The majority (66 per cent) of New Zealand’s workers say employers should have a policy that encourages employees to limit the amount of time spent working after standard business hours and on weekends.
According to a survey by recruiting experts Hays of 1,516 New Zealand & Australian employees and employers, of these, 10 per cent said their organisation already has such a policy in place.
But over half said there’s an unwritten rule that they must respond to work communications on weekends or during non-business hours all the time (13 per cent) or on occasion (34 per cent).
Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand, says it could be time for us to decide what’s expected of workers on weekends or non-business hours.
“It’s been a long time since most of us worked 9 to 5,” he said. “Many New Zealanders are working longer hours, which extend past standard business hours into our evenings and weekends.”
Last year French workers won the legal ‘right to disconnect’ from emails outside business hours. The policy came into force on 1st January 2017, and limits the encroachment of work during non-working hours by legally giving employees working for companies with 50 or more staff the right to turn off digital devices and technology.
"These measures are designed to ensure respect for rest periods and ... balance between work and family and personal life,” said France’s Ministry of Labour to CNN.
But there is some disagreement as to whether this resolute policy would work in New Zealand. According to the Hays survey, 24 per cent of respondents say their organisation should adopt a similar strategy to France’s. A lucky 10 per cent already have a similar policy in place at their workplace. Another 28 per cent think it’s a good policy but don’t believe it would work in their organisation.
22 per cent don’t like the policy and 16 per cent aren’t sure.
For these final 38 per cent, Jason suggests their ideal solution could be more malleable and come in the form of work-life ‘integration’.
“As opposed to work-life balance, with a scale balancing work on one side and life on the other, integration involves amalgamating work with the other elements of one’s life,” he said. “Whether that’s caring for children or older relatives, health and wellbeing activities, voluntary work or any other personal priorities, integration means life and work overlap and flexibility cuts both ways.
“While this doesn’t suit every role, for those who have a job that doesn’t require them to be physically present in a particular location at certain times, it’s certainly an option worth exploring.”
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About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2016 the Group employed 9,600 staff operating from 251 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2016:
– the Group reported net fees of £810.3 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £181 million;
– the Group placed around 67,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 220,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 22% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific, 45% in Continental Europe & RoW (CERoW) and 33% in the United Kingdom & Ireland;
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA