How to Implement the Right to Disconnect?

Since 1 January 2017, the right to disconnect has been a legal obligation for companies with more than 50 employees. This requirement is set out in the El Khomri Act, also known as the Labour Law. And with good reason: it is an effective way to limit hyperconnection to digital tools, prevent psychosocial risks and improve employees' quality of life at work. Implementing a right-to-disconnect policy cannot happen overnight.

Here are several steps to follow for a successful implementation:

[This article is an extract from the white paper “Right to Disconnect: a Remote Work Survival Guide” >>> access the full white paper for free]

Analyse Employee Work Habits and Workload

Start by conducting a diagnostic of the current situation. This will help you better understand how employees use digital tools, the nature of tasks, and the workload of your teams. It will then be easier for you to identify the teams most affected by the measures you introduce, and to adapt your communication accordingly.

For example, ask yourself the following questions:

• What are employees' working hours? Do they stay the same when working remotely?
• How often are emails and messages sent outside working hours?
• What about meetings? Are they always scheduled during normal working hours?
• What are the communication habits of different departments? Do they prefer email or instant messaging?
• What tools do they use daily?
• What proportion of employees complain of having too much work?
• Do some employees feel burned out?
• Is burnout common in the company?

Based on this data, you will be able to identify trends, and define rules and initiatives for each team or department.

Communicate About the Right to Disconnect

According to a study by the Observatoire Entreprise et Santé run by Viavoice and Harmonie Mutuelle, 45% of French employees do not know what the right to disconnect is.

Before launching any initiative, the employer must therefore explain to employees what this right entails. Two points must be made clear:

• The right not to work outside of normal working hours, without facing negative consequences.
• The obligation to respect other people's right to disconnect by refraining from sending messages late in the evening, at weekends, on public holidays and during holidays.

It is also worth noting that the right to disconnect does not oblige employees to refrain from working outside their working hours. Some employees who work remotely sometimes prefer to shift their hours to manage their personal commitments more easily (picking up a child from school, doing the shopping, etc.). However, they will need to take care to respect their colleagues' hours.

Once these points are understood, explain to employees why you want to introduce the right to disconnect, the benefits they can draw from it and how this policy will be put in place.

The communication must be clear and centralised in a single place, for example on an intranet or a collaborative platform. All employees must be informed, whatever their position and their level in the company hierarchy.

Formalise Rules in a Collective Agreement or a Charter

Next, draw up a collective agreement or a right-to-disconnect charter, whose provisions will be incorporated into internal regulations. It may include:

• The definition and objectives of the right to disconnect.
• How the right to disconnect is exercised and how the charter is negotiated.
• The disconnection hours during which employees are not required to work or reply to messages or emails.
• Measures to regulate how employees use professional digital tools.
• The awareness and training initiatives put in place by the employer.
• How the application of the right to disconnect is monitored.
• Best practices for remote work and in the office that you consider necessary.

Read also: [Expert view] Brigitte Vaudolon: best practices for successful remote work.

You can find several collective agreement and charter templates online! Feel free to use them as a starting point, adapting the terms to your company.

There is another option: incorporating these rules into a dedicated right-to-disconnect guide, into your company culture, or even into your remote work policy.

For example, the City of Paris created a disconnection user guide that brings together several best practices, and encourages each department, local authority and institution to draw up its own right-to-disconnect charter.

Raise Employee Awareness of Digital Tool Usage

To avoid hyperconnection and information overload, companies must also raise awareness. For example, by explaining to employees how to use the tools at their disposal properly, in particular instant messaging, emails, the mobile phone, or the internal social network.

Read also: The key issues of the right to disconnect.

Several best practices can be set out in your charter or during awareness sessions, for example:

• Turn on automatic out-of-office replies during leave, including the person or people to contact in an emergency.
• Communicate and send emails only during working hours, scheduling emails for later delivery if necessary.
• Avoid scheduling meetings outside employees' working hours.
• Disable notifications during disconnection periods.
• Train employees on the various tools used and provide them with user guides or tutorials.
• Encourage employees to try a “power nap” or a “digital detox” from time to time to disconnect from their work tools.

At Food Emotion, a work-life charter was created to enforce the right to disconnect. “This charter recommends, for example, not scheduling meetings after 5:30 pm or before 8 am”, explains Jérémy Dagot, Trade Marketing Manager. The right to disconnect is also included in employment contracts.

Train Managers and Encourage Them to Lead by Example

Managers play a crucial role in implementing your right-to-disconnect policy. They must lead by example, in other words apply the disconnection rules themselves to encourage employees to do the same.

Training can be provided to managers to raise their awareness of the issues and best practices mentioned above. In particular, it is worth stressing the importance of not contacting teams outside working hours, but also of explaining to employees that they are not required to stay connected all day non-stop, or to reply to their messages immediately.

On the contrary, taking breaks and occasionally disconnecting from work tools is essential for effective performance. To maintain this productivity, the manager can also set up “deep work” time slots, during which employees are unreachable and receive no notifications.

The manager's role will also be to regulate the workload, so that employees do not have to work overtime constantly to finish their work. To strike the right balance, managers will need to be particularly attentive to their needs, and not hesitate to make adjustments when an employee is unable to cope with the tasks assigned to them.

Read also: Hybrid Work: Management Best Practices.

Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Measures in Place

Once all these measures are in place, the company must remember to conduct regular monitoring to ensure they are effective, and make adjustments where necessary.

Several company-specific performance indicators can be tracked, for example:

• The number of emails and messages sent outside normal working hours.
• How often employees log in to the internal social network in the evenings, at weekends, and during annual leave.

A monitoring committee made up of company and union representatives can be set up to track the effectiveness of the measures and inform employees about their use of digital tools. The company can also run internal surveys and pulse checks to gather feedback.

The first initiatives put in place are not always the right ones. The right-to-disconnect charter or agreement will therefore need to be reviewed regularly. Ideally every year, in order to add new rules or remove those that do not suit the company.

You may introduce corrective measures in the event of non-compliance, such as voluntary digital monitoring. Where issues arise, managers can also schedule a one-to-one with the employee, to understand what is preventing them from disconnecting and help them find solutions. If this hyperconnection is linked to an excessive workload, the manager can, for example, review the employee's objectives taking into account their capacity and the resources available to them.

*
* *

From creating a charter to rolling out an enterprise social network, via organising training sessions, there are many initiatives to encourage disconnection within your company. It is up to you to put in place the measures you consider necessary. But don't forget: you need to check their effectiveness and keep listening to your employees.

Want to learn more about the right to disconnect? Download this white paper:

Access the White Paper

This article is an extract from the white paper “Right to Disconnect: a Remote Work Survival Guide”. In it, you will discover: the key issues of the right to disconnect, best practices for implementing it, and concrete examples of initiatives introduced in companies.

Download