

In France, a Move to Limit Off-the-Clock Work Emails - apeconmyth
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/world/europe/in-france-a-move-to-limit-off-the-clock-work-emails.html

======
jbk
Oh, come on, not those unchecked facts on HN, please...

This thing is about an agreement signed between some unions and a group of
employers in the consulting business. This is not a law, this is far from
generic, and this does not apply to millions of people, but at most 200k.

The agreement just reminds an 'obligation to disconnect' to preserve the daily
rest period of 11 hours for workers with independent contracts... The
agreement does not even mention an hour...

Indeed, some people (with a specific contract) in consulting (notably
management or strategy) do not follow the hours limitations (and notably not
the 35h): they are working a defined numbers of days per year without a
duration limit every day... Therefore, this agreement just reminds the right
(and need) to disconnect every day.

Btw, even if you stop at 6pm, 11hours gives a day starting at 5am. Most of the
people in the consulting industry in France I know are more often home at
10-11pm than at 6pm...

And finally, this is a reminder, not a law, without any actual enforcement...

~~~
vacri
RTFA before bemoaning it, your criticism is clearly stated in the second
paragraph.

------
xutopia
Keep in mind France has one of the highest GDP per hour worked.

~~~
technotony
I've always wondered how much this is due to culture and statistics. I guess
the data for these stats comes from surveys, and I can imagine in America the
culture tends to overstate hours worked whereas in France the reverse is true
as there is instead a sense of taking pride in not working all the time.

------
eldavido
I don't understand how ISPs, colo providers, transit operators, power plants,
and other 24x7 infrastructure providers can function in environments like
this.

Unplanned incidents shouldn't happen regularly, but on the off chance they do,
I can't imagine being caught between screwing my customers vs. breaking the
law. Talk about a rock and a hard place...

~~~
simias
As often the truth got a bit distorted through translation and re-reporting.
Unfortunately it's getting a bit late for me to explain in details but
hopefully if you can read this article it should clear things up:

[http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/04/11/la-
le...](http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/04/11/la-legende-de-l-
interdiction-des-mails-professionnels-apres-18-heures_4399675_4355770.html)

In short, not all workers are concerned. For instance I work as a developer
for a french company but I'm not bound by the "Syntec", so it does not concern
me.

------
RRRA
[http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/04/10/debunked_fran...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/04/10/debunked_france_did_not_just_ban_workers_from_answering_emails_after_hours.html)

------
dmethvin
The work-at-home environment brings a lot of questions to the whole employer-
employee relationship and work environment. For example, my wife works at a US
government job where they have the ability to work from home 3 days a week and
"liberal leave" for snow days. If someone is scheduled to work from home on a
snow day, should they still work? What if their kids can't get to day care,
and who will shovel the sidewalk?

~~~
dredmorbius
Snow days or pre-arrange at-home work periods are not "off-the-clock".

Working 9-5 and being expected to respond to a 10pm email _is_ off-the-clock.

~~~
dmethvin
If it snows and you have kids at home, it's pretty hard to work. Especially if
you have meetings.

~~~
dredmorbius
Fair point, though I'd argue that this is an independent issue from on vs. off
the clock.

