I suppose the global pandemic is now far enough behind us to be referred to as the ‘Covid years’ and as such, work-related matters during that time were viewed through the lens of a life-or-death perspective that focused everyone’s mind on what really mattered.
Working through lockdowns meant that those working from home found the lines between work and home time became blurred, and very soon we all became familiar with expressions such as ‘not being able to switch off’ or ‘work-life balance out of kilter’ and so on.
As things began to return to some semblance of normality (or the ‘new normal’) which became the much-hackneyed phrase of the day, there was much debate as to whether remote, hybrid, agile, flexible (insert as appropriate) work was here to stay.
Every day there was a headline to call or mandate for the return to the office and some misplaced assumptions that we were returning to Monday-to-Friday, 9-5 as we were pre-pandemic.
And whilst there were headlines about tech companies and frustrated CEOs, there was also a dawning realisation that with the labour market the way it was and with recruitment and retention being predicated on a war for talent, the workplace dynamic had shifted and the battle for flexibility had begun.
But not so fast! Before that battle there was the battle of interpretation in terms of what ‘flexibility’ actually meant and to whom it related. Employers and employees have often very differing notions of the word and quite often with a yawning reciprocal gap in between.
One area where we can see the tug of war being played out is over the loosely termed ‘right to disconnect’.
Many employers voice concerns about staff wanting flexibility with hours such as evening work when the kids are asleep but see an inherent conflict with a blanket right to disconnect.
To this extent some employers may see this right as being a remnant of lockdown and as such, has no place in the post-pandemic working world.
But this is not the direction of travel. As the newly installed Labour government plans to legislate for a right to disconnect, Ireland already has a code of practice in place since 2021, Belgium legislated for the right last year, and here the recent consultation document on the ‘Good Jobs’ Bill asks four specific questions on the right to disconnect under the umbrella of the Working Time Regulations.
What all this will look like is currently an unknown quantity and speculation is rife regarding whether it will be a light touch code approach or a legislative floor, or an amalgam of the position in Ireland and Belgium, but either way, the battle has begun.
- Mark McAllister is director of employment relations services at Labour Relations Agency NI
