Portugal Bans Bosses Texting and Emailing Staff After-hours (bbc.com) 34
Portugal has banned bosses from text messaging and emailing staff out of working hours as part of new laws dubbed "right to rest." From a report: The move is part of changes being introduced to improve work-life balance in response to an expansion of working from home in the country. Companies with more than 10 staff could face fines if they contact employees outside their contracted hours. There are also new rules on allowing staff with children to work remotely. Parents will be about to work at home indefinitely without seeking prior approval from their employers until their child turns eight.
And companies may also have to contribute to higher household bills from being home-based, such as energy and internet costs. Measures to tackle the isolation remote workers can feel are also included, with companies expected to organise regular face-to-face meetings. However, some elements of the package were not approved by Portugal's parliament, including a "right to disconnect" allowing staff to turn off all work devices out of hours. Portugal's Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, told a conference in Lisbon last week that "telework can be a game-changer" but its growth needs to be regulated. She also hoped the enhanced labour protections would attract more foreigners to the country. "We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in, we want to attract them to Portugal," Ms Godinho said.
And companies may also have to contribute to higher household bills from being home-based, such as energy and internet costs. Measures to tackle the isolation remote workers can feel are also included, with companies expected to organise regular face-to-face meetings. However, some elements of the package were not approved by Portugal's parliament, including a "right to disconnect" allowing staff to turn off all work devices out of hours. Portugal's Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, told a conference in Lisbon last week that "telework can be a game-changer" but its growth needs to be regulated. She also hoped the enhanced labour protections would attract more foreigners to the country. "We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in, we want to attract them to Portugal," Ms Godinho said.
Yes, somebody already told us here (Score:1)
Repeatedly.
Re: (Score:2)
But not enough ad revenue was generated the first time this story was posted.
Can they ban dupes next? (Score:5, Interesting)
https://slashdot.org/story/21/... [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:1)
No (Score:2)
If you're not traveling to your office to work then you are saving money by not paying for gas/bus fare/subway fare/etc and possibly your daily lunch out at a restaurant. That money can now be used to pay any additional electricity costs. You got along before, you can get along now.
As for internet, why would you have additional costs? You pay a monthly fee for unlimted use
Re: (Score:2)
You sure do enjoy paying for things.
Re: (Score:2)
If the person doesn't want to pay for the miniscule amount of extra electricity used they can always go back to the office where everything is picked up by the company. If they insist on staying home, then, as stated above, the money they aren't using to go to work can be used to pay for their electricity.
If they were able to get by when they went to work, they can get by working from home.
Re: No (Score:2)
The company was previously paying for your electricity, why should they stop? They're still going to save money by having you remote.
Why do you care more about corporations than you do people?
Re: (Score:2)
The company was previously paying for your gas/bus fare/subway/etc.for you to come into the office. That same money can now be used to pay for the extra electricity costs at your home (why do I need to keep repeating this?).
Why do you care more about corporations than you do people?
I don't care about either. This same discussion has come up multiple times where
Re: (Score:2)
Which part of: wether you are at home or not, energy costs or internet costs, are the same: escapes you?
Re: (Score:2)
Which part of: wether you are at home or not, energy costs or internet costs, are the same: escapes you?
The part where tha's false?
Re: (Score:2)
The part where tha's false?
And why would it be false?
You want to tell me you pay internet by dial up time like 30 years ago?
Sorry: I do not believe you.
Re: (Score:2)
But work was buying my lunch :-)
Re: (Score:2)
Uhm, you got that backwards. This is about the savings that the company takes, it is the company that can get along paying for the heating etc. that the office saves by not having people in it.
It is NEVER the responsibility of the employees to pay the company back for conveniences the employee has.
As for internet etc, you are presuming that the employee has it. For very poor employees they may only connect to the net on their phone and it is not fair to expect the employee to start paying for things the c
Re: (Score:2)
How is the employee paying the company back? They are still getting the same salary they had when they went into the office, which cost them money to do so. By staying at home they are getting what amounts to a salary increase because the money they were spending for gas/fares/etc now stays in their pocket, minus the small extra amount needed for the extra electricity usage increase. If anything,
Re: (Score:2)
It depends on the individual situation.
