Problems with after-hours emails

WHILE sending e-mails, WhatsApp messages or Facebook messages on work related matters to workers is now very common with employers in Zimbabwe, many workers do not like it and claim it is disruptive to their private lives. Mary, an accountant is bitter with her boss who sent her an email while she was on holiday in Cape Town with her family.

She says she spent the day working on the report and the family had to cancel a paid visit to Robben Island which could not be rescheduled for cost and time reasons.

Mary says her husband, to this day complains that her work is not good because she is chained to it and because of frequent e-mails from work, there is no way the family can plan an activity that is not disrupted by an email or WhatsApp message from work.

Mary is contemplating leaving her present job and look for a job where she can have private time with her family. This problem is not unique to Mary. In 2014, Germany enacted law that barred communication with workers after hours except in cases of emergency.

In 2017, France enacted law that allowed workers to disconnect with employers after hours.

Many workers have asked the question, “what would happen if they defied an order given after hours?”

Was the order lawful or not, there are legal questions related to such orders in the event the employer wants to enforce the order and the worker argues that he or she did not see the order on time or did not see the order at all.

Another question that arises is who pays for the time for attending to the e-mails and WhatsApp messages after hours given that many require immediate action consuming a few minutes to a number of hours of the worker’s time.

In my view, there should be a policy on how such afterhours work should be compensated if it is allowed.

Some employees have complained that frequent emails from the boss force them to frequently check e-mails and at times to respond to emails in the middle of the night upsetting their sleep and thus get to work tired.

There are also cultural and family life issues that arise from the emails as some spouses do not take lightly to communication from their spouses’ employers after hours.

In conclusion, employers should have after-hours communication policy to allow for protection of workers private lives while allowing for emergency work to be done. However, the best is to have the government legislate.

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: Email: stratwaysmail@yahoo.com.