To help tackle this Labour has promised that they will be introducing the concept of the ‘right to disconnect’. 

Whilst we don’t know the details or when they will get around to this (it was case of ‘we will get to this later’ in the most recent updates to the Employment Rights Bill), it’s good practice to ensure that employees aren’t working excessive hours and are having the opportunity to switch off from work.

Although you don’t need to take any immediate action there are a few things that you can be doing to help your business prepare for any future changes:

1. Clarify your expectations around working hours and reinforce that although employees may be able to access email and systems 24/7, your business respects employees need for personal time and for home time. 
2. Conduct a short survey (or where you have a smaller team ask your employees directly) to find out how they feel about their current work life balance and whether they feel pressured to reply to work-related emails outside of their normal working hours.
3. If emails are regularly sent outside of business hours by employees, ask them to be clear in the title whether it needs to be read or actioned promptly.
4. Go a step further and encourage employees not to send emails outside of core hours (or to their colleagues when they are on leave), instead asking them to send emails on timer.
5. Get employees to add their working hours into their email signature so that others are aware of each other’s work patterns.
6. Be cautious when considering an employees performance if the reason for your concern is that they aren’t responding to emails outside of their working hours. If there is an issue with performance it’s unlikely to be just this that is the issue so make sure you speak with the employee in the first instance to try and understand any wider issues or barriers to them performing at the required standard.
7. Follow the Acas guidance on managing workplace stress and well-being for your team if they are working from home (as it will help you if you ever end up in a dispute) by encouraging employees to:
8. Take the rest breaks they are entitled to
9. Have clear start and finish times
10. Switch off their work equipment at the end of the working day
11. Take regular screen breaks
12. Report IT issues so that they can work effectively and efficiently
13. Take sick leave when they are ill.
14. Finally, always lead by example and make sure that managers in your business foster a healthy work-life balance.