Poland has made it illegal for companies, that have over 10 employees, to contact their employees during off-duty hours. If they do, they could be penalised.
Apparently, a demand by some MPs to allow the employees the "right to disconnect" -- meaning they could switch off work-related devices outside office hours -- was rejected.
Another interesting initiative is that parents with small kids, can choose to work from home till their children turn eight years old. They don't have to seek permission from their bosses.
I doubt if any other nation has gone down the legal route this far to make WFH comfortable.
Quite a game-changer, considering COVID-19 has upended our lives in a variety of ways, and that work from home will continue even after we have banished the coronavirus.
Now everyone is saying Poland has the best bosses!
Source: Euronews, India Today, WION.
Pradeep! Really?!?! That is amazing! I was in such an occupation as to make me an essential employee and subject to being called no matter what. I understood that when I became an employee. There were so many uncountable times I wished that their edict was not in place. It makes it very hard. Now I would imagine it would be somewhat difficult to find a business that is willing to let you work from home for that particular reason, hence difficult to find a job. Just surmising...
ReplyDeleteHi Katie - Thanks for comments. I can understand that. Though the Polish government's move is good for many employees, it might not be practical for some jobs, and for some employees who are in charge of certain critical aspects of the company.
DeleteExcellent. I thought it was understood that an employee should not be contacted after work hours. Many countries do not have that practice, in the first place. However, in India, the working hours is not very well defined. You are obliged to work 9 hours but are also expected to take late night calls with the clients/off shore teams.
ReplyDeleteHi Ajeya - The divide between work and home began blurring from the time we began using emails and messaging apps. It's almost disappered now.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteAn interesting idea, but likely very specific to conditions that prevailed in Poland. I would say that there would be lots of exceptions according to the type of work/employment, regarding contact hours (as mentioned by other commenters).
I do think the regulation regarding the parenting aspect is interesting and workable (no pun intended). Certainly C19 has 'resurfaced' the work-life equation! YAM xx
Interesting blog post. Work From Home. Reminds me of an incident. This was early 90s. Before Cell phones. But desk top computers were there. This was WFH was ever heard of. I was Executive Assistant to the Regional VP. He said since he is out of the office for 16 days in a month I should work from home. I had a phone and fax machine in my home. I “WFH” for 2 full years. I enjoyed. What was the disadvantage? My wife’s friends started this rumor. Lalitha’s husband lost his job and he is at home all the time.
ReplyDeleteVery cool boss in this case! :) And funny story.
DeleteThanks for sharing this, Pradeep. Be well!
That would be popular among people. Unfortunately, I can't imagine anything like that would ever be introduced in America.
ReplyDeleteI read that somewhere, and I think it's a great idea. At least, employees shouldn't be required to respond to off-time messages, even if the bosses send them. One shouldn't be on call when one is not on the clock.
ReplyDeleteEmployees, especially in India, should become proactive in demanding fair workplace practices like these.
ReplyDeleteDestination Infinity
Our son is an engineer working for an international company. They did work from home through covid and then continued it a day or two a week for those who preferred to work that way. It had such a big uptake in his office that the company downsized the office building due to the need for less desks, parking etc. The drawback is that he often has very late or very early conference calls (due to international time differences) but it also means he doesn't need to travel overseas anymore for work - so I guess all these changes have positives and negatives (even the ones in Poland).
ReplyDeleteHi Pradeep - we certainly live in interesting times ... and you've some great comments.
ReplyDeletePoland has its governmental difficulties - years ago I'd have loved to have lived there, now I'm not so sure.
Interesting to read - all the best - Hilary
An essential step, Kudos to Poland. The utmost goal of a person is family togetherness and welfare.Nice.
ReplyDelete