the leadership team, the job often means we
have to put in extra hours,” he says. “We all try
and get the job done in the time allowed, but
the demands of the customer mean we need
to get their orders sorted as soon as we can.
Being a subcontractor, things often happen with
orderbooks and our customers’ customers that
put pressure on us to react quickly. Even so,
we’re trying to ensure that our senior staff don’t
spend too much time working in the evenings
and at weekends, otherwise they end up burnt
out and of no use to anyone.”
However, the shopfl oor are largely protected
from this, continues Bruch. “During the week
there are very few emails sent after 6pm; there
are even fewer at the weekend. However, if any
are sent – even by me and the rest of senior
management – we don’t expect them to be
answered until Monday morning. We’re also
very deliberate about not phoning people in the
evenings or on their time off . If there’s an issue
and the person we need isn’t there, we will try and
sort it internally fi rst. If we then desperately need
to get hold of them outside of work hours, we will
call or text them. We treat people who aren’t at
work as being off the planet – that tends to work
pretty well!”
Trust your team
AE Aerospace staff know they won’t be contacted
while at home, and that they will be allowed to
enjoy their time off . This is a two-way street,
though, as Bruch explains. “We’ve tried to
increase the autonomy and responsibility of the
shopfl oor, turning them into focused teams that
can make decisions without going through the
chain of command – both during the day and
out-of-hours,” he says. “We’re not a big company,
and it’s hard to be able to commit lots of people
to work on each project – it’s often down to
individuals having to chip in here and there.”
All this chopping and changing means staff
are at risk of projects becoming confused. Bruch,
however, has devised a system for ensuring
nothing gets missed. “When people leave to go
on holiday, we hold a handover meeting to give
whoever is picking up that person’s work a good
idea of what’s going on and how to deal with any
issues that may arise,” he explains. “We also have
a re-brief meeting when they return. It’s a trust
thing. The person going away knows that their
work is in capable hands, and that they shouldn’t
need to worry about being contacted.”
AE Aerospace’s approach shows the
importance of forming the right behaviours.
Too often, says Lightfoot of Ultimate Finance,
managers’ expectations are too high. “There’s
often the feeling that employees should always
be contactable,” he explains. “It’s important for
managers and business owners to become aware
of how, in the short-term, expecting people to
answer emails when they’re at home gets results,
but in the long-term it will damage not just the
wellbeing of their staff , but the wider business.
MAY 2019 COVER STORY
The Right to Disconnect
Several countries have implemented laws regarding the right
for people to ‘disconnect’ from work, and not engage in
communications such as emails or phone calls during nonwork
hours. Most notable amongst these is France, where
the so-called El Khomri Law (named after the then-French
Minister for Labour, Myriam El Khomri, pictured left)
came into e ect in August 2016 after the French
government recognised that “digital technologies
have blurred the line between work and private lives”.
The law is applied to each company in its own way.
For companies with more than 50 employees the right
must be included in their Mandatory Annual Negotiation
(MAN) on gender equality and the nature of quality of life
at work, by considering ways in which the use of digital tools
can be regulated and the means to do this. Companies with less
than 50 employees are expected to release a document to their
employees outlining the rules for their company.
Employers who fail to include the right to disconnect in
the MAN are liable to criminal prosecution for obstructing the
exercise of union rights, punishable by a year in prison and a
€3,750 (approx. £3,250) fi ne.
Other European countries have taken a similar approach.
Germany, for example, does not have specifi c laws, but
organisations have a history of implementing policies around
the right to disconnect. Most notably, automotive giants
Volkswagen stopped its email servers from sending emails to
employees’ mobile phones between 6pm and 7am. Similarly,
Daimler introduced a service in 2014 called ‘Mail on Holiday’,
which allows employees to automatically delete incoming
emails while they were on holiday.
Avoiding work while
on holiday can often
be a challenge
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