While Ontario’s right to disconnect law sounds like a good idea, experts say it’s important to observe the practice’s impact on employee well-being and its practical application in the workplace before proceeding. consider a pan-Canadian approach.
According to Employment Standards Act2000, section 21.1.1, the right to disconnect refers to “not engaging in work-related communications, including emails, phone calls, video calls, or sending or reviewing work-related communications. ‘other messages, to be free to perform work’.
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Ontario Law Coming Into Force Allowing Employees To Disconnect From Technology After Hours
The law came into effect in Ontario on June 3.
According to Basem Gohar, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph, “at first glance, this seems like a really good idea.”
“There’s an enormous amount of burnout in various industries…and the result of burnout is actually illness and absenteeism,” Gohar said.
“I think in theory it’s a good idea. But how this will be applied, I guess only time will tell,” he added.
Ontario enacted Bill 27: Labor for Workers Act late last year and it requires employers with 25 or more employees as of January 1, 2022 to establish a policy that outlines how they ensure that workers can disconnect from the workplace after working hours. .
Gohar said it’s great to have Ontario in the lead, but he believes it’s best to see what works and what doesn’t before other provinces and territories in Canada follow suit.
“I think in North America we live to work…because career is the number one thing…we define ourselves by our profession and what we do. And we’re very proud of that… so honestly, I don’t know how it’s going to work out,” Gohar said.
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Dr. Lisa Belanger, CEO and founder of ConsciousWorks, a consulting firm that helps leaders and teams maximize their mental capacity and performance, says she’s a big fan of the concept, but thinks it’s best to start to work on improving corporate cultures rather than waiting for Canada to implement a policy.
She said policies are meant to be mandated and followed, and business leaders aren’t necessarily equipped to do so.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t really honed our leaders to understand how to lead asynchronously and how to adapt,” Belanger said.
“We have seen some success in France… but this needs to be investigated further. It’s not always followed… if nobody checks that, and if nobody complains or wants to go to the legal system, then (we’re not going to find out),” she added.
Belanger said now is the time to get leaders thinking about what flexible working is and what the future of work looks like.
According to Achkar Law, a Toronto-based law firm, “while working from home sounds like a flexible arrangement for some, for others it blurs the line between work and personal time, which raises the question of an employee’s right to log out.”
The law firm also states that “some employees experience ‘burnout’ as a negative effect of constantly being accessible and ‘plugged in’ at work.”
Ontario legislation aims to change that and Gohar thinks “it’s good that there is at least recognition that employees have the right to disconnect and not think about work all the time because it’s not ‘just isn’t healthy’.
Gohar says his main concern with the law is that not all professions can afford to log off after hours, such as health care providers.
“Certain professions, or even certain personalities I would say, might have a sense of guilt for disconnecting, so if you’re super attached to your job and it’s a certain profession that might be understaffed, you might feel guilty. to disconnect even if you rightly deserve it and you should rejuvenate,” Gohar said.
The law itself does not provide many details on how this new law will work.
The Canadian Press reported on Thursday that the new policy was inspired by a 2016 law giving workers in France the right to turn off work electronics outside office hours. Then, in 2018, Canada’s federal government began reviewing labor standards and considering whether to give workers the right to ignore work-related messages while at home.
A committee meeting last October was to analyze the issue and provide recommendations to the then Minister of Labor, Filomena Tassi, by the spring. But the province of Ontario chose not to wait for federal regulations.
Global News reached out to provinces across the country to ask if they would follow suit, but only British Columbia provided a response. A spokesperson for the British Columbia Ministry of Labor said in an email that the ministry is aware of Ontario’s new right to unplug law.
“The ministry is watching with interest, but there are no plans at this time to establish similar legislation in British Columbia,” the spokesperson told Global News.
“Our ministry has focused on supporting workers and employers with priorities such as paid sick leave, raising the minimum wage and improving the workers’ compensation system.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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