For most people the cost of travel to/from the office significantly outweighs the extra energy usage at home. For me it's actually the other way around - i live within 5 minutes walk of the office so i don't actually save any travel costs, but i do have to spend more on electrical costs due to being in a location where a/c is basically required all the time.
Despite this, i still prefer working from home.
Re: (Score:2)
You assume they pay for unlimited when not working from home. I do, but I am not at all the average internet user, and I doubt anyone on slashdot is either.
Re: (Score:2)
In many countries unlimited is the default.
Yes, we know (Score:1)
This is the third time I've seen the story show up here. Are you using it for masturbation material, msmash?
listen receptionist (Score:2)
Listen Receptionist, if you like this job you are going to keep banging me and we need to switch to Signal.
Lots of missing details (Score:3)
TFA glossed over a ton of details. For example, I work on a global team. It's off-hours for someone, somewhere all the time. Can I ever email the entire team?
I'm a tech leader but not the direct supervisor for anyone. Can I send team-wide emails?
Many of my teammates don't read work email when not at their laptops. Does that matter?
Do Teams, Slack, WhatsApp, and Skype count as email, texts, or something else?
Can I phone someone? Does it matter if that's POTS, Teams, Skype, or Zoom?
I'm salaried and don't have scheduled hours. Does this law apply?
Curious minds want to know!
Re: (Score:2)
Yes you can . Just dont expect replies till the end of their working day. Note I said end. They need to get into office, read the email, work on collecting data and reply. Note the reply might be I got yr email wil look into it which means they have other higher priority tasks pending and cant drop it all to get on yr email.
I'm a tech leader but
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
After 10 PM , once kids are in bed , spend a half-hour on email. Again only focus on things bocking other people not things where you need to meet , discuss with team to come up with data/answers. Thats it , the 15 minutes in the morning and the 30 minutes at night are all you need to work in a global team. You dont need to keep your work email on your phone in the evening.
The 15 minutes in the morning are BEFORE a working day starts.
The 30 minutes AT NIGHT (do you actually grasp what 'at night' means?) are
Re: (Score:2)
Assuming they take a real lunch break, they have like 7-7.5 hours of time in the "normal work day" (arrive at 9, leave at 5), so the extra 45 minutes brings them to about 8 hours.
Re: (Score:2)
TFA glossed over a ton of details. For example, I work on a global team. It's off-hours for someone, somewhere all the time. Can I ever email the entire team?
Yes you can . Just don't expect replies till the end of their working day. Note I said end. They need to get into office, read the email, work on collecting data and reply.
To be clear, that's what the Portuguese law says? I know it's a reasonable expectation today even without regulation. I'm asking what's the new legal standard. If it is, it sound oppressively detailed. Talk about micromanagement.
Is it a right or an obligation? (Score:2)
Because yes, in my country there are a few worker protection laws that you CANNOT disable, even if you, the employee, would be very much in favor of it. I can of course understand that this is to protect workers from abusive practices (like "of course you can not agree to this contract change... was nice that you were working here"), but I can't even decide to work more hours today and take a day off tomorrow. Not possible.
The net effect of this is that I work exactly one minute less than the allowed time o
Re: (Score:2)
but I can't even decide to work more hours today and take a day off tomorrow. Not possible. what country would that be?
Doesn't make sense. (Score:1)
If an employee can't turn off their work devices outside of work hours then what's the point? (This assumes they're working remotely and the devices are at the employees place)
Can't call/text their personal phone but can still bother them via their work phone/laptop/device???
Something doesn't add up.
Parent remote working (Score:2)
Parents will be about to work at home indefinitely without seeking prior approval from their employers until their child turns eight
Nice, but how does that works with jobs that cannot be done remotely?
Finally (Score:2)
A story I can get on top of...
Como voce esta bitches!?
I mean.. hi! :)