Istanbul Gelisim University -

"Employees are expected to be always ready for the task"

With the rapid development of digitalization in our lives and directing all forms of communication, negative reflections are seen in business life as well as its positive effects. Stating that being easily accessible outside of working hours creates pressure on employees to be constantly accessible, Lecturer Nazlı Yüceol: “Employees are always expected to be ready for any task''.

With the development of technology and communication tools, the way employees communicate and do business has changed. The ease of access due to the intensive use of digital tools such as smartphones, computers in business life causes managers to want to reach the employee outside of working hours. Stating that for many businesses and institutions, the emergence of a high-speed society and the changes in the external environment such as the Covid-19 pandemic bring along a norm such as "being constantly ready for duty" in business life, Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) Vocational School of Health Services Lecturer Nazlı Yüceol remarked that long working hours and availability after work may jeopardize the physical and mental health of the employee and cause sleep disturbance, anxiety, burnout syndrome and inadequacy feelings.

The conflict between work and personal life reduces the quality of life!

The expectation that employees will be ready for duty all the time, and the fact that employees can be reached outside of working hours due to the use of digital tools have blurred the boundaries between work and private life. At this point, both practitioners and academicians are working on concepts such as "Right To Disconnect" and "Blurred Working Hours". Lect. Nazlı Yüceol: "The right to disconnect has come up again, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic. The widespread use of home-remote work due to the pandemic has blurred the boundaries between the work and personal lives of employees. It is seen that the employee starts to be unhappy when they have a conflict their work life and their personal life, their quality of life decreases with the conflict between the two."

"The right to disconnect gives the employee the right to interrupt communication outside of work"

While France has the Right to Disconnect Law in 2016, according to the 2021 EUROFOUND report; Belgium, France, Italy and Spain have the same legislation. With the right to disconnect, it is aimed to use the rest periods effectively and to protect the health of the employees by not actually working, and to prevent the conflict between business life and personal life. Stating that the right to disconnect is extremely important in order to prevent the negativities caused by situations such as being ready for duty at any time, dependence on digital, high-speed society and employee welfare, Yüceol: "The right to disconnect is not legally available in Türkiye. In Türkiye, the worker's right to rest is regulated by Article 50 of the Constitution. According to this article, 'It is the Right of Employees to Rest', but the Right to Disconnect and the Right to Rest express different situations. The limits of the Right to Rest are not clearly defined according to the Right to Disconnect. This may cause employees to be available outside of work. The Right to Disconnect gives the employee the right to stop communicating outside of work without worrying about facing any sanctions. In this case, raising awareness in terms of employees and employers will benefit to increase employee well-being. Within the scope of a project supported by Yıldız Technical University, Prof. Dr. Esin Can and Res. Asst. Dr. Ayşe Merve Urfa: I have been conducting a scale development study on the ‘Perception of the Right to Disconnect’ with my team as a researcher. For the business world of the future, where shorter working hours, weekly 4-day working day arrangements are discussed and working systems such as flexible working and remote working are used more intensively, further work on the ’Right to Disconnect' is an extremely important issue."