France Bans Work Emails after 6PM
- Thread starter Daserop
- Start date
Title is misleading. It simply says that employees can't get into trouble for not responding to after hours emails. It's not like you can get into trouble for sending them or the server is shut down so you can't send them.
I wouldn't put it past the French, however. I'm not sure how anything gets done in that country.
I wouldn't put it past the French, however. I'm not sure how anything gets done in that country.
I think France is a lot like America in that there is the way they do things in the big cities and then there is the way everyone else does it. In my experience, the people of rural France are a lot more like the people of Iowa than someone living in Paris.
From what I'm told it's Paris, and then everywhere else. Paris is basically its own country.
It makes sense though. Depending on the agreement on how you are to be paid and the local laws requiring what must be deemed as overtime it makes some sense that an employer shouldnt be able to get around those by basically requiring you to be on the clock for them 24-7 (as you are if you are expected to be monitoring emails after hours) without additional pay.
I would LOVE that idea. I hate it when I get an email at 9pm, don't respond to it that night, and get questioned about not responding when I get into work in the morning.
I freaking HATE email.
I freaking HATE email.
Give me e-mail over someone calling me. Nothing is more frustrating than sending a client a list of what I need to finish their tax return for them to send 3 of the 7 things requested and call a week later, "So...is my return finished up yet?"
Suppose you worked for French company and you were physically working on a project in Canada five timezones different. You could quit communicating after lunch.
I agree. Part of my job is to be on call as necessary. I have a company cell phone for that. If they need to get a hold of me they better call because I am not going to check email every hour when I should be spending time with my kids. If I catch something important I will respond, but I'm not going out of my way to watch for them. Off time is off time for a reason. We are more effective when we are at work if we are able to truly take time away when off work.
It didn't say specifically how the law was written, but in the article it said something to the effect of off work hours. If someone worked the second shift in France it wouldn't be no email after 6 pm. By the same token if you had a boss in France and working in Canada they would still want you to be doing your work during your whole work day.
But then again, it is the French. They had nationwide strikes that brought the country to its knees with trucks and engineers blocking roads and raillines to cut back their work week from 40 hours to 35 hours.
Little clarification: its not a law, for starters.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/marietelling/no-france-did-not-make-it-illegal-to-answer-work-emails-afte?s=mobile
http://www.buzzfeed.com/marietelling/no-france-did-not-make-it-illegal-to-answer-work-emails-afte?s=mobile
As was said below, this is happening in Germany as well, which has a actual unemployment rate near ours. Americans are often ridiculed for not being able to set work aside. every European nation that I have been to on work visits think its crazy how much work we take home with us.
I think studies also show the average European is more productive at work as well. I am as guilty as anyone of taking work home that I could have done with better time management during normal business hours.
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First, it is not a law. It's a union trade agreement.
Second, the claim is false.
Third, checkez les facts !
The flurry of misreporting and outrage over French labor practices began with an article published Wednesday in the Guardian. “Employers' federations and unions have signed a new, legally binding labour agreement that will require staff to switch off their phones after 6 p.m.,” it stated. “Under the deal, which affects a million employees in the technology and consultancy sectors … employees will also have to resist the temptation to look at work-related material on their computers or smartphones—or any other kind of malevolent intrusion into the time they have been nationally mandated to spend on whatever the French call la dolce vita.”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...orkers_from_answering_emails_after_hours.html
Second, the claim is false.
Third, checkez les facts !
The flurry of misreporting and outrage over French labor practices began with an article published Wednesday in the Guardian. “Employers' federations and unions have signed a new, legally binding labour agreement that will require staff to switch off their phones after 6 p.m.,” it stated. “Under the deal, which affects a million employees in the technology and consultancy sectors … employees will also have to resist the temptation to look at work-related material on their computers or smartphones—or any other kind of malevolent intrusion into the time they have been nationally mandated to spend on whatever the French call la dolce vita.”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...orkers_from_answering_emails_after_hours.html
That is like it is here. In Minnesota, the Twin Citites are so different culturally than the rest of that state they might as well dig a moat around it. The same in Colorado with Denver versus the bulk of the state. Chicago versus the rest of illinois, etc.
I think VW did this for their workers, and the German government thought it was a good idea. But I don't think the government ever made a rule about it.
