competitors don't have the same restrictions.
>
> "If we obeyed this law we would just be shooting ourselves in
> the foot."
>
> Olivier Mathiot of PriceMinister says the issue should be addressed
> by education rather than legislation.
>
> "In France we are champions at passing laws, but they are not
> always very helpful when what we need is greater flexibility in
> the workplace," he says.
>
> And according to Linh Le at Elia Consulting, the law will be
> very quickly made irrelevant. "In a few years' time emails will
> have ceased to exist," she predicts. "We'll have moved on to
> something else."
>
> Even cheerleaders such as the MP Benoit Hamon admit that the
> impact of the law will only go so far - as presently drafted
> there is no penalty for violating it. Companies are expected to
> comply voluntarily.
>
> But almost everyone in France agrees that the subject of
> communications overload is one that needs to be on every employer's
> agenda.
>
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