The right to be disconnected

They call it smartworking but in most cases it is a smart memo of what it seems, in reality it is only teleworking: a job with a fixed location outside the company headquarters, schedules based on the tasks that took place in the office, but remotely. Another thing is smartworking, agile work that is based on objectives rather than on timetables, and allows you to better reconcile private and working life thanks to greater organizational flexibility, and can be done from home (or remotely) as well as with presence. in the company. Whatever the chosen formula, however, it has not been uncommon to see it abused, without respecting breaks, times and holidays. Burnout and overwork are some of the less fortunate traits that the pandemic will leave as a legacy in the reorganization of work, needs from which the proposal to the European Parliament to regulate the right to disconnect at a supranational level starts. The initiative started by the Maltese representative Alex Agius Saliba, who is at the head of a proposal that wants to ask the European Commission for a single directive on the subject.The truth is that, thanks to smartphones, we are all potentially reachable at any time: but this it cannot and must not result in an obligation. According to a study conducted in recent months by Eurofund, since the beginning of the pandemic remote work has increased by 30%, but working from home has doubled the risk of exceeding the maximum duration of 48 hours per week and increased employment by 25%. of free time for work needs. For some time, individual countries and even the most enlightened companies had tried to regulate the issue. In 2012, Volkswagen had decided to block some staff from accessing work emails outside office hours. In 2017, France had enacted rules that imposed stricter limits on the hours and duties of remote workers, reaching the point of significantly fining a company that had violated these limits (a fine of around 60 thousand euros). Germany and Ireland have also seen trade union movements achieve important victories in this area, and the same is being done in Great Britain at the stimulus of the Trades Union Congress. The obstacle found so far, however, is to be able to guarantee the right to disconnect while maintaining at the same time the new flexibility. Disconnecting the company mail server after a certain time is a measure dictated by good intentions but which does not affect the problem in the least. What the proposal to the European Parliament wants to achieve is to set minimum requirements to protect workers within a framework that allows flexibility of methods and times, leveling the playing field for both those returning to the office and those who will continue with work. smart or remotely. And together with the right to disconnect it also wants to introduce a series of rules that establish once and for all the supply, use and liability of equipment, as well as reductions and benefits for all those workers who use their own utilities (electricity and internet connection in the first place) to guarantee the work they did in the office before the pandemic.