Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania & Sweden
Reflections on an EU initiative on telework and a right to disconnect
Increased digitalisation continues to influence the world of work and provides new opportunities for workers
and companies, carrying a great potential for boosting European competitiveness. Many workers are now able
to work remotely and at any time. This offers great potential for making it easier to reconcile work life and
private life. However, for some workers, digital tools may inadvertently make it more difficult to
disconnect
–
with the risk of promoting an unhealthy
‘always on’
work culture. Work-related burnout should not be part of
modern work life, nor the unintended consequence of modern technologies.
For European prosperity, social fairness and competitiveness to thrive, we should strive to benefit from the
opportunities of flexible working arrangements for companies and workers alike, while ensuring that the
balance between work and leisure time is healthy and sustainable for workers across sectors.
To address those challenges, the President of the European Commission has proposed to introduce a
right to
disconnect.
Designing a European initiative on a right to disconnect
–
while maintaining the positive aspects
of telework
–
is a complex endeavour, spanning diverse sectors and labour market models across the EU
Member States. In Member States, where national or local initiatives and mutual agreements between workers
and employers are already in place, these should be carefully taken into account.
It is crucial that we foster healthy and sustainable working conditions as part of a competitive business
environment in Europe. The impact of action in this area should be considered from multiple policy
perspectives calculating the possible costs and benefits, both economic and social.
At a time, when competitiveness is a top priority of the EU, we need to find solutions that contribute to this
overarching objective and cannot afford to hamper competitiveness:
•
Any initiative in this area should leave room and flexibility to accommodate specific circumstances,
different sectors, and respect differences between Member States. This is best achieved by keeping
the level of detail to a minimum. Applying identical rules across very different sectors and
circumstances is not effective; any initiative would have to consider differences in for example the
hospital sector compared to the financial sector and would also have to recognise differences across
employee groups within sectors. Employers and workers already navigate complex sets of rules
related to working time, health and safety. While new, burdensome and rigid initiatives should be
avoided, the potential consequences associated with increased connectivity and availability demands
should not be ignored.
At a time, when fostering social dialogue is a top priority of the EU, we must ensure the autonomy of the
social partners:
•
Any initiative should closely involve actors with knowledge of the challenges and how to best
address them. At the national level, some Member States already have experiences with establishing
a right to disconnect. At the local level,
employers’ organisations
and trade unions possess crucial
information on potential challenges and solutions. Any initiative should consider those experiences
and perspectives and must leave room for these, including the possibility for the social partners to
agree on solutions via collective agreements.
We hope that the above reflections can be helpful when considering ways forward on this topic.
November 2024