Disconnecting isn’t always possible

espite having such a law in place on the right to disconnect from work in order to control work-related emails, I feel that the employer can still follow up on actions when it comes to responding to important and critical business matters, especially when an employee is holding a responsible position (‘Speak your mind: The right to disconnect’, Gulf News, January 13). If the employee enjoys company-provided facilities of any kind, he or she has certain responsibilities attached to it when attending to workrelated matters, even after office hours. However, it is up to the employee to decide on effectively managing such situations. At the same time, having such a law in place, the employee may be considered safe and become less attentive.

Organisations that work throughout the day have shift duties and are serving customers across the world, there will always be a tendency to get the employee involved in work-related matters even after office hours. If organisations work under different time zones and contacts, business agents in different parts of the world, it may be difficult to go offline immediately after work hours or during weekends. Obviously, the proposed government law in France may help regulate and restructure human resources approach in organisations. However, as long as mobile phones have email and internet accessibility, people have the tendency to check emails and browse the internet and get updates on business related queries, which eventually eases their pressure when going to work the next day.

At the same time, Europe and America are normally seen quiet during the weekends as compared to Asian and Middle Eastern work practices. The work culture in this part of the world is entirely different, but demanding.