The best events happening around Ireland this weekend
The best events happening around Ireland this weekend

Sarah Gill

In Her Shoes: Silvana Landa McAdam of LANDA
In Her Shoes: Silvana Landa McAdam of LANDA

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Conductor Orla Flanagan: ‘This concert explores human existence in different spheres’
Conductor Orla Flanagan: ‘This concert explores human existence in different spheres’

Sarah Gill

This 1970s Galway semi-d has been refreshed and revived
This 1970s Galway semi-d has been refreshed and revived

Nathalie Marquez Courtney

Material Intelligence: Meet the emerging designers from Ireland’s leading fashion colleges
Material Intelligence: Meet the emerging designers from Ireland’s leading fashion colleges

Ruth O'Connor

Faye O’Rourke of Soda Blonde: ‘I think being open about your failings creates more interesting art’
Faye O’Rourke of Soda Blonde: ‘I think being open about your failings creates more interesting...

Sarah Gill

A red carpet first-timer brings us behind the scenes at Cannes Film Festival
A red carpet first-timer brings us behind the scenes at Cannes Film Festival

Kara O'Sullivan

Garden designer Peter Dowdall on the best places to find unique pieces for your garden
Garden designer Peter Dowdall on the best places to find unique pieces for your garden

Megan Burns

Key trends and challenges shaping the job market in 2025
Key trends and challenges shaping the job market in 2025

Leonie Corcoran

Inside this five-bedroom Edwardian Terenure home
Inside this five-bedroom Edwardian Terenure home

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Image / Editorial

The French Can Officially Ignore Work Emails Out Of Hours


By Jennifer McShane
03rd Jan 2017
The French Can Officially Ignore Work Emails Out Of Hours

It’s January 3rd; the first day back at work and the official end of the festive lull. It’s a two-sided coin because, on the one hand, it feels great to begin again, to come at it all with renewed energy but on the other, many can feel overwhelmed getting to grips with the barrage of general back-to-workness. The key is to take it in your stride and try to envision getting a decent work/life balance – January needs to be taken a day at a time after all.

One of the best ways to gain momentum when it comes to your workload is to clock out of emails once you leave the office. It’s a fairly straightforward ask, yet so many feel unable to do this; driven to check one final mail at 10 PM. How should we go about implementing this? Well, as with many things in life, we should do as the ever-chic French population just did, make it an official law that no employee is obligated to clock in once they clock out.

French workers now have the “right to disconnect” and ignore business emails that arrive after work hours.

“These measures are designed to ensure respect for rest periods and balance between work and family and personal life,” the Ministry of Labour in a told CNN.?The new regulation, instated on January 1st of this year, requires companies with 50 or more employees to create terms for handling out-of-office emails.

Ireland needs to get on this out-of-hours-email-ban train and stat.?Thanks to technology, the scenario of work spilling into our personal time?has become normalised, the French are turning this on its head and what we want to know is, will and can we follow suit?