Mathilde Bouvier occasionally leaves her cellphone on the fireplace mantel after work so she can focus on dinner and family. But her 4- and 6-year-old daughters are slow eaters, so she can't help herself: She checks her inbox — until she can get to her laptop and work again while the children sleep, reports USA TODAY.
"It is a good time for me to write up my reports, send reminder emails," said Bouvier, a manager at a consulting company. "All day long I am in meetings — with clients or the teams I manage — so I do this in the evenings and a lot during the weekends."
Recent technology has dealt a tremendous blow to the French laissez-faire way of life that emphasizes enjoying time off.
But a controversial new bill could give workers the "right to disconnect" during off hours and vacations. The measure is one of a series of changes introduced by President François Hollande's government to change France’s over-regulated labor market.
Other measures, allowing overtime on top of France’s 35-hour workweek and granting employers more power to hire and fire, have spurred hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets in recent weeks. Protesters say the government is caving to business interests in hopes of reducing France's 10% unemployment rate.
The "right to disconnect" legislation, which would go into effect in 2018 if passed, would require companies to encourage employees to turn off phones and other devices after they leave work.
"As a business owner, my life today is to be connected to my company 24/7," said Nicolas Potier, founder of ACSEO, a start-up that builds Web and mobile applications. "We are already vigilant to the quality of life of our employees."
He said some of his workers have no problem staying online until a customer is satisfied. "We don't have a time clock or any equivalent system. It really is a state of mind," he added.
The law reflects the sense in France that white-collar workers in the digital age are vulnerable to burnout.
Technologia, a risk analysis firm, found that 3.2 million French workers were emotionally exhausted from work and at risk of developing burnout symptoms like exhaustion and chronic stress.
"It is a real problem," said Yves Lasfargue, a sociologist who specializes in teleworking. "Twenty years ago, before emails had been invented and we could not reach colleagues, we would have to go and knock on their doors. Traditional courtesy teaches you to abstain from disturbing people. With these new tools, this form of courtesy has totally disappeared. This is why we need to legislate."