French companies will be required to guarantee a "right to disconnect" to their employees from Sunday as the country seeks to tackle the modern-day scourge of compulsive out-of-hours email checking. From January 1, a new employment law will enter into force that obliges organisations with more than 50 workers to start negotiations to define the rights of employees to ignore their smartphones.
Overuse of digital devices has been blamed for everything from burnout to sleeplessness as well as relationship problems, with many employees uncertain of when they can switch off. The French measure is intended to tackle the so-called "always-on" work culture that has led to a surge in usually unpaid overtime—while also giving employees flexibility to work from outside the office.
http://phys.org/news/2017-01-french-workers-disconnect.html
[Also Covered By]: The Guardian , Sky News
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @08:40AM
Crom: Look. This... is all a mistake. I'm just a compound interest program. I work at a savings and loan! I can't play in these video games!
Guard: Sure you can, pal. You look like a natural athlete if I ever saw one.
Crom: Who, me? Are you kidding? No, I run to check on T-bill rates, I get out of breath. Hey, look, you guys are gonna make my User, Mr. Henderson, very angry. He's a full-branch manager.