Dougal Sutherland: Ignoring after-hours work correspondence

In Australia workers have been given the right to ignore after-hours calls from work, unless it’s in their contract/role requires it or an emergency, following on from some European countries (e.g., France) who have done this. 

How likely are we to follow suit in NZ? It's unlikely that it will become law – since 2015 Health and Safety at work act neither Labour nor National govts appear to have been interested in putting in any more regulations. 

However, debate may increase in kiwi workplaces surrounding the topic. 

There are pros/cons to the discussion – some will feel it’s an example of a “snowflake” generation who do the bare minimum, others will see it as supporting people to switch off from work when they’re done. 

Some workplaces say things like “if you receive an email from me after hours feel free to ignore it until it’s your work hours”, which might be a compromise. We do that at Umbrella, it allows some level of autonomy and responsibility on both ends – I can send you an email at 11pm but don’t expect you to respond to it until you’re at work. You do need to be a bit careful about this as there can be an implied pressure to respond, particularly if the person sending the email is your boss. That links into the topic of how “psychologically safe” you feel at work to express your opinion (but that’s a whole other topic!) 

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