The Right to Unplug

I’m writing this in reflection on “France Lets Workers Turn Off, Tune Out and Live Life” by ALISSA J. RUBIN

“The boundary between professional and personal life has become tenuous.”

—Myriam El Khomri, France’s Minister of Labor

Over the weekend, France approved a protocol that essentially requires companies of more than 50 employees to come up with a plan to ensure that work emails don’t interfere with employee time off (weekends, vacation, nights, etc.)

This measure isn’t much of a surprise to anyone who is familiar with the way the French work ethic is structured (I lived in France for 11 months). The French do work hard, but they value their personal time, their time with family and friends, their vacation time. Paris in August is a perfect example: everything, save the essentials, shuts down as the Parisians head out of the city for a summer holiday, followed by a mass return called “La rentrée,” literally translated into “the return,” but colloquially means “start of the school year.”

With the ever-encroaching presence of the smart phone into both our personal and professional lives through constant pings, dings and buzzes, France has reacted in a way that is quintessentially French.

I. Love. It.

I work in a very small office, my team consists of myself and one other person, and then we share a few other employees with other brands. We’re in almost constant communication via email, phone, in-person, G-chat, etc. during the day. But, more often than not, that communication channel doesn’t fully shut down at the end of the work day. I find myself reading (and answering) work-related emails on Saturday morning before I head out to run. I find myself reviewing everything I need to do on Monday the night before, which essentially robs me of my Sunday evening.

I also find myself checking my phone when I’m out with friends. Not always work related, but sometimes. There’s nothing that puts a damper more quickly on a nice dinner with friends than a text from a boss that creates stress or annoyance.

It has to stop!

I don’t work in an industry where I can fully unplug every weekend. Journalism does require a level of consistent awareness. But, there are also many chances to unplug: when the news cycle is slow, when I’ve worked ahead in the days before a vacation so that everything is on auto pilot, at the quiet point in the production cycle, etc.

It’s time to seize those chances and unplug.

I did this over the holidays. We had a long weekend (Friday-Monday off) for both Christmas and New Years. For both weekends, I put on an auto responder, and actually toggled my work email OFF of my phone, so I didn’t get any notifications.

At first, it was strange not getting the little red numbers pop up as often as I was used to. Then, it was scary, worrying that my boss was trying to reach me and I was going to be in trouble. (He wasn’t, I wasn’t.) A good friend reminded me, “If he really needed you, he has your phone number.”

Good point.

So, I took two weekends off from my work email, and each end of the weekends I came back to work refreshed, ready to rock. I didn’t feel behind, I didn’t have to play catch-up. I was enjoying accomplishing work-related tasks after a weekend of enjoying nothing of the sort.

While I wish I could do it all the time, I work many weekends, and when the newscycle is on, it’s on and I can’t be off. But, I’m looking forward to finding more opportunities to toggle my work email “off” for a few days when appropriate. I fully plan to do it when I’m in Iceland for a long weekend next weekend (for which I’ve taken vacation days), and when I’m in Costa Rica for my honeymoon in March (likewise).

I applaud Myriam El Khomri and the French for tackling the digital tether that holds us to our desks beyond work hours. All we hear about is the desire to seek a healthy work life balance. The key there is balance, not blend. France is helping their workers draw the line. I would be shocked if the US Department of Labor followed suit any time soon, but it doesn’t take a law to rethink my personal practices in regards to enjoying my time out of the office.