Canadian HR Reporter

N E W S 10 www.hrreporter.com Does Canada need a right-to-disconnect law? The lines between home and work have blurred even more due to the pandemic and lockdowns, writes John Dujay, but does it make sense for Canada to legislate a hard stop to the workday? labour standard because those workers who are underrepresented certainly stand to be exploited even more greatly by that cultural element of it, that expectation and that exploitation of power differential in those dynamics." Right to flexibility important to workers While the goals may seem laudable, right-to-disconnect implementation would be much more difficult in prac- tice, according to one HR expert. "We have to be open to the possibility people are going to be working 7 to 11 because that fits their family, so [when it comes to] the challenge of unplug- ging, how do you regulate it?" says tions must address this reality, says Amy Kishek, legal officer at the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) in Ottawa. "We use the expression 'work from home,' but it's more like living at work in terms of how it fits into people's lives. And the blurring of those boundaries has significant impacts on mental health. There's a rise in burnout among workers in Canada, which seems to be something that's preventable, but not much has been done to address that directly." Quebec did attempt to implement such a law in 2018 with Bill 1097, but it didn't pass. These days, with many workers confined to their homes because of COVID-19, the issue is that much more acute, says Kishek. "The priority areas would be to protect the right of workers to refuse and have the protection against reprisal and compensation for that time," she says. "What's also needed is that health and safety angle of it, and the pandemic has really highlighted that." The big challenge is the power differ- ential between an employer and staff, along with the cultural expectation of employees "to perform and to demon- strate that you're pliable, available, flex- ible to an employer," says Kishek. "Without real protections laid out, including penalties and fines, an employer can't… expect the culture to change organically." In a unionized workplace, such language has been successfully added during collective bargaining in the past, according to Kishek, but for those without union protection, such a law is needed today. "There also needs to be that minimum Bill Howatt, founder and president of Howatt HR in Ottawa. "You say you're going to turn off the internet, the emails — is that infringing on people's rights to create flexibility?" While some employees are able to walk away from their workday, others may have legitimate reasons to work into the evenings, such as child-care responsibil- ities or wanting to work longer hours to get ahead in their job, he says. "Is there some perception that there needs to be a higher level of account- ability, like a law, to create a societal norm that people can go to versus a cultural norm [of ] 'eight, eight and eight:' you sleep eight, you work eight, you live eight? It's going to be challen- ging to actually have a real strong point of view — meaning some employees, they don't know how to unplug or they feel they can't." For some employees, it might make sense to have a conversation instead of bringing in overarching laws, says Howatt. "There are going to be people who may feel almost like it's a Big Brother thing; they don't have their autonomy. Is this good for that population who can't self- advocate, have less competence in their THE IMPACT OF WORKING LONG HOURS 745,000 People who died from stroke and heart disease associated with long hours in 2016 72% Percentage of men in this group who were middle-aged or older 35% Percentage of people with higher risk of stroke after working more than 55 hours per week 17% Percentage of people with higher risk of heart disease after working more than 55 hours per week WITH so many people working from home because of the pandemic — and likely beyond — the lines between personal and professional lives have blurred. When does a workday begin and end? While the concept of a "right to disconnect" from work emerged well before the pandemic, Canada is now conducting consultations to help inform potential policy solutions that would give federally regulated workers that right, along with improved work-life balance and well-being. But does it make sense for Canada? Working from home blurs lines As the country moves forward post- pandemic, it's expected that a significant portion of Canadian employees will keep working from home, either full time or via a blended hybrid model, and regula- "There's a rise in burnout among workers in Canada, which seems to be something that's preventable, but not much has been done to address that directly." Amy Kishek, PSAC Source: World Health Organization/ILO

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