CHARLOTTE — How often do you respond to work emails or texts after hours? Workers in Australia don’t have to do it anymore, after a new law was passed there.
It’s known as the “right to disconnect” law and some employee here in the U.S. say they want the same kind of protection.
One worker told Channel 9, “Absolutely there should be limits, people want their private time and why should your job infringe upon that?”
In a survey of 1,100 U.S. employees, 71 percent said they’re expected to respond to emails after hours, and 74 percent said work-related communications caused burnout that led to less communication with their loved ones.
Ninety percent favor laws that allow them to disconnect – without consequences.
This past summer, Australia passed a national ‘right to disconnect’ law. Proposals are now pending in California and New York City.
“I think it has huge momentum, people want to disconnect,” Elaine Varelas, a Human resources consultant with Keystone Partners, said.
Varelas added that being electronically connected to work 24/7 has consequences: “I think it’s causing burnout and it’s causing depression. So, just feeling like you can’t walk away from your phone or your computer is too much for anyone to ask for.”
There are certain lines of work that require off-hours communication, but most employees say they’d love to be able to disconnect – without fear of repercussions.
“You need your time to be more productive when you are at work, and that’s sort of what a lot of the research is – to be more productive in the time you’re there,” another worker told Channel 9.
While many in that survey said they’d rather be left alone when they’re off the clock, more than half said they regularly answer work emails when they’re on vacation. They said they feel it’s necessary for career advancement.
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