241–250 of 449 posts
This is already the case in Germany. It also applies to vacation and sick days. Above all, it's deeply ingrained in German culture, so that no one expects to reach you outside of your working hours. I help people settle in Germany, and it's one of the main cultural aspects I cover. The other is how normal it is to take sick days.
Or maybe because not replying under a given SLA led you to be fired? In which case my question is: is your only option to work for companies that have this culture? And you have to force all companies to behave in the same way?
I like the Swiss implementation of this. A manager _can_ contact an employee on a Sunday, but then the employee is immediately on weekend-rate overtime even if they just got an email with "deal with this next week". So, many companies have systems that hold back e-mail sent outside of working hours until the next working day unless specially authorised and costed. Never underestimate an economics-based solution to a…
I've dabbled in management a few times in my career. This meant attending manager-only meetings and trainings. I'll never forget one time when a manager in a focus group said something along the lines of, "The tech sector is going through a rough patch, so we can turn the screws on our employees and they'll have to take it because they will have a hard time trying to find a job somewhere else." This is at a company w…
So, before this "right" they were physically attached to their devices unable to freely decide to ignore emails? Or there was some kind of timer and expect SLA for answers that needed to be met? Or maybe because not replying under a given SLA led you to be fired? In which case my question is: is your only option to work for companies that have this culture? And you have to force all companies to behave in the same wa…
I like the Swiss implementation of this. A manager _can_ contact an employee on a Sunday, but then the employee is immediately on weekend-rate overtime even if they just got an email with "deal with this next week". So, many companies have systems that hold back e-mail sent outside of working hours until the next working day unless specially authorised and costed. Never underestimate an economics-based solution to a…
But employers will strike back with a law: if you read HN during work hours, your rate will be halved.
I like the Swiss implementation of this. A manager _can_ contact an employee on a Sunday, but then the employee is immediately on weekend-rate overtime even if they just got an email with "deal with this next week". So, many companies have systems that hold back e-mail sent outside of working hours until the next working day unless specially authorised and costed. Never underestimate an economics-based solution to a…
Is everything hourly there? Would this work with salaried employees that don't log hours? Or maybe everyone does? A running joke in my first company out of school was "can't wait to see that overtime check!" whenever we saw someone working after 5. The implication is no one ever gets overtime as a salaried employee.
That being said lots of people still do unpaid overtime, but only because they're afraid about losing the job / care too much. Not because they actually legally have to. There are legal means to defend yourself from that.
So, before this "right" they were physically attached to their devices unable to freely decide to ignore emails? Or there was some kind of timer and expect SLA for answers that needed to be met? Or maybe because not replying under a given SLA led you to be fired? In which case my question is: is your only option to work for companies that have this culture? And you have to force all companies to behave in the same wa…
I'm guessing it is something like, you can't be fired specifically for not answering outside of working hours. Nothing stopping companies from firing you for not fitting company culture (the unspoken part being company culture is we all answer calls outside of work hours). Still a step forward because there will be some careless/incompetent companies that leave a paper trail indicating they fired you for this so you…
I've dabbled in management a few times in my career. This meant attending manager-only meetings and trainings. I'll never forget one time when a manager in a focus group said something along the lines of, "The tech sector is going through a rough patch, so we can turn the screws on our employees and they'll have to take it because they will have a hard time trying to find a job somewhere else." This is at a company w…
I've dabbled in management a few times in my career. This meant attending manager-only meetings and trainings. I'll never forget one time when a manager in a focus group said something along the lines of, "The tech sector is going through a rough patch, so we can turn the screws on our employees and they'll have to take it because they will have a hard time trying to find a job somewhere else." This is at a company w…
Sorry for the annoying language comment: your issue was not lack of scruples but presence of scruples.