To ease the tension and irritation of government officials amid the work from home culture, the Belgian government has introduced a new ‘right to disconnect’ law that allows officers to ignore calls, emails from their bosses outside working hours. can. With this, Belgium has become the latest in Europe to take steps towards a greater work-life balance.
The Belgian government said that the workers should not be harmed by turning off the phones. The law, which went into effect on 1 February, allows 65,000 government officials to make themselves unavailable at the end of a normal working day, unless there are “extraordinary” reasons not to do so.
The Belgian government plans to expand the right to disconnect private sector workers, despite protests from some business leaders.
A Belgian minister said the law was necessary to combat the culture of the people, feeling that they should always be available. He said such a law would “reduce stress and irritation, which are the de facto diseases of today”.
The Belgian government is also planning a proposal for permanent employees to move from 38 to 40 hours into a four-day week.
Belgium is not the first country to introduce the right to disconnect. In 2017, France enacted a law that allowed some workers to ignore their equipment after working hours. Additionally, Portugal also imposed fines for employers who contact employees after they have been contacted and banned them from monitoring employees who work from home. However, Germany’s Volkswagen is best known as a pioneer of worker-friendly legislation. In 2012, the automaker banned employees from accessing after-hours email to avoid burnout.
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