After-work calls and emails are copping the crackdown

After-work calls and emails are copping the crackdown
By James Harrison


With travel agents under the pump amid much higher demand for their services than what is currently out there, the pressure to perform post-pandemic is on.

When everybody began working from home during the pandemic, the line between personal and professional lives got blurred, making it harder to disconnect after work. Of course this is not an option for many agents, as their independent business models require them to be contactable all hours of the day, but for those in a brick-and-mortar store, the right to tune out at home is fundamental to work-life balance.

New legislations are popping up around the globe to ensure your boss isn’t flicking you emails at 10:30pm with little tasks to do.

In Kenya, a new bill is giving employees “the right to disconnect” after working hours.

“Where an employer contacts an employee during the period when there is no mutually agreed out-of-work hours, the employee — (a) shall not be obliged to respond and shall have the right to disconnect; and (b) may choose to respond, for which the employee shall be entitled to get compensation,” the bill reads.

Employers in Ontario, Canada must have policies on disconnecting from work that distinguish when work-related communications are prohibited.

With much of the workforce experiencing burnout, particularly amongst travel agents, people are trying to figure out how to protect workers from demanding bosses.

Pete Havel, workplace consultant and author of “The Arsonist in the Office,” a book about toxic workplaces, told CBS News that the onus to set workplace boundaries around communication is on both the employer and the employee.

“I think it’s incumbent on the manager to know who he’s calling — or she — and to think before they make that call or send that email,” Havel said.

If boundaries are established and a rare work-related call does come through at an odd time, that could signal that it’s important. But these days, it’s a bit of a ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’ situation.

“And if it’s not, you’re going to start losing people,” Havel said.

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