Right to disconnect: what would a UK version look like?

The different countries that have adopted this right have applied it in different ways. Australia, for example, has made it so that outside their working hours, employees can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact from their employer, or another person if the contact is work-related (for example, work-related contact from clients or members of the public) unless the employee’s refusal is unreasonable. Ireland, which introduced the right in April 2021, has a slightly different interpretation, with its right to disconnect including:

·        a right not to work routinely outside of normal working hours;

·         a right not to be penalised for refusing work outside normal working hours; and

·         a duty to respect another’s right to disconnect (by not routinely emailing or calling outside normal hours).

Belgium, on the other hand, has adopted different approaches depending on whether the employer is a public or private sector employer, with civil servants having the right to not be contacted outside of normal working hours, whereas private sector employees, simply have a right to have a written agreement in place on the right to disconnect.

The approaches of all three of the countries above lack any serious punishments for employers failing to implement the right to disconnect, which is in contrast to the approach adopted by Portugal where companies with more than 10 employees can be given significant fines if they fail to uphold an employee’s right to not be contacted outside of their contracted hours, other than in exceptional situations.

Labour had initially said that they would introduce the right as part of their Employment Rights Bill which they promised to publish in the first 100 days of them taking power. The right to disconnect was, however, one of the casualties from Labour’s manifesto that didn’t make the Bill. Labour has committed to introduce this in the future, although it is unlikely to happen in the next couple of years, so what could a UK right to disconnect look like:

Even though it is unlikely that there will be a legal obligation for employers to provide the right to disconnect for employees in the next few years, with employee wellbeing and work-life balance becoming of increased importance for both employers and employees alike, the right to disconnect is a potentially important tool in ensuring employees are able to draw a distinct line between working time and personal time. As such, regardless of the right to disconnect coming in, and what that may look like, employers may want to consider steps such as:

This article first appeared in People Management on 4 November 2024.