Right to disconnect?

[Peter]

Many EU countries have a right to disconnect law which makes it illegal for companies to contact employees outside working hours and I'm wondering if you think that law should be enacted in the US?

I think this law would help with people being overstressed and harassed by work and would be a fantastic idea but what do you think and why do you disagree if you do?

Right to disconnect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Slartibartfast]

When I worked for a company that was based in Germany but had a US presence, these sorts of things were also in the US work culture.

It made for a much better experience for me. I support these things (and also stuff like worker's councils).

 

[Napoleon]

Many EU countries have a right to disconnect law which makes it illegal for companies to contact employees outside working hours and I'm wondering if you think that law should be enacted in the US?

I think this law would help with people being overstressed and harassed by work and would be a fantastic idea but what do you think and why do you disagree if you do?

Right to disconnect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

“Working hours” is a nebulous concept for hourly workers in the U.S. because mandatory overtime, even without advanced notice, is legal for them. So the first step would be to change federal law to make that illegal.

 

[mrjurrs]

Many EU countries have a right to disconnect law which makes it illegal for companies to contact employees outside working hours and I'm wondering if you think that law should be enacted in the US?

I think this law would help with people being overstressed and harassed by work and would be a fantastic idea but what do you think and why do you disagree if you do?

Right to disconnect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This is a good policy.

 

[ALiberalModerate]

Many EU countries have a right to disconnect law which makes it illegal for companies to contact employees outside working hours and I'm wondering if you think that law should be enacted in the US?

I think this law would help with people being overstressed and harassed by work and would be a fantastic idea but what do you think and why do you disagree if you do?

Right to disconnect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I think it's a good policy but should be limited to salaries under a certain level. For example, under 100k a year.

 

[Peter]

I think it's a good policy but should be limited to salaries under a certain level. For example, under 100k a year.

Why?
If a company wants you to be on call they can pay for that, otherwise staff should know they can ignore work outside hours without threat.

 

[StillBallin75]

The answer is 100% yes but we are a nation of bootlickers.

There's a ton of pro worker legislation that needs to get passed before we even get to this point.

 

[MAGAnificent]

Many EU countries have a right to disconnect law which makes it illegal for companies to contact employees outside working hours and I'm wondering if you think that law should be enacted in the US?

I think this law would help with people being overstressed and harassed by work and would be a fantastic idea but what do you think and why do you disagree if you do?

Right to disconnect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That would be a stupid law in the US and probably anywhere else.
I am now retired, however such a law would have completely negated my position at the firm I was employed at for 33 years. Not every job is 8:00 to 5:00 PM and forget.

 

[Ishm]

Over my career I have worked from the bottom to the top. There is a level of management where, if you are serious about your responsibilities and ambitious in your career, you definitely DON'T want to be disconnected. I had 200 staff in France when they introduced the shortened working week and no overtime rules in the late 1990's (1999?). One of the early versions of disconnect legislation. Rank and file workers were mostly ok with it, but not the ambitious and best workers. The management team were virtually all unhappy because they were smart enough to see how hard things were going to get. What people don't think about when they consider this stuff is that employers pay their staff based on output. Once you are in a salaried position rather than one paid by the hour, that salary includes the output from whatever the norm is at the time. If the norm is that staff work extra hours when needed, then that will be built into their salary because they are being paid for their output rather than hours. Take away that extra output with disconnect legislation and eventually the salaries fall to match the reduced output. They have to or else the business doesn't survive.

I have run organisations where I have gone around the office after working hours officially ended to kick people out and make sure they go home when the business wasn't under stress. To many dedicated and ambitious employees following my own example and doing to many hours when it wasn't necessary. But when the business needed it, they were all expected to, and were happy to, put in the big hours. Those staff were exceptionally well paid and got a lot of extra benefits because we were incredibly productive. We had zero staff turnover. Write legislation to take away that flexibility and the high pay and extra benefits have to disappear. I definitely support making sure that employees hours and home life are not abused by their employers, but my experience in France showed me that these blanket disconnect legislations are to broad and do more to pull the ambitious top performers back than lift the rest up.

 

[Peter]

That would be a stupid law in the US and probably anywhere else.
I am now retired, however such a law would have completely negated my position at the firm I was employed at for 33 years. Not every job is 8:00 to 5:00 PM and forget.

It's in many EU countries and comming to the UK.
Why is it stupid?
What did you do that meant you had to be on call at all hours and couldn't refuse to answer the phone?
Were you paid for being on call?

 

[MAGAnificent]

It's in many EU countries and comming to the UK.

And you will probably notice that those EU countries are not the economic giant the US is.

Why is it stupid?

For many reasons. One is obviously on-call situations, another is remote work. Another is your value to the company, assuming that you are not working at McDonalds. Your expertise may be needed after hours.

What did you do that meant you had to be on call at all hours and couldn't refuse to answer the phone?

I maintained servers in multiple locations in three different states. Much of it I did remotely from the office or on site, however I also maintained them remotely from home and on site after hours. If a server failed, I had to be available.

Were you paid for being on call?

Only when I was an hourly employee Ultimately I went Salary. I was well compensated.

 

[Peter]

And you will probably notice that those EU countries are not the economic giant the US is.

For many reasons. One is obviously on-call situations, another is remote work. Another is your value to the company, assuming that you are not working at McDonalds. Your expertise may be needed after hours.

I maintained servers in multiple locations in three different states. Much of it I did remotely from the office or on site, however I also maintained them remotely from home and on site after hours. If a server failed, I had to be available.

