UK Tones Down Worker ‘Right to Switch Off’ Demands on Business

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-27/uk-tones-down-worker-right-to-switch-off-demands-on-business?utm_source=website&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=copy

Posted by JayR_97

19 Comments

  1. corbynista2029 on

    Can this Labour government do _something_ for the working class?? We waited 14 years and this is all we are going to get??

  2. Well you gotta make money for your boss. Even if it’s midnight. Your boss needs money.

  3. JimJonesdrinkkoolaid on

    At the moment it almost seems like Labour have decided to speed run becoming the most unpopular government in the shortest amount of time.

    It will be very hard to top the 14 years of Tory government, but Labour seem to be trying anyway.

  4. >Rather than seeking legislation for the “right to switch off,” ministers instead will push for a code of practice for businesses, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. The government is modeling its approach on Belgium and Ireland, which have guidelines on out-of-hours communications, and in contrast with France and Portugal, where the right to disconnect is enshrined in law.

    So instead of it being against the law it will be the pretty please don’t harass your employees out of hours. I’m sure this will be as successful as any other code of practice that gets a good hard dose of capitalism.

  5. magneticpyramid on

    I get that the country needs businesses to do well, surely there should be at least pro-Rata overtime for those who do so with a salary. Too many employers believe they own their employees just because they’re salaried.
    Write it into law that people have the right to be paid for all hours over their contracted hours.

  6. Article literally lists multiple countries that made it a law and still function. But nahhh, can’t upset our capitalist overlords

  7. MeanCustardCreme on

    I use to fully support “Right to Switch Off” but there are some downsides that actually impact me and other companies. If you work for a multi-national across different timezones it can restrict flexibility for those employees. For example, in my case I have working day hours listed in my contract, but I work on either side of them. It’s probably somehow not allowed, however it works well for the business and works well for me. I don’t mind taking some calls in the evening, outside my official hours, and in return I get flexibility during the day.

    I appreciate that the majority won’t be in this situation, but it shows another perspective on things. My main concern is that many multi-nationals in the UK and Europe would downsize their work force in favour of centralised timezone, or move work to countries that don’t have these laws.

    Edit: You guys are totally misreading my comment as being *against* Right to Switch Off. Not fully supporting something doesn’t mean to say I’m against it. In general I do support it, but I wanted to add some nuance to the discussion.

  8. JimJonesdrinkkoolaid on
  9. Empty_Wolverine6295 on

    Shock Labour don’t turnout to be any better than the Tories who would of thought. While people probably had hope of something different we won’t see any meaningful change until our voting system changes and the Labour/Tory hold is gone. Parliament needs to represent the country a lot more in seat percentage than it currently does.

  10. throwra_wifeblack on

    Don’t know about you lot but I have two different phones, a cheap Tesco £30 phone for work and my own phone. The work phone gets turned off once I leave work and gets turned back on once I enter work the next day. Where do you all work where you need to have constant contact? Unless you are an on call worker why do you even answer your phone or check your emails?

  11. I didn’t vote. Short of Starmer drop kicking a new born on stage there was nothing the Tories could have done to win. But I knew nothing was going to change. This is the same Labour Party who thought it was funny to leave a message on David Cameron’s desk saying “Good luck, there’s no more money”.

  12. Whatsmyageagain24 on

    This sub has either become full of Tory astroturfers or just full of idiots. It’s literally been 2 months, yet you have the same chronically online people (again, most likely astroturfers), instantly writing negative comments on any post relating to the labour government.

    Just remember, these people most likely voted again and again for 14 years of absolutely shambolic and economically regressive Tory rule, despite the clear corruption, secondary school level economics, awful infrastructure management, destruction of our trading relationships with countries around the world, etc etc.

    It’s so laughable its become a meme tbh.

  13. Window-washy45 on

    I can see how this will be abused (and does currently). Personally, I tried avoiding as much as possible contacting my employees. And when I did. It was usually something small, just a question. Being the owner, I usually did a lot of overtime unpaid to keep the busienss going. So it was usually, questions like, “hey can you remember where we put such an item in the warehouse?” etc. And the only time I requested they come in out of hours was due to an emergency. When we had that storm a couple years back. Our warehouse flooded badly. And I needed help getting the water out and plugging up the holes. Until someone could come and fix it. And to their credit, two came. I offered full pay for the whole day, but they refused. (I gave them a bonus a couple months later and palmed it off as we just had a good few months is all).

  14. 99thLuftballon on

    Here’s an adage that I’ve never seen fail: Self-governance is no governance.

    An agreement, code of conduct, watchdog or board of governors is meaningless unless it comes with the power to enforce the agreement and to apply punishments in the event of failure to meet the agreed standards.

  15. ThatGuyMaulicious on

    lol the party for the workers my arse. Keir Starmer really wanted to take the Guinness book of world record from Liz Truss for most unpopular and short lived government ever.

  16. Work in public sector where this has never been an issue anyway personally. Is it a real issue and do some employers actually expect you to work unpaid outside of your working hours?

  17. Why did anyone think a new Government makes a difference? They all just push or pull the same levers (taxes, benefits, spend, deficit and money supply) – it either pisses people off, benefits others, or vice versa. The only influence they arguably have that is ‘unique’ are their own laws which either need a lot of money to enforce, or rely on people following it.

    The issue is the Gov here – like many Govs – are steered by “donors” (as it’s called in the UK), “lobbying” (as it’s called in the US) or “bribery” as it’s called everywhere else. Which usually ends up with low and middle earners getting shafted.