Right to disconnect

[nigel99 293]

In Australia today we got a new law following parts of Europe and that’s the right to disconnect and prevent companies contacting employees out of hours - except in exceptional circumstances.

There’s a bit of concern about it, but it’s a really good initiative. Peter Drucker back in the 80’s used to say that he could only be interrupted by his wife or the president. His philosophy was that in a functional organisation, nobody should be that critical that things ‘couldn’t wait’. 

It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. My manager is really good and knows my stance, his manager is completely dysfunctional. She’s in a different Timezone and schedules meetings for 1am that she expects him to attend (so that she isn’t inconvenienced). He’s on leave for the first time in years and she keeps copying him in on everything and expecting him in meetings- despite having handed over to me.

[JoeWeber 2,567]

56 minutes ago, nigel99 said:

In Australia today we got a new law following parts of Europe and that’s the right to disconnect and prevent companies contacting employees out of hours - except in exceptional circumstances.

There’s a bit of concern about it, but it’s a really good initiative. Peter Drucker back in the 80’s used to say that he could only be interrupted by his wife or the president. His philosophy was that in a functional organisation, nobody should be that critical that things ‘couldn’t wait’. 

It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. My manager is really good and knows my stance, his manager is completely dysfunctional. She’s in a different Timezone and schedules meetings for 1am that she expects him to attend (so that she isn’t inconvenienced). He’s on leave for the first time in years and she keeps copying him in on everything and expecting him in meetings- despite having handed over to me.

It's a stupid law that helps no one who cares about their company. I did a lot of business today with employees who worked with my different time zones and made a few decisions that will help everyone. Mas no bueno.

[jakee 1,344]

2 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

It's a stupid law that helps no one who cares about their company.

So it doesn't help them - that's neutral. They can keep doing what they're doing if they're happy with it. Nothing stupid there.

It does help people whose employers give them no reason to care about their company and instead take as much advantage as they can. That's good, not stupid.

So on balance, one neutral effect plus one good effect = a good law. 

[Stumpy 283]

Just now, jakee said:

So it doesn't help them - that's neutral. They can keep doing what they're doing if they're happy with it. Nothing stupid there.

It does help people whose employers give them no reason to care about their company and instead take as much advantage as they can. That's good, not stupid.

So on balance, one neutral effect plus one good effect = a good law. 

Agree. 
Managers/leaders who know what they are doing shouldn't contact their employees out of hours anyway.

[JoeWeber 2,567]

5 minutes ago, jakee said:

So it doesn't help them - that's neutral. They can keep doing what they're doing if they're happy with it. Nothing stupid there.

It does help people whose employers give them no reason to care about their company and instead take as much advantage as they can. That's good, not stupid.

So on balance, one neutral effect plus one good effect = a good law. 

Scale. The bigger the company the easier it is to absorb inefficiencies. Small businesses have a much harder time.

[nigel99 293]

27 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

Scale. The bigger the company the easier it is to absorb inefficiencies. Small businesses have a much harder time.

I should have been clear, this is for medium and large companies. Small businesses are exempt.

Also it’s to break the expectation to answer emails and calls that could just as easily wait. 

[nigel99 293]

37 minutes ago, Stumpy said:

Agree. 
Managers/leaders who know what they are doing shouldn't contact their employees out of hours anyway.

My pushback is against management cutting resources and staff to please shareholders. When you’re deliberately under staffing to prop up profits it’s morally wrong. 

[jakee 1,344]

4 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

Scale. The bigger the company the easier it is to absorb inefficiencies. Small businesses have a much harder time.

Not being able to force employees to work uncompensated overtime at no notice if they don’t want to isn’t an inefficiency, it’s just the way the world works now and they have to deal with it.

If your employees are willing to do that because you treat them well enough to get them to buy into the company mission to that extent, then these other companies should take a leaf out of your book instead of expecting to be able to bully their way through as they have been doing.