Right to Disconnect and Work Culture Evolution
The concept of the eight-hour workday, popularized by the 19th-century labour movement, continues to shape modern ideas of work and leisure. However, as work culture evolves amid globalization and hyper-connectivity, countries like France, Portugal, and Australia have established the right to disconnect to protect employees’ leisure time from employer encroachment.
Right to Disconnect in India
- Advocacy in India: Introduced a Private Members’ Bill in the Lok Sabha to allow employees to ignore work-related communications outside work hours.
Objectives and Reasons for the Bill
- The Bill seeks to recognize the right to disconnect as a method to reduce stress and improve work-life balance.
- Telepressure: The persistent urge to respond to work communications can lead to overwork, sleep deprivation, stress, and emotional exhaustion.
- A World Economic Forum report highlights that constant monitoring of work-related communications may lead to 'info-obesity' by overtaxing employees' brains.
Challenges with Private Members’ Bills
- These bills are considered on Fridays only and are notoriously difficult to pass, with only 14 becoming law to date.
- The last Private Members’ Bill to pass was the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Bill, 1968, in August 1970.
