T.ra the most important problems in terms of smart working there is the question of “right to disconnect“, Or the right to finish work at a certain time and to be able to no longer be available from that moment on.
In shortmake sure that the work is really “agile”without private and professional life are constantly mixed.
Smart working and the right to disconnect. How does it work
There is no common ruledespite the EU Commission has submitted a proposal for directive for ‘disciplinary the use of digital tools “and define the” minimum conditions “to be able to exercise one’s right to disconnect.
The different European countriesindeed, they move in no particular order and, among all, Italy is one of the countries where it seems more difficult formally create a clear separation between private and professional life.
Right to disconnect in Italy
In our country, the path of the recognition of the right to disconnect begins in 2017 with the law governing agile or smart working in 2017.
It is here that the first mention is made of “agreements between the parties” to define “rest times, as well as technical and organizational measures necessary to ensure the disconnection of the worker from technological equipment”.
From the first law to the national protocol
Then, the advent of the pandemic and then with most remote workers, in May 2020 it resulted the Privacy Guarantor to invoke the right to disconnectthe lack of which makes “the necessary distinction between spaces of private life and work activity disappear”.
And so, here is the first explicit reference to the “right to disconnect from technological equipment and IT platforms”, to “protect the rest time and health of the worker” in decree number 30 of March 13, 2021. Up, therefore, to get to the recent National protocol on work in agile modesigned by 26 between trade unions and employers.
The protocol states that, even if smart working is characterized “by the absence of a precise working time”, it is possible organize “time slots” And identify a “disconnection” onewhich must be guaranteed by adopting «specific technical and / or organizational measures».
What happens in the other states
There is no uniformity of choices on the issue among the member states of the European Union. There Irish law, for example, it is very similar to the Italian case and does not yet provide for the right to disconnect. But in 2021 the government issued a “Code of Conduct” which should form the basis for business negotiations and rules. It serves to establish certain principles and duties of companies and employees.
Until recently also in Belgium was a legislative vacuum comparable to the Italian one. Then, at the beginning of February 2022, however, the government established the right for public employees to stop responding to emails, messages and phone calls outside their working hours. From November 2021, the Portugal has passed a law that prohibits sending e-mails and messages outside working hours.
A small exception is the Francewhich had regulated the right to disconnect even before the pandemic, even in 2016, but ronly affects companies with more than 50 employees and there are no specific sanctions. In Germanyfinally, the right to disconnect is not recognized and companies move in total autonomy.
The call of Europe
It is precisely to fill this legislative gap and these differences between the various countries that the European Union has been moving for over a year. Indeed, although it is true that smart working has saved jobs and made it possible for several companies to survive the crisis, it is also true that too many people still work outside their working hours.
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