Les entreprises françaises se soucient de leurs employés

A new law in France tells employees not to check their email as frequently – limiting stress.

By+Oselina+%28Own+work%29+%5BCC+BY-SA+4.0+%28http%3A%2F%2Fcreativecommons.org%2Flicenses%2Fby-sa%2F4.0%29%5D%2C+via+Wikimedia+Commons

By Oselina (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Nicole DeSantis, Staff Writer

In America, the average person will spend approximately 90,360 hours of their life working. Contrary to what one may initially think, this statistic isn’t really as alarming as it seems. Living in a capitalistic society, Americans believe hard work is the key to success. With that being said, work is undoubtedly a necessity. Even though some people, ideally, do have a passion in regards to their occupation, at the end of the day, everyone needs a break no matter the circumstances.

 

French workers recently acquired a modern freedom that I feel U.S legislatures should consider pondering; effectuated on January 1st, this new law requires French businesses with fifty or more employees to negotiate after-hours email rules with their employees. The adoption of this law could potentially give workers the ability to ignore late night inquiries from their workplace. Studies have shown that people who were told to check their email around 3 times a day were less stressed than when they were required to actively check their email around the clock. Although presently there is no penalty in place for company violations of this law, people remain hopeful it will be followed and in turn enable increased relaxation and decreased levels of stress.

 

Could a law like this be effective in the United States? Well, it is hard to tell. Many people may assert that at one point or another, in spite of a law such as this, an employee may feel obligated to check their email off the clocks in order to stay ‘up to date.’ However, this law could possibly enable Americans to slow down their fast paced lives, even if not for long, and enjoy life other than work. Despite being essential to live, people should be granted time to enjoy the little things in life rather than a constant never ending cycle of work. Whether it’s family dinner, a well-deserved vacation, a sick day or much needed time to relax, every U.S worker should be allowed to put their phone down and leave work at the workplace.