Disconnection policy

New York is now considering a bill that protects employees who don’t want to be reached after working hours.

Every time a boss requires an employee to answer an email, the plan is, that boss is going to be fined $250. Not that stiff a fine, but the relative affordability probably makes the law easier to defend. An employer will just pay the minor fine rather than go through the hassle of challenging the law in court and absorbing enormous legal bills.

This initiative comes after France passed a similar law protecting its “stressed” workforce (already burned out from having to work only thirty-five hours a week). In its aim to emphasize worker’s well-being, France gave employees a “right to disconnect,” arguing that employers were not paying the right overtime to employees if these employers expected employees to answer work email after working hours. (The New York Times reports that employees spend an extra eight hours a week just answering emails when off-duty. That probably holds true for those in the legal profession, even in this country).

That same “right to disconnect” is now being proposed in New York City. It doesn’t make it illegal for a company to email or to call its employees. And employees can still answer email or pick up the phone if they want to. It’s just that an employee can also choose not to answer until the next working day. And if the employee does just that, the company can’t punish him or hold it against him.

Easier said than done, I think. I can just imagine a scenario where there’s an emergency, and it’s only that employee that has the solution. Frantic co-workers or the boss urgently try to contact the employee, who is on diva mode that night. Call after call is dropped and rejected. Frustration and anger of the highest magnitude. Prediction: the next day is not going to be nirvana in the office.

Given today’s competitive and extremely tight job market, those employees that deliver quick, even instantaneous, results are the ones that are going to be prized. They are going to get noticed by the bosses, and are probably going to be promoted ahead much faster than the divas who take their sweet time in responding.

Sure, the employees who exercise their right to disconnect might be respected. But bosses who are tasked to think about the future of the company will want to entrust the company to employees who prioritize the company over a great many competing interests and responsibilities. When push comes to shove, those bosses will pick a “selfless” employee over a “selfish” one.

Nevertheless, the choice will be in the employee’s hands. According to the New York Times, studies have shown that working after office hours leads to inferior quality of sleep and less engagement at the office the next working day. So an employee will probably have to make a judgment call about whether to respond to an email before bedtime hours, or to park it for the night.

Career or beauty? Job security or health? Peace at home or harmony at work?

Hold on. Let me check my email.