Survey results: 95% of Maltese check work emails at weekends and 82% during family time or while on holiday

A survey by the FOR.U.M. Youth Section reveals that 97 per cent of respondents work after hours, with 95 per cent saying they check their emails at weekends and 82 per cent saying they check their emails during family time – such as while having dinner or while on leave.

The survey, entitled The Right to Disconnect, was carried out in January and February and was the first step towards the creation of a policy document that reflects the needs of today’s digital era. Information was collected through an online questionnaire aimed at members of Unions within For.U.M. and a total of 526 individuals participated.

Speaking at a press conference, FOR.U.M. Youth Section chairperson Graham Sansone said: “In the pre-internet and pre-smartphone era, barring a few professions, once people were back home, they were totally disconnected from their work or offices. However, once people began checking their emails on their smartphones, it became the norm to expect people to respond to emails even after working hours. This survey confirms this.”

Mr Sansone added that the ‘Right to Disconnect’ means that, apart from a defined num- ber of working hours, organisations and companies cannot expect their employees to respond to work-related emails or to other means of digital communication. Smartphones and the easy access to modern means of communication have made it impossible for people to totally disconnected and rest – not even while on vacation leave.

In view of this, FOR.U.M. is proposing a law by which companies would be required to guarantee their employees the ‘Right to Disconnect’. This means that organisations will have to state a limit to the number of working hours and ensure that their workers are not forced to respond to emails after these hours.

Backing his arguments, Mr. Sansone also mentioned a study entitled Exhausted But Unable to Disconnect by Lehigh University’s Liuba Belkin, Virginia Tech’s William Becker and Colorado State University’s Samantha Conroy, which shows that employees are growing exhausted due to the expectation that they will always be available, never knowing what kind of work requests will be asked of them off-duty. French politician Benoit Hamon explained: “Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash – like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails – they colonise the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.”

During the press conference, FOR.U.M. Vice President Chris Attard said that work-related email is becoming a scourge all over the world. “People are expected to remain connected to their offices 24x7 and holidays are no exception. Constant email communication may cause mental tension, sleeplessness, burnout and even issues within families, and something needs to be done.”