Logging Off Rights

at

Finally.

Paul Dillon writes:

The Financial Services Union has launched a petition seeking legislation on the ‘right to disconnect’.

The Union says that new laws are required that would give workers the right to ‘switch off’ once their working day is over.

Workers should not be obliged to answer calls, reply to emails or engage in work-related activities outside of paid working hours.

Sign here

Financial Services Union

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14 thoughts on “Logging Off Rights

  1. worker

    good luck with that. in a lot of jobs, it’s not that you’re asked to do the extra work, it’s just there and needs to be done, and theyres deadlines so you can’t ignore it. If i clocked off at 6 bells, and didnt do anymore, and came in and missed a deadline the next morning, telling them it was my right to switch off, isn’t going to change anything. work still needs to be done for a lot of us. it won’t wait for you.

    1. ____

      Well…that’s exactly why this is being proposed .

      If you can’t get your work done in the allotted time then either you’re not up to the job or (more likely) your boss is putting too much on your desk and/or giving u realistic deadlines.

      You agree to do x number of hours, but if you’re being forced to do more than that then the company is exploiting you for their own gain.

      1. paddy apathy

        Exactly —-, sorry if I got your name wrong. Wake up and stop being a martyr Worker, life’s too fupping precious.

  2. Janet, I ate my avatar

    dead right,
    I used to have a psychopath boss screaming at me at 9am that emails received at 6am same morning were not answered yet !

    1. Clampers Outside

      +1

      A random occurrence for me back in the day might go like this… but this was the straw that broke my back…

      Boss: I need these by 8am tomorrow.
      Me: It’s 7pm now!
      Boss: And?
      Me: I’ve been here since 7am!
      Boss: The client needs, so the client gets! Have it on my desk by 8am… bring it home if you have to.

      Two months later I was doing a job I’d always wanted to do growing up… serving popcorn in the then Virgin Cinema on Parnell Street :)
      Did that for three months, packed it in before Christmas and headed of travelling that January… before I hit 30, as I’d seen very little of the world at that point :)

      1. millie vanilly strikes again

        You always have the such good stories. Could even call them fables, for there’s always a lesson to be gained from them.

        On a related note, I too worked a job with a very demanding boss. I left and my current boss is a lovely man with a strong belief in a work/home divide. He prides himself on being a family man.

        1. Clampers Outside

          My last boss was like that too.. and saw me through a very difficult time. I stayed with him for over 9 years before my heart left for Waterford :)

          1. Clampers Outside

            …and delighted to hear you’re with a good boss Millie… I’m sure you deserve nothing less.

  3. GiggidyGoo

    Actually, apart from Emails and calls. There are people travelling the country doing service/sales. Leave home say at 7am and get home at 8pm. 13 hours. But if they are in the office and take a couple of hours off to visit a doctor or school they get docked those hours. I know that from a close friend. No protection there.
    I know if it were me, I’d set off at 9 and be.home for 5.30.

  4. Lilly

    It’s the American macho BS banking culture creeping in everywhere. My boss never tires of pushing the attractions of ‘going the extra mile’ at weekends and evenings. No thank you, I have Eastenders to watch.

    1. MaryLou's ArmaLite

      My experience is that American companies are very aware of worker burn out and fatigue, they don’t the norm to be you doing crazy hours.

      It is the Irish companies I’ve worked for that I’ve had an issue with. They have no concept of work life balance.

  5. Paulus

    Based on examples quoted here, some of you are being seriously exploited…if not abused.
    While not slave labour, and your passport is not being held by your employer, it is nevertheless exploitation.
    You are contracted to work X amount of hours, with a bit of BOTH give and take for emergencies/deadlines etc, but that should be the limit of demands on your time.
    As Lilly says; this US inspired macho culture of “taking one for the team’, stepping up and proving your loyalty is pure BS…being foisted on employees by an unscrupulous management culture/style aimed at maximising profit at the expense of all else. It is gaining acceptance simply by being accepted and needs to be rebuffed at every possible opportunity.

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