Have you dreamed of a day when your employer can’t contact you after working hours? If your answer is yes then we would love to tell you that this dream is actually someone else’s reality. In some European countries, employers are banned from contacting their employees to reduce stress and being burnt out.
While other countries are seeking employees’ comfort, Egypt still struggles with the issue of working out of working hours. Some employees constantly go through this situation where they have to stay extra hours just to finish a task that was sent right before the working day ends or they get a call from their employer to request something urgent.
This makes us think if Egypt should join other countries and ban employees from working or receiving work-related calls after working hours.
The Work System In Egypt
It is possible that we can all agree on the fact that the work system in most of the companies here needs adjustments and organization.
Ask yourself this, how many times have you done work after working hours? Or how many times have you heard someone complaining about staying at work after working ours? Probably a little too many.
Whether it’s the private sector or the governmental one, both suffer from a lack of an organized system and not all companies provide extra payment on overtime.
So, technically, as an employee, you’re required to go to work at a certain time but stay due to “business needs” without getting paid for overtime!
How It Is Affecting People’s Lives
Due to some non-efficient work systems, many people struggle with finding balance in their lives.
The work system in Egypt has made it nearly impossible for people to find a little balance between their work and social lives! Most people can either focus on their jobs or their social life. People have been constantly complaining about the vast amount of work and the stress they have to handle due to working out of working hours or receiving calls from their managers out of working hours.
In fact, this is not just in Egypt but it’s a global problem as people can’t find the time to do something they love. The only difference is that some countries decided to put an end to it.
Countries Banning Contacting After Working Hours
Did you know that there are some countries that banned managers from contacting employees after working hours?
France and Italy added a new regulation to their labor law, which banned managers from contacting their employees after working hours. Also, South Korea has been debating over the same rule as it wants to implement it; in fact, large companies have already activated this regulation as they banned managers from sending work messages after 10 PM.
Portugal and Belgium have already activated this rule as they banned employers from contacting their employees after working hours and gave the employees the freedom to ignore the calls in case their managers called.
Could It Actually Work In Egypt?
We can’t help but wonder what could happen if Egypt started implementing this regulation.
To be frank, this can give the employees the room to breathe as there are some jobs where they have to be available even on the weekends just because they deal with clients, for example, account managers are available most of the time to reply to the clients whenever they need something urgent or have a feedback.
So, making contacting employees after work illegal will help employees improve their social life and reduce their work stress.
For this new rule to be activated in Egypt, business owners need to have a new-organized work system and be firm with those who contact their team after working hours.
Do you think this rule can be activated in Egypt? And will it be effective?