Only when I was an hourly employee Ultimately I went Salary. I was well compensated.

The law doesn't make being on call illegal it just means that those not on call can't be pressured to take calls out of hours.
Germany has the law and its one of the strongest economies on earth.

 

[MAGAnificent]

The law doesn't make being on call illegal it just means that those not on call can't be pressured to take calls out of hours.
Germany has the law and its one of the strongest economies on earth.

Economically Germany is still a lightweight compared to the US.

 

[Teatime]

Many EU countries have a right to disconnect law which makes it illegal for companies to contact employees outside working hours and I'm wondering if you think that law should be enacted in the US?

I think this law would help with people being overstressed and harassed by work and would be a fantastic idea but what do you think and why do you disagree if you do?

Right to disconnect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I have my own version of this where I have 2 phones and work only gets one of the numbers.

 

[Peter]

Economically Germany is still a lightweight compared to the US.

Do you think the right to disconnect has harmed the German economy?
Why would it harm the US economy other than not allowing companies presure staff to work out of hours.

 

[MAGAnificent]

Do you think the right to disconnect has harmed the German economy?

Not my day to watch the German economy. Though probably the most recentg damage to the German economy is the mass influx refugees they accepted.

Why would it harm the US economy other than not allowing companies presure staff to work out of hours.

Such a law is authoritarian. American workers tend to vote with their feet. If we do not like the working conditions with a particular employer, we resign and work elsewhere.

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

Many EU countries have a right to disconnect law which makes it illegal for companies to contact employees outside working hours and I'm wondering if you think that law should be enacted in the US?

I think this law would help with people being overstressed and harassed by work and would be a fantastic idea but what do you think and why do you disagree if you do?

Right to disconnect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

No one cares about salary workers. If they are greedy enough to take a salary job, they should lay in the bed they made for themself.

They know what they are getting into by signing the contract. They negotiated away their life for a pay check and no overtime pay. Screw them it's their fault for signing on.

 

[Peter]

No one cares about salary workers. If they are greedy enough to take a salary job, they should lay in the bed they made for themself.

They know what they are getting into by signing the contract. They negotiated away their life for a pay check and no overtime pay. Screw them it's their fault for signing on.

What sort of odd opinion is this?
Do you think everyone can be self employed or only work by the hour?

 

[Noodlegawd]

Many EU countries have a right to disconnect law which makes it illegal for companies to contact employees outside working hours and I'm wondering if you think that law should be enacted in the US?

I think this law would help with people being overstressed and harassed by work and would be a fantastic idea but what do you think and why do you disagree if you do?

Right to disconnect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

No. I think if you don't want to be contacted by your employer outside of "work hours," you should take a job with fixed work hours. For instance, Sanitation Engineers and McDonald's cashiers don't get called outside of their shifts.

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

What sort of odd opinion is this?
Do you think everyone can be self employed or only work by the hour?

Anyone who signs a contract that says you have to be available 24/7 is stupid and greedy.

 

[dockside]

Over my career I have worked from the bottom to the top. There is a level of management where, if you are serious about your responsibilities and ambitious in your career, you definitely DON'T want to be disconnected. I had 200 staff in France when they introduced the shortened working week and no overtime rules in the late 1990's (1999?). One of the early versions of disconnect legislation. Rank and file workers were mostly ok with it, but not the ambitious and best workers. The management team were virtually all unhappy because they were smart enough to see how hard things were going to get. What people don't think about when they consider this stuff is that employers pay their staff based on output. Once you are in a salaried position rather than one paid by the hour, that salary includes the output from whatever the norm is at the time. If the norm is that staff work extra hours when needed, then that will be built into their salary because they are being paid for their output rather than hours. Take away that extra output with disconnect legislation and eventually the salaries fall to match the reduced output. They have to or else the business doesn't survive.

I have run organisations where I have gone around the office after working hours officially ended to kick people out and make sure they go home when the business wasn't under stress. To many dedicated and ambitious employees following my own example and doing to many hours when it wasn't necessary. But when the business needed it, they were all expected to, and were happy to, put in the big hours. Those staff were exceptionally well paid and got a lot of extra benefits because we were incredibly productive. We had zero staff turnover. Write legislation to take away that flexibility and the high pay and extra benefits have to disappear. I definitely support making sure that employees hours and home life are not abused by their employers, but my experience in France showed me that these blanket disconnect legislations are to broad and do more to pull the ambitious top performers back than lift the rest up.

This was never an issue before cell phones. If you were away from home, too bad for the company, as no method of contacting the employee outside their home was available. And, the world kept spinning and business kept being conducted and companies profited.

 

[Helix]

It won't happen here during my lifetime. The American work culture can be pretty intense.

 

[Helix]

This was never an issue before cell phones. If you were away from home, too bad for the company, as no method of contacting the employee outside their home was available. And, the world kept spinning and business kept being conducted and companies profited.

I worked at a store for a while back in the dark ages, and they would call me in on my days off using a land line. I learned to not answer the phone on those days, but I think that I took some shit for it.

 

[LouC]

Right to disconnect?​

Oh yeah.

It should be the law in the USA with a few negotiated and specifically delineated exceptions.

 

[Peter]

I worked at a store for a while back in the dark ages, and they would call me in on my days off using a land line. I learned to not answer the phone on those days, but I think that I took some shit for it.

I assume you just said you weren't at home?
They can't expect you to stay at home in case they phone while you aren't being paid.