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France enacts ‘Right to Disconnect’ and it’s everything you’d hoped for

Living in France just got a whole lot better. Here's how

New Year is the time for taking up new resolutions and setting up new goals to achieve. And if you have been working for long, one of your resolutions will always involve spending more time with family and friends. But the life these days is so demanding that you end up working even when you are at home. This inevitably ends up creating distance in relationships. However, this new year, the French people got the most beautiful gift from their government, which will take them a step closer to implementing their new year resolutions.

Apparently, the French government has enacted ‘Right to Disconnect’, which enables employees in France to ignore business emails and messages that arrive post their work hours.

According to the Ministry of Labour, the law is designed to ensure a balance between the work and personal lives of employees. As a part of the new rule, the companies that have a workforce of 50 or more have to draw new policies to limit the use of work-related technology outside the work hours by their employees. Further, if the management cannot agree on the new rules, the company must publish a charter to clarify what it demands from its employees after work hours.

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The supporters of the new law argue that it would help in preventing stress, burnouts and sleeplessness that have become a part of the ‘always-on’ work culture.

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France has 35-hours work week since 2000 and on an average, the employees get 31 days paid leave in a year. But the critics have long argued that even though the work hours have been limited, business communications in the form of emails and messages continues even after the work hours.

The new law came into force on January 1, 2017, so, if you were planning to shift to France anytime soon, now will be the right time!