The idea of a clear demarcation between work and life is, for most people, an absurd joke: your life is being invaded, and you have no line of defence to protect yourself. Even if they are thousands of miles from their desk, a worker may still feel chained to it. Text messages and emails can arrive at ungodly hours, demanding prompt replies. Parents may find the nightly ritual of putting their kids to bed is interrupted by a panicked phone call from their boss. Almost as stressful is the idea that, as you collect your belongings to leave the office, you know you can never really leave: somehow, wherever you are, you remain at work.
Here is why “the right to disconnect” has become one of the great emancipatory causes for workers, and could be headed for Labour’s next manifesto. For example, Portugal introduced a law at the beginning of last year that imposes a legal duty on bosses not to contact their workers outside of defined working hours. There is one exception – circumstances of force majeure – but otherwise, companies could be fined up to €9,690 (£8,400). In part, this is a response to the phenomenon of working from home: in Britain, 37% of employees now report working from home at least some point in the previous week. While this trend has been liberating for many workers, the Portuguese authorities found it could be exploited by bosses disregarding the idea that a remote worker ever clocked off.
This reality of always being on call directly contradicts the idea that British workers are slackers, which has become gospel among the political right. In their 2012 manifesto, Britannia Unchained, Liz Truss, Dominic Raab, Kwasi Kwarteng and Priti Patel declared that “once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world”, squarely blaming our country’s productivity crisis on its employees. Three years before her calamitous seven-week stint as prime minister, Truss denounced workers as needing “more graft” and suggested that they lacked “the skill and application” of their foreign counterparts.
This defamation of British workers has no bearing on the truth. Last year, British workers put in £26bn worth of free labour: that meant 3.5 million workers did unpaid overtime, representing over £7,000 of unpaid work. Contrary to stereotypes spread by rightwing newspapers, unpaid overtime is most common in the public sector.
The damage to workers can be profound. One Australian study in 2020 found that a fifth of university staff were expected to respond to work-related messages, phone calls and emails after work. Over half sent work-related messages in the evening, and 30% over the weekend. Seven in 10 who experienced these out-of-hours intrusions reported psychological distress. The majority with intrusive bosses reported feeling emotionally exhausted. It’s not just mental health that is at stake. Those with intrusive employers were twice as likely to report physical symptoms such as headaches and back pain.
The so-called British idler worker is at breaking point. This isn’t only inflicting damage on workers. It is also driving a misconception among bosses that they are more likely to profit from overworked employees. Yet last year, 17m days were lost to work-related stress, depression or anxiety. Indeed, stress, anxiety and depression account for a narrow majority of all cases of work-related ill health.
Other countries outside of Portugal have introduced laws that aim to redress this. In 2018, a French court fined the British firm Rentokil €60,000 for breaching workers’ “right to disconnect”. That the British Labour party – which is not exactly awash with transformative policies – is considering such a law should be applauded. There is a significant caveat: the policy is being championed by deputy leader Angela Rayner, who Keir Starmer’s aides distrust because they believe she plotted a coup attempt after Labour was battered in the Hartlepool byelection of 2021. If Rayner is sidelined in government, her package of workers’ rights may suffer the same fate.
The right to disconnect must be just a first step. When many citizens enter their workplaces, they are no longer free. Their liberties and rights are suspended and everything from their speech, clothes and mannerisms are monitored. Many workers are placed under constant surveillance with new software and technology, itself a cause of stress. The world of work is despotic. While some bosses may use their autocratic powers with benevolence, others do not.
Introducing more democracy into workplaces could reduce the stress suffered by disempowered workers. Recently, many companies took part in a pilot for a four-day week that proved a huge success and clearly demonstrated the benefits of rolling back the frontiers of work. Human existence is short indeed, its enjoyment curtailed by our subordination to the whims and needs of our managers. Loosening their grip will free us all.
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